LIFT – Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow, a Detroit-based national manufacturing innovation institute operated by the American Lightweight Materials Innovation Institute (ALMMII), today announced that it has received a $200,000 grant from The Skillman Foundation to help Detroit area youth strengthen their academic and employability skills and increase their STEM foundational knowledge and technical skills in the Institute’s new Learning Lab located inside its state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing facility.
The grant will provide Detroit youth with exposure to diverse career pathways in the advanced manufacturing sector through the launch of a LIFT Advanced Manufacturing academic pathway within University Prep Science & Math High School that connects in-school academics with daily experience in the Learning Lab. The program also engages youth across the city who are not enrolled in the pathway via other exposure and immersion opportunities through partnerships with additional schools and community-based organizations.
Specifically, a portion of the grant will support LIFT providing its IGNITE: Mastering Manufacturing curriculum to 100 University Prep Science & Math High School (UPSM) students during the 2019-20 school year using the LIFT Learning Lab, including its Fundamental Skills Development Lab, Virtual Learning Lab, and Material Science Lab.