The Harris Foundation is powered through two different programs – Dare to Dream and the Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp. Through these initiatives, THF encourages math and science education, motivates youth to stay in school, fosters youth leadership and citizenship, as well as instills the values of responsibility, fairness and respect. To date, more than 3,500 K-12 students have participated and benefited from THF programs.

Advanced technology is driving economic growth in the marketplaces around the world.  As this technology is implemented more in our daily lives, it will necessitate highly trained individuals to navigate this new environment.  As information doubles every eighteen months and we struggle to keep up, there emerges a need to educate the workforce in technological expertise. In this era of information technology, nano-technology and bioengineering, the education of the youth is of critical importance.  According to a congressional task force study, the United States will have a national shortage of more than 500,000 engineers, scientists and other technically trained workers by the year 2010.  

In the recent study by the National Academies, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm”,  its states that “ Without high-quality, knowledge-intensive jobs, and the innovative enterprises that lead to discovery and new technology, our economy will suffer and our people will face a lower standard of living. It mentioned the economics studies conducted by Robert Solow and Moses Abramovitz that shows that 85% of measured growth in the US income per capita  is due to technological change.”   Several of the committee’s recommendations centered around educating our youth: Recommendation A: Increasing America’s talent pool by vastly improving K-12 science and mathematics education, Recommendation C-1: Increase the number and proportion of US citizens who earn physical-science, life sciences, engineering, and mathematics bachelor’s degrees…”   http://www.national-academies.org/

These are compelling issues that must be addressed. As stated in the U.S. Commission on National Security in the Twenty-First Century reports, "More Americans will have to understand and work competently with science and math on a daily basis . . . the inadequacies of our systems of research and education pose a greater threat to U.S. national security over the next quarter century than any potential conventional war that we might imagine." 

Combined with the fact that early in this century minorities will represent over half of the U.S. population, means that America must make a strategic investment in the evolving workforce. It is crucial that we encourage students to become scientifically and mathematically literate, especially those who have traditionally been excluded from these fields, the “economically and/or socially disadvantaged”.  It is not enough for us to open the doors of opportunity -- we must motivate, prepare and train minority students to enter degree programs in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. This is the fastest growing segment of our population and we have an ethical and pragmatic obligation to ensure that these students are technologically oriented, especially in choosing careers.