Press Release  The Healey-Driscoll Administration Expands STEM Opportunities with Nearly $4.4 Million for Innovation Career Pathways Programs

REVERE — Today, as part of Massachusetts STEM Week, the Healey-Driscoll Administration announced that they delivered nearly $4.4 million to 68 schools with Innovation Career Pathway programs to support the continuation of work-based, applied learning opportunities available to Innovation Career Pathway students. The grant awardees include 19 schools launching Innovation Career Pathways for the first time this school year. 

This morning, Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler and Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley, Representative Jessica Giannino (D-Revere), and Revere Mayor Patrick Keefe visited STEM students in Innovation Career Pathway classrooms at CityLab High School in Revere to celebrate the funding that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is delivering for Innovation Career Pathway schools across the Commonwealth. Innovation Career Pathways are classroom and work-based learning opportunities designed to give students applied hands-on coursework in a specific high-demand STEM industry. 

“Over 40 percent of jobs here in Massachusetts come from STEM industries, and by investing in Innovation Career Pathways, we are not only creating opportunities for students to explore meaningful career paths, we are also creating a workforce pipeline that matches the needs of our employers,” said Governor Maura Healey. “In expanding the types of pathway programs offered by adding a new clean energy pathway, we are meeting not only this moment, but future moments for our workforce and our planet, cultivating the next generation that will join us in tackling the climate crisis.”  

“Continuing to expand access to Innovation Career Pathways is a key part of this administration’s approach to improving access to STEM pathways and inspiring more students to seek out a STEM career,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “As a co-chair of the STEM Advisory Council, we are putting our full force into this STEM Week to ensure students across the Commonwealth know that ‘YOUR STEM future is OUR STEM future,’ and there are opportunities all around to take advantage of when it comes to learning STEM skills.” 

This school year, thanks to the Innovation Career Pathways grants the Healey-Driscoll Administration delivered, there are more than 6,500 students enrolled in one or more of the 183 pathways at 78 schools across the Commonwealth. Innovation Career Pathways are currently offered in Advanced Manufacturing, Information Technology, Environmental and Life Sciences, Health Care and Social Assistance, Business and Finance, and newly announced this year, Clean Energy. Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll’s FY24 budget includes nearly $47 million for Early College and Innovation Career Pathways, a $14.4 million increase from FY23, to continue expanding college and career readiness options for students across the Commonwealth. 

“Whether it’s an environmental life and sciences pathway like the one we saw today at CityLab High School or the clean energy pathway that they are planning, we are so thrilled to see how these programs are inspiring students to ‘See Themselves in STEM’ by providing them with applied learning experiences in high-demand STEM industries,” said Secretary of Education Tutwiler. “By the end of STEM Week, we want students across the Commonwealth to know about programs like InnovationCareer Pathways that provide opportunities for students to gain experience in booming STEM fields.” 

“Innovation Career Pathways show students the relevance of what they’re learning and engage them in planning for their future,” Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Riley said. “It’s a pleasure to visit these programs and to see them grow.” 

CityLab High School in Revere launched its first Innovation Career Pathway this year in Environmental and Life Sciences and is one of six schools planning a new Clean Energy Innovation Career Pathway with the nearly $650,000 in InnovationCareer Pathway Planning Grants announced last month. CityLab High School, along with the five other 2023-24 Clean Energy pilot schools, will help meet the workforce needs of the Commonwealth’s rapidly growing clean energy economy – since 2010, the clean energy industry has grown by 73%, which accounted for more than 14% of all net jobs created in the state during that time. As of 2022, Massachusetts has the seventh most clean energy jobs in the country, being one of only nine states with over 100,000 clean energy jobs, according to a report from national business group, E2. 

Massachusetts STEM Week is a weeklong series of events across the state to encourage students to see themselves in STEM and highlight the variety of educational and workforce training opportunities in STEM fields available to students of all ages. This year, the Healey-Driscoll Administration has chosen “YOUR STEM future is OUR STEM future” as the theme, to emphasize that current students are the next generation of scientists, engineers, and inventors whose innovations will define the future, including continued efforts address the climate crisis. 
  

Innovation Career Pathways Implementation Grant Awardees 

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