WASHINGTON D.C. – AARP announced the winners of the AARP Purpose Prize award which includes Calvin Mackie, Ph.D., CEO and founder of STEM NOLA. This annual award recognizes extraordinary nonprofit founders age 50 or older who are using their knowledge and life experience to make a difference. AARP will award each Purpose Prize winner $50,000 for their organization. Honorees will also receive a year of technical support to help broaden the scope of their organizations’ work. From voter advocacy and health equity to STEM education and post-release support, the work of this year’s honorees affects a variety of communities.
“I’m truly honored to receive the AARP Purpose Prize award and grateful for the recognition of our work. This award reaffirms our mission to expose, inspire and engage young minds through interactive, hands-on STEM activity. It also motivates us to further enlighten children and communities throughout the country with our events and programs to opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. A heartfelt thank you to AARP for your support in helping us expand our reach and empower the next generation of innovators, creators, makers and entrepreneurs,” said Dr. Mackie in a press release.
STEM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, represents the cornerstone of modern innovation and progress. It is the interdisciplinary teaching of these subjects that lays the foundation for technological breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and economic prosperity. STEM NOLA, founded in 2013 by Calvin Mackie, PhD, a visionary native of New Orleans and former tenured Tulane University Engineering professor and his wife Tracy Mackie, has emerged as a national leader in designing and delivering STEM-based activities, programs, and events to K-12 students, families, and communities.
Notably, Mackie will receive his award from AARP alongside actress Taraji P. Henson. Henson will receive an honorary AARP Award for eradicating the stigma around mental health within marginalized communities through her foundation, Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, that was created in honor of her father. Henson’s foundation, which launched in 2018, honors the legacy of her father, who battled untreated mental health issues after returning from the Vietnam War. The foundation focuses on providing mental health resources and encouraging members of marginalized communities to seek help and support without fear and shame.
The mission of STEM NOLA and now STEM Global Action is to “expose, engage, and inspire future innovators, creators, makers and entrepreneurs through STEM-based activities and to opportunities in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).” Since 2013, STEM NOLA | STEM Global Action has engaged over 160,000 participants in grades K-12.
“Our AARP Purpose Prize winners show the power that lived experience can bring to solving some of the most urgent problems facing us today,” said Barb Quaintance, AARP Vice President of Enterprise Awards. “In finding their own purpose, they are improving lives around the world.”
Recipients and their organizations will be honored during an in-person celebration in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 1, 2024. For more information, go to aarp.org/purposeprize.
