The Toyota USA Foundation has announced twenty-three grants totaling more than $5 million in support of innovative K-12 science, technology, engineering, math, and environmental science education programs serving underserved communities.

Grant recipients include Biotech Partners, which was awarded $200,000 to expand access to its two-year biotech education program to reach more high school students in underserved communities and prepare them for careers in the life sciences; the Center for Inspired Teaching in Washington, D.C., which will receive $400,000 to disseminate and replicate a literacy-infused STEM program that builds teacher capacity and creates an engaging, inquiry-based curriculum; and $100,000 to Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, in support of its FIRST Robotics Program and to equip a new community center for robot fabrication, among other things.

Additional grants include $200,000 to the MIND Research Institute in Irvine, California, to expand the reach of its innovative visual ST Math program and boost the math proficiency of high-need public school students; $135,000 to the Oliver Scholars Program in New York City to prepare Hispanic and Latino sophomores for rigorous science and math courses; and $210,000 to the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to bolster science and math education for nearly six hundred Lakota students and give them the opportunity to pursue STEM degrees in college.

"At Toyota, we believe that when we provide young people with exciting opportunities in STEM we can help cultivate the next generation of engineers, scientists, and technologists — and that benefits all of us," said Toyota USA Foundation president Michael Rouse. "This year's grant recipients are among the most innovative education programs in the country. We are inspired by their work and look forward to seeing what their students will accomplish, both this school year and beyond."

For a complete list of grantees, visit the Toyota Foundation website.