Mission 44’s Head of Impact (STEM Pathways), Chiara De Luca, and Head of Youth Impact, Deshni Pyndiah, explore why philanthropy must give young people a seat at the table to shape the future of STEM.
The young people in classrooms today will be the engineers, innovators, and problem-solvers shaping the world of tomorrow, but too often they are excluded from decisions shaping their own futures.
A persistent lack of representation across technical and leadership roles in STEM limits innovation and productivity, weakening talent pipelines. Young people are often seen as ‘beneficiaries’, rather than partners in creating the pathways into the jobs they will be expected to fill in the future. The STEM sector thrives on innovation and fresh ideas, achieved through a diverse range of experiences, perspectives and knowledge. Without listening to young people, we risk building pipelines or programmes that don’t reflect their realities and fall short of what’s needed for the future.
At Mission 44, we are driving change so that every young person can thrive from classroom to career. This year, we marked our fifth year of operations. Since launching in 2021, we have invested £9+ million across the UK, the three US cities of Austin, Miami, and Las Vegas, and São Paulo (Brazil) reaching over 550k young people.
But building a future shaped by innovation and opportunity requires more than investment alone. It takes listening to young people and recognising them as partners, leaders and experts in shaping the pathways into high-growth STEM industries.
Through supporting young people in the past five years, we have learned that they often face a series of barriers into STEM:
Addressing these challenges requires active listening to young people’s needs and ambitions and their involvement in shaping solutions.
Mission 44 focuses its efforts on underrepresented young people who are left out of opportunities to enter and thrive in high-growth, local STEM careers, particularly women and girls, young people from ethnic minority backgrounds and from lower-income backgrounds. All of the locations we work in are homes to young people with unique aspirations and barriers they need to overcome. We engage communities to ensure we are responding to local needs and specific contexts.
We believe that the most transformational and sustainable change happens when young people are leading the change: “Nothing about us without us”.
Across the social impact sector, there is a growing understanding that the best solutions come from involving people who face the challenges we aim to solve. Too often, however, programmes are designed for young people rather than with them.
When young people help shape decisions, solutions become more relevant, trusted, and impactful. Their lived experiences offer critical insight into what works, what does not, and what needs to change. Putting young people at the centre of philanthropy means recognising them as experts in their own experiences and partners in shaping solutions.
At Mission 44, we are committed to sharing power with young people.
Through our work with young people, we model the change we want to see. For example, through our new £500,000 STEM Pathways Fund, launched in partnership with Santander UK Foundation and the input of our Youth Advisors, we are supporting organisations helping young people aged 16–19 in Further Education overcome barriers to STEM careers. The fund is youth-driven, recognising that young people themselves have an important role to play in shaping more accessible and equitable career pathways.
A key principle behind this work is that access is about more than opportunity alone. Young people also need the skills, experience, and connections to succeed. By putting their perspectives at the heart of our approach, we can invest in solutions that reflect the barriers they actually face, rather than making assumptions about what they need.
If young people are expected to build the world of tomorrow, they should also inform and shape the pathways that lead there.
Philanthropy has a unique ability to take risks, support new ideas and shift the systems that shape opportunity. But doing so means sharing power by listening to young people, valuing their insights, and involving them in decisions that affect their futures.
Encouragingly, more organisations are beginning to explore participatory grantmaking and youth engagement in decision-making. We can build together on this momentum and rethink how philanthropy can work differently.
Young people who are navigating STEM industries understand the barriers and opportunities better than anyone else. Their unique insights can ensure that the solutions we support are grounded in lived experience and built to create lasting change.
The next generation of innovators is already here. The real question is whether we’re willing to make space for them in the decisions that shape their futures.
- Chiara De Luca, Head of Impact (STEM Pathways), Mission 44
- Deshni Pyndiah, Head of Youth Impact, Mission 44
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