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Adult Advocates

Adult Advocates

What Is a SWE Adult Advocate?

A SWE adult advocate is an adult who engages with and empowers girls and young women to prepare for engineering careers. As an adult advocate, you aid SWENexters in developing their interest in STEM and engineering and supporting them throughout their educational development. You can support SWENexters by volunteering, mentoring, or leading outreach events in your community. All volunteers and staff interacting with youth, including SWE youth advocacy leadership, must complete the SWE Youth Protection training.  Please join our mailing list.


Ways to Advocate

The SWENext program is a way for young girls to become a part of the SWE. Help build the SWENext Community by encouraging girls to become SWENexters. Membership is free! Refer to the SWENext Resource page for downloadable resources.

SWENext Clubs are a way to connect with SWENexters in your area. Learn more about clubs and sign up to be a SWENext Club Counselor.

Are you currently doing outreach? If so, complete the Outreach Metric Tool (OMT) to report your event so we SWE can share how members are helping to grow the SWE community.

SWE Outreach by Numbers FY

As a youth advocate, you can encourage, support, or mentor SWENexters who are actively engaged in STEM by encouraging them to apply to various SWENext Awards. Learn more.

Expand your outreach efforts by collaborating with other SWE Sections or Affiliates for your next event! 

Expand your outreach efforts by collaborating with other SWE Sections for your next event! Take a look at the guide, Reaching Out To Other SWE Sections, to learn best practices in connecting with a SWE Section. Need to find your local SWE Section or Affiliate? Check out the map

You can also collaborate with partner organizations to create outreach programs with a shared mission and vision. 

Interested in starting a SWENext Mentoring Program? Check out the SWENext Mentoring Program Guide.

Tools & Resources

If you organize SWENext or outreach events, you can promote your event in the SWE newsletters. Learn more.

The Outreach Toolkit offers a step-by-step process for planning your outreach events. Begin with the Event Planning Worksheet, which provides a step-by-step process for you and your team to follow for your Outreach Events. Access the Outreach Toolkit and check out SWENext resources available for download.

Micro-grants are available to support the strategic activities of SWE Organizations (Sections, MALs, Society Committees, or Affiliates). Learn more about Program Development Grants.