II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3636 

To establish within the National Science Foundation a program to award 

STEM ecosystem grants. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2022 

Mr. KELLY (for himself and Mr. MORAN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish within the National Science Foundation a 

program to award STEM ecosystem grants. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening STEM 

5 Ecosystems Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) STEM ecosystems— 

9 (A) engage stakeholders within and outside 

10 of a formal educational setting; and 


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1 (B) may include— 

2 (i) community leaders; 

3 (ii) school districts; 

4 (iii) State, local, and Tribal govern5 ments; 

6 (iv) the Federal Government and Fed7 eral facilities; 

8 (v) businesses, industry, and work9 force and economic development organiza10 tions; 

11 (vi) libraries; 

12 (vii) museums and science centers; 

13 (viii) institutions of higher education 

14 (including community colleges) and tech15 nical schools; 

16 (ix) community groups and clubs (in17 cluding community-led research organiza18 tions), foundations, and nonprofit organi19 zations; and 

20 (x) faith-based organizations. 

21 (2) As defined in the CoSTEM Annual 

22 Progress Report of 2020, STEM ecosystems are 

23 united by a collective vision of supporting participa24 tion in STEM through the creation of accessible, in25 clusive STEM learning experiences and opportuniVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Feb 14, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3636.IS S3636

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1 ties spanning all education stages and career path2 ways. A STEM ecosystem continuously evaluates its 

3 activities and adapts as needed, plans for the long4 term, and communicates its work to build broad sup5 port and advance evidence-based practices. STEM 

6 ecosystems focus on long-term, shared, sustainable, 

7 and flexible STEM missions that bridge, integrate, 

8 and strengthen the learning opportunities offered by 

9 organizations across sectors to build partnerships 

10 that maximize investments to create stronger STEM 

11 outcomes. 

12 (3) Federal agencies should encourage the col13 laboration of stakeholders in STEM ecosystems that 

14 unite a broad range of non-Federal partners, includ15 ing pre-K through grade 12 schools, informal edu16 cators, informal STEM organizations, community17 led and community-based research organizations, in18 stitutions of higher education (including community 

19 colleges, historically Black colleges and universities, 

20 Tribal colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving in21 stitutions, and other minority-serving institutions), 

22 employers, nonprofit organizations, social services, 

23 faith-based entities, economic and workforce develop24 ment organizations, and museums, libraries, 


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1 credentialing services, and other lifelong learning 

2 and participatory science organizations. 

3 (4) The National Science Foundation is a Fed4 eral agency that can and does encourage the collabo5 ration described in paragraph (3). When reviewing 

6 proposals before the agency, reviewers are asked to 

7 consider how the proposed activities will have a 

8 broad impact on society and advance greater societal 

9 outcomes. 

10 (5) STEM ecosystems can increase work-based 

11 learning, training, and mentoring through educator12 employer partnerships, allowing communities to 

13 more effectively leverage resources and expertise 

14 from strategic partners to provide seamless support 

15 to prepare the workforce of the future. 

16 (6) STEM ecosystems that directly support and 

17 engage the American public can increase public 

18 awareness and support overall STEM literacy. 

19 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘Committee’’ 

22 means the Committee on STEM Education estab23 lished under section 101 of the America COM24 PETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 

25 6621). 


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1 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

2 the Director of the National Science Foundation. 

3 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti4 ty’’ means— 

5 (A) a STEM ecosystem; or 

6 (B) an eligible partnership. 

7 (4) ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIP.—The term ‘‘eligi8 ble partnership’’ means a partnership between a 

9 STEM ecosystem described in subparagraph (A) of 

10 paragraph (8) and 1 or more non-Federal partners 

11 described in that subparagraph. 

12 (5) HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION.—The 

13 term ‘‘Hispanic-serving institution’’ has the meaning 

14 given such term in section 502 of the Higher Edu15 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a). 

16 (6) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI17 VERSITY.—The term ‘‘historically Black college or 

18 university’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘part B 

19 institution’’ under section 322 of the Higher Edu20 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061). 

21 (7) STEM.—The term ‘‘STEM’’ means science, 

22 technology (including computer science), engineer23 ing, and mathematics. 

24 (8) STEM ECOSYSTEM.—The term ‘‘STEM 

25 ecosystem’’ means— 


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1 (A) a network, consortium, or multi-sector 

2 partnership, which may be led or co-led by a 

3 nonprofit organizational entity, that is oper4 ating in the United States and united by a col5 lective vision of supporting participation in 

6 STEM through the creation of accessible, inclu7 sive STEM learning experiences and opportuni8 ties (as defined in the CoSTEM Annual 

9 Progress Report of 2020) with a broad range of 

10 non-Federal partners, including pre-K through 

11 grade 12 schools, informal educators, institu12 tions of higher education (including community 

13 colleges, historically Black colleges and univer14 sities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal Col15 leges and Universities, and other minority-serv16 ing institutions), employers, other nonprofit or17 ganizations, economic and workforce develop18 ment organizations, industry or trade organiza19 tions, trade or technician training schools, so20 cial services providers, faith-based organiza21 tions, museums, libraries, credentialing organi22 zations, and other lifelong learning organiza23 tions; or 

24 (B) an office, task force, or other section 

25 of the office of the Governor of a State, a State 


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1 educational agency, or a Tribal government that 

2 has the mission of improving STEM education 

3 and outcomes within the State. 

4 (9) STEM LEARNING STAKEHOLDER.—The 

5 term ‘‘STEM learning stakeholder’’ means an orga6 nization that is— 

7 (A) dedicated to the goal of improving 

8 STEM belonging, participation, and learning; 

9 (B) providing accessible and inclusive 

10 STEM experiences and opportunities; or 

11 (C) supporting seamless educational and 

12 STEM workforce transitions. 

13 (10) TRIBAL COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY.—The 

14 term ‘‘Tribal College or University’’ has the meaning 

15 given the term in section 316 of the Higher Edu16 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c). 

17 SEC. 4. STEM ECOSYSTEM GRANTS. 

18 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of a grant awarded 

19 under this section is to leverage the expertise, depth of 

20 cross-sector partnerships, and equity focus of STEM eco21 systems to enhance the value of STEM-intensive organiza22 tions in improving STEM learning to address immediate 

23 and long-term STEM workforce and economic needs in 

24 States and communities. 

25 (b) GRANTS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director, subject to the 

2 availability of appropriations, may award grants on 

3 a competitive basis to eligible entities to carry out 

4 the activities described in paragraph (4). The Direc5 tor shall notify the Committee of all grant awards, 

6 including the grant recipients, made under this sec7 tion. 

8 (2) TERM.—A grant awarded under paragraph 

9 (1)— 

10 (A) shall be for a period of 3 to 5 years; 

11 and 

12 (B) may be renewed for additional 3-year 

13 periods. 

14 (3) APPLICATIONS.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity seek16 ing funding under paragraph (1) shall submit 

17 to the Director an application at such time, in 

18 such manner, and containing such information 

19 as the Director may require. 

20 (B) REQUIREMENTS.—An application sub21 mitted under subparagraph (A) shall include, at 

22 a minimum— 

23 (i) a description of the eligible entity, 

24 including, in the case of an eligible part25 nership, a description of the role that each 


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1 member of the eligible partnership will play 

2 in implementing the proposal for the use of 

3 the grant funds; 

4 (ii) a description of each of the activi5 ties to be carried out by the eligible entity 

6 using the grant funds; and 

7 (iii) an evaluation plan that includes 

8 outcome-oriented measures to determine 

9 the impact and efficacy of the grant 

10 award. 

11 (4) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded under 

12 paragraph (1) shall be used for activities that draw 

13 on the expertise of eligible entities to improve STEM 

14 learning, the STEM network or community of prac15 tice, and workforce development, including— 

16 (A) convening STEM learning stakeholders 

17 to review and assess statewide or regional 

18 STEM education needs and practices, share 

19 best practices, and bolster existing programs or 

20 develop new programs and other means to ad21 dress such needs; 

22 (B) designing or developing sustainable 

23 systems to support STEM learning connections, 

24 networks, and infrastructure; 


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1 (C) developing eligible partnerships to ex2 pand access to the opportunities described in 

3 subparagraphs (A) and (B) to rural and under4 represented populations, including by 

5 supplementing the support needed to partici6 pate in those opportunities; 

7 (D) developing regional hubs or working 

8 groups within a STEM ecosystem to connect el9 igible partnerships described in subparagraph 

10 (C) with State and local workforce trajectories; 

11 (E) convening STEM learning stakeholder 

12 to support State-level workforce planning to en13 sure alignment between STEM learning activi14 ties and workforce needs; 

15 (F) obtaining technical assistance provided 

16 by an outside organization; and 

17 (G) supporting STEM learning programs, 

18 events, or pre-enrollment activities, including 

19 measurable outreach campaigns to raise STEM 

20 awareness in rural or underserved areas. 

21 (5) GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY.—Not fewer than 

22 25 percent of grants awarded under this section and 

23 25 percent of the total amount awarded under para24 graph (1) shall be made to eligible entities serving 

25 jurisdictions that participate in the program under 


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1 section 113 of the National Science Foundation Au2 thorization Act of 1988 (42 U.S.C. 1862g). 

3 (6) EVALUATIONS.—Each recipient of a grant 

4 under this section shall provide, at the conclusion of 

5 every year during which the grant funds are re6 ceived, an evaluation according to the evaluation 

7 plan submitted under paragraph (3)(B)(iii). 

8 (c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this section, the 

9 Director shall, for the purpose of enhancing program ef10 fectiveness and avoiding duplications of activities, consult, 

11 cooperate, and coordinate with the programs and policies 

12 of other relevant Federal agencies. 

13 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 

14 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated 

15 $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026. 

Æ 


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