Canadian Association for Girls in Science Receives Grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to Support a Return to In-Person STEM Programming

Toronto, ON – Recently, the Canadian Association for Girls in Science (CAGIS) celebrated the return of its in-person programming, which was paused for two years due to the pandemic. In celebration of International Women’s Day and in recognition of an $80,200 Resilient Communities Fund grant awarded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) in 2022, CAGIS’ Toronto chapter hosted a hands-on Solar Racing Car STEM session with the University of Toronto’s Blue Sky Solar Racing Team. During the event, girls, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming youth were invited to explore sustainability, engineering, and solar power by building their own small-scale race cars.  

“Our priority has always been to keep our members, volunteers, and STEM experts safe,” says Dr. Larissa Vingilis-Jaremko, CAGIS founder and president. “Thanks to this grant from the OTF, CAGIS has been able to relaunch our unparalleled in-person STEM programming while prioritizing the health and safety of our community.”

The Resilient Communities Fund grant from OTF has supported the recovery efforts of CAGIS as it rebuilt and recovered from the impacts of COVID-19, allowing the organization to adapt its in-person STEM program to maximize participant and volunteer safety. CAGIS’ award-winning program takes youth on monthly adventures to amazing STEM locations like chemistry labs to do experiments, wind tunnels to test bridges, garages to tune up cars, and ponds to sample fish. 

CAGIS is Canada’s largest and longest-running not-for-profit STEM club for girls, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming youth aged 7-16. It has been lauded for its excellence in science promotion by the prestigious Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Michael Smith Award for Science Promotion and the WCT Empowerment Award for leadership in inspiring girls to enter STEM. CAGIS has been featured in municipal, national, and international media and is grateful to have received funding from provincial and federal governments, corporations, scientific societies, and foundations. For more information about CAGIS programs and how to join, visit www.GirlsInScience.ca.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations celebrates 40 years of grantmaking in Ontario and making a lasting impact in communities. Last year, OTF invested nearly $209M into 2,042 community projects and partnerships, which included funding for the Government of Ontario’s Community Building Fund. Visit otf.ca to learn more.