Tecconnect building in Lethbridge. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

$1.68-million grant to support women in STEM fields in Lethbridge

Jul 23, 2019 | 12:35 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Significant funding from the federal government’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy is going to support women working in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

“Our government believes that women’s economic empowerment is not just the right thing to do; it’s good for the bottom line,” says Small Business and Export Promotion Minister Mary Ng. “That’s why we launched the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, a strategy that seeks to double the number of women-owned businesses by increasing their access to financing, networks and advice. It’s a smart investment with an economic and social return.”

The grant was received by Economic Development Lethbridge (EDL) for the Tecconnect program.

“The funding will help us enhance the existing training and mentoring services we offer out at Tecconnect,” says EDL CEO Trevor Lewington. “It’s partly to support women in STEM specifically, but it’s allowing for additional networking opportunities, provide them with access to funding, and really help us to focus on current and emerging technologies.”

Lewington adds that there are a lot of brilliant women that come out these programs at Lethbridge College and the University of Lethbridge.

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Sometimes, however, he claims that it is hard to get some of them to stay in the community after graduation, but this should help in that regard.

“We also know that women are generally under-represented in entrepreneurship and so, we want to make sure that the appropriate supports and processes are put into place so that we’re basically enabling women to participate fully in the economy and make sure that their contributions are being supported and recognized.”

All of the necessary paperwork has been filed with Ottawa for this grant, so EDL hopes to have it available for this fall.

More details on the Tecconnect program here.