Broadening of a Basic Race and Gender Equity Project – Phase II

The long-term goal of this project is to expand and disseminate our innovative internship and near-peer mentoring models for minority youth and women in the biomedical sciences, thus increasing the number of minority students participating in the quantitative disciplines. Dissemination and expansion of the program will take place in three steps: (1) Within the national capital region through the Internet and cooperative arrangements with established educational initiatives within DCPS system; (2) For year 2, expand to one site outside the national capital area. The site would be for a group that had already begun to model its fledgling program on our STARS program, or one of the specific sites discussed in Aim 3. The likely site would be at Fort Monmouth, N.J., since Dr. Constella Zimmerman is planning to start a STARS initiative; and (3) Extend the program to specific sites within selected cities, and utilize current contacts in states that do not yet have a SEPA program to disseminate.