Google announces $500,000 for Mayes County schools and youth programs, including Pryor services

Google announced July 8 that its Community Investment Fund will provide a combined $500,000 to five nonprofit and school organizations in Mayes County, including expanded after-school STEM programming at Boys & Girls Clubs of Green Country locations in Pryor, Locust Grove and Chouteau.

The investment is intended to increase access to technology and educational opportunities across the county. For children served in Pryor, the Boys & Girls Clubs programming will include STEM pathways, aerospace and engineering kits, interactive electrical-design activities and tablet-enabled robotics.

What the Pryor-area program includes

Boys & Girls Clubs of Green Country plans to expand its after-school STEM pathways at three locations. Pryor is one of those locations, along with Locust Grove and Chouteau.

The planned activities are designed around hands-on technology and engineering. The announced materials include aerospace and engineering kits, activities focused on electrical design and robotics projects using tablets.

The announcement does not break out how much of the $500,000 will go specifically to the Boys & Girls Clubs programming in Pryor, nor does it give an implementation timetable or estimate the number of Pryor students expected to participate.

Countywide funding package

Google said the overall package covers five local nonprofit and school organizations. In addition to Boys & Girls Clubs of Green Country, the announcement identifies school-related grants supporting Salina, Chouteau-Mazie and Locust Grove.

Pryor Public Schools is not identified as a direct recipient in the announcement. The funding instead identifies programming that will operate through the Boys & Girls Clubs at its Pryor location.

The investment comes as Pryor and the surrounding region continue to build education and workforce connections around technology. Northeast Tech opened a 4,400-square-foot Workforce Training Hub in downtown Pryor, with 10 offices for facilities and business-industry-services teams. The hub supports workforce training and business recruitment.

Together, the youth programming and workforce facility point to different stages of the same broader need: helping area residents build technology and technical skills. The Google-funded activities are aimed at after-school learning, while the Northeast Tech facility serves workforce training and business recruitment.

Google’s July 8 announcement is the known public step for the grant package. A start date for the Boys & Girls Clubs expansion and a specific participation target for Pryor had not been announced.