During the height of the pandemic, RTW Charitable Foundation reached out to Arete Education through President of Community Engagement Marti Speranza Wong. It was a call out of the blue offering help to students and families in the South Bronx. “What do you really need?” Marti asked. “We want to get money to grassroots organizations immediately to help families who are suffering.” After that initial call with RTW, the funding came weeks later to launch the Arete Hope Network. The program provided wraparound support for 30 families living in temporary housing during the pandemic who were facing significant barriers to accessing school. As a result all students participating in the program passed all their core classes and successfully completed the school year in good standing.

Fast forward three and a half years, and RTW Charitable Foundation is still investing in grassroots education organizations in the South Bronx through an innovative RTW BioQuest program and other innovative programs to put teens into project-based learning contexts that inspire their work as future scientists, investors, and entrepreneurs. Our students in grades 7-10 have been working alongside mentors at RTW as part of the BioQuest and Week Without Walls Programs facilitated through Arete.

RTW’s BioQuest STEM mentoring program is in its first year. Through the pilot over 50 students across Arete the Hunts Point Alliance for Children have engaged with 20 RTW mentors to learn about diverse careers in biotech. They engage in team challenges, explore career pathways into science, and visit professional settings across the city. Students have toured RTW Investments, learning how a company sets out to invest in biomedical breakthrough technologies, as well as JLABS and Weill Cornell BioVenture eLabs learning about applied careers in STEM. Through RTW’s BioQuest, students have also done scientific investigations on the BioBus and spent the day in New Jersey at the Liberty Science Center. BioQuest mentors led hands-on lab activities including extracting DNA from strawberries, team pipette racing, and a video demonstration of robotics technology used in the lab. Students got to explore the space, engage with their mentors, and meet the Head of JLABS US Northeast. This markable group of professionals across the city has invested so much in our students this year. We are so appreciative to be able to facilitate this amazing partnership into a second school year.