Help launch Real World Matters in the DMV

Real World Matters is dedicated to working with schools, universities, and employers to expand meaningful work-based learning opportunities, in and beyond school walls, across the DC metropolitan area. The nation’s capital is a one-of-a-kind workplace landscape, with access to leaders in business, government, media, and the arts. It has a strong foundation of institutions already invested in and involving high school and university students in real world experiences that create wide ranging benefits in students’s lives, from durable skills to influential relationships to strong career pathways.

Carolyn Harris founded RWM. It’s approach builds on recognized work-based learning models she developed and led with educators and other professionals in NASA, Columbia, CUNY, and the DC and New York City public schools, and driven by what former apprentices say, two decades on, about what actually mattered.

What your gift funds

• A regional scan — Maps the DMV’s work-based learning programs: what exists, where the gaps are, and where partners can meet.

• A founding coalition summit — Brings leaders, youth, practitioners, former NASA apprentices, and researchers together to act on the scan findings, commit to one shared goal and to building an ecosystem that can prepare students for future work.

• Design workshops at three schools — Turns a single employer relationship into a signature program that reaches a full cohort.

Where your money goes

Game Genius, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, serves as the fiscal sponsor and business advisor for Real World Matters. Your donation is tax-deductible and is held, managed and disbursed by Game Genius to support Real World Matters funding objectives defined above.

Questions before you give? Email carolyn@rwmatters.com or visit our website.

Real World Matters

Broadening student access to career shaping work experiences