PHOTO COURTESY OF THE YMCA OF MEWSA

YMCA of MEWSA receives major grant from Provident Bank Foundation for STEAM programming

The YMCA of Metuchen, Edison, Woodbridge & South Amboy (MEWSA) recently received a grant in the amount of $10,000 from the Provident Bank Foundation to support their out-of-school STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) programs at the Metuchen, Edison and South Amboy YMCA branches.

The YMCA integrates STEAM into its out-of-school Early Ed and School Age Child Care programs to prepare youth to be academically successful by providing programs centered around STEAM principles, according to a statement provided by a Y. In addition, the YMCA also offers fee-based programming for more advanced levels of STEAM learning, including Scratch (Coding/Programming), Robotics and Python. The grant will enable the Y to subsidize the cost of this programming to children from underserved families in the community between the ages of 7-15, as well as to purchase relevant materials and equipment to provide a hands-on experience for building and experimenting, according to the statement.

For more information on the programs at the Metuchen branch, contact Pamela Cohen at 732-548-2044, ext. 2226 or at [email protected]. For the Edison branch, contact Jennifer Guthlein at 732-494-3232, ext. 3509 or at [email protected].