Founder of Education Technology non-profit Miami EdTech creates NFT collection with plans to use proceeds to level the playing field in STEM

MIAMI, FL, UNITED STATES, December 23, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The rising number of social impact projects leveraging digital art in the nonfungible token (NFT) space marks a powerful development in fundraising efforts for charitable causes. One such project, spearheaded by the education technology non-profit Miami EdTech, is called BonyPlatez - an initiative aimed at addressing challenges in STEM and Crypto education and how schools and teachers can overcome them.

Miami EdTech, a previous Microsoft grant recipient, works to develop capacity for teachers to deliver CS and technology-enabled lessons in their classrooms while also making CS education more inclusive and boosting the number and diversity of CS-savvy teachers.

“Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been around since 2014 but have skyrocketed in popularity over the past few months,” said Carlos Vazquez, Founder and President of Miami EdTech. “I saw a unique opportunity to ride the NFT wave and bring awareness to the challenges educators face in inspiring and empowering the next generation of STEM workers. I was particularly inspired by Sotheby's dedicated marketplace for NFTs and how they used proceeds to support frontline healthcare workers.”

The Miami EdTech team, made up of several Miami Dade College graduates and current FIU seniors, was excited and up to the challenge of launching the NFT collection despite a lack of good documentation available on how to do so. “We were especially motivated by the lack of Women involved in the space and wanted to do something about it early on in the NFT craze,” said Gabriela Martinez, Lead Designer at Miami EdTech and a senior at FIU majoring in Graphic Design. “I always wanted to be a Game Designer but didn’t see anyone who looked like me in the field and that frustrated me. Ultimately, I decided to pursue Graphic Design, but we need to be more intentional about the opportunities we provide people from historically excluded groups.”

Carlos Vazquez, adjunct professor at Miami Dade College since 2014, hopes that the BonyPlatez collection serves as a reminder to NFT collectors and enthusiasts that there is still much work to do to level the playing field in STEM and computer science careers. A 2021 report by Pew Research found that “Black and Hispanic workers remain underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce compared with their share of all workers, including in computing jobs, which have seen considerable growth in recent years.”

ABOUT MIAMI EDTECH
Miami EdTech is an education technology non-profit on a mission to make careers in STEM and Computing more accessible to historically underrepresented populations. Substantiated by a flourishing teacher-tech-centric ecosystem and mutually beneficial cross-sector partnerships, Miami EdTech envisions a world where innovative technologies redefine education with real-world, scalable solutions.

For more information about Miami EdTech, visit www.miamiedtech.com.

Carlos Vazquez
Miami EdTech
info@miamiedtech.com
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn