giving back
THE KUMA FOUNDATION is Full STEAM Ahead for a Bright Future By Wendy Migdal
I
t’s likely that, if you were to take a random sample, most people would be able to complete the phrase that Gandhi made famous, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” But few have actually done it. Ray Kimble, founder of the Kuma Foundation, is one of those few. Kimble works in cybersecurity. To be precise, he works at a company he started nine years ago with the same name — Kuma. He became aware of the fact that two million jobs in the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering, and math — sit vacant in the United States, because we don’t have the talent to fill them. It’s a phenomenon that the National Science Foundation has termed “the missing millions” because, in addition to the vacancies, those jobs that are filled don’t represent the cultural diversity of the United States. Demographically, many groups are not participating in the STEM fields.
Overcoming Obstacles
The Kuma Foundation hopes to change that. To do that, they’ve addressed several problems that nearly always arise for underprivileged children. “The two big barriers that these students face are transportation and cost of the program,” says Kimble. “Their school may not have a STEM program. They may not be able to afford a robotics program or to go to a Mathnasium. With dual working parents, they don’t have a way to get there.” At the elementary level, Kuma provides STEAM activities and clubs (the extra “A” stands for Arts) that are virtual, in-school, or hybrid. Some teachers augment their science program with Kuma’s video activities. The foundation also has in-person, after-
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February 2023 prince william living
Ray Kimble, the founder, speaking at a Women in Microsoft event.
school programs at Georgetown South and in The Plains, where community directors and social workers have strong relationships with the families and bring interested children to the programs. “We’re committed to making these programs 100% free,” says Kimble. To that end, the Foundation ships materials to schools, community centers, and individual families. He admits that keeping it free can be difficult. Kuma has corporate partnerships and its nine board members contribute their own money as well. The fact that the foundation has no physical offices means that overhead is low (a model Kimble was used to with his for-profit company as well.)
