Firewheel STEM Institute Gila River Indian Community Grant Briefing.docx

Tribal Gaming Community Application Briefing:
Non-Profit Submission
Tribal Gaming Community Applying To
Gila River Indian Community
Name of the Non-profit Organization
Firewheel STEM Institute
Does the Non-profit Organization have IRS Tax-Exempt Status?
Yes
Contact Information
Glen Pohle
grants@firewheel.org
(480) 710-7245
Application Priority Areas
Education
Title of the Project
STEM Enrichment Programming
Amount Intended to Request
$40,000 ($20,000 per year for 2 years)
Purpose of the Grant
Firewheel STEM Institute's mission is to bridge the Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Math (STEM) divide in underserved populations in our communities to prepare
them for the 21st century workforce. Firewheel seeks to address a foundational
challenge in our regional education-to-workforce pipeline: the scarcity of opportunities
for students to engage in hands-on, project-based STEM learning. Although classroom
learning is essential, mastery of fields like robotics, automation, and advanced
manufacturing requires sustained, practical application with industry-grade tools and
expert instruction, which are often unavailable in Arizona schools. Firewheel fills a
critical gap in the STEM ecosystem by providing local students with valuable access to
advanced technology and
expert guidance.
Together, our programs create direct pipelines from under-resourced communities to
STEM careers. Since 1998, we have served youth and young adults in Phoenix East
Valley communities. In 2021, Firewheel opened our STEM Center, a 5,200- square-foot,
fully equipped facility in Chandler that we use to host free, year-round STEM
programming for local students. To expand our reach, we introduced the STEAM Engine
in 2025.

This Mobile STEM Center enables us to deliver STEM education directly to students
wherever they are. In 2025, we also changed our name from Si Se Puede Foundation to
Firewheel STEM Institute to better reflect the depth, scale, and impact of our mission.
What began as a grassroots effort to support a small group of students has grown into a
statewide movement to combat one of the most urgent challenges of our time: the
socioeconomic divide in STEM. A grant from the Gila River Indian Community will
enable Firewheel to maintain free access to our advanced facilities, sustain our proven
mentorship model, and ensure that interested students (ages 12-23) can participate in
our transformative programming without encountering financial barriers.
Project Summary
Firewheel STEM Institute respectfully requests 40,000 (20,000 per year for two years)
from the Gila River Indian Community to advance STEM Enrichment Programming
during fiscal years 2027 and 2028. During each year, this grant will help Firewheel
provide substantive STEM instruction and support to approximately 700 students from
underrepresented communities in STEM fields.
The youth and young adults that Firewheel serves gain confidence, resilience, and a
passion for lifelong learning through the following STEM programs and initiatives:

COMPETITIVE ROBOTICS TEAMS: Firewheel's four student-led robotics teams
design and build robots for regional and national robotics competitions. Our
teams include Degrees of Freedom, a FIRST Robotics Competition team for high
school students; Desert WAVE, a college team for engineering majors that
competes in RoboNation's International RoboSub Competition; and Binary Bots
Jr. and DaGeese of Freedom teams comprised of students in grades 7-9 that
participate in FIRST Tech Challenge competitions.

ROBOTICS COMPETITIONS: Firewheel hosts two robotics competitions
annually: the FIRST Lego League (more than 300 participants) and the
National Underwater Robotics Challenge (150 participants).

SUPPORT FOR LOCAL  ROBOTICS TEAMS: Firewheel provides over 50 local
robotics teams from schools and community organizations with access to
resources for their own robotics programs.Teams can use Firewheels STEM
Center to design and fabricate their robots. BEAK

SQUAD: Firewheel provides support to other FIRST Robotics Competition teams
across the state through the Beak Squad program. Firewheel mentors and
robotics students on the Beak Squad assist other robotics teams--both at the
STEM Center and through off-site house call visits--with troubleshooting and
problem-solving as they design, construct, and test their robots for competition.

 JEEP HACK: Firewheel uses STEM to improve the lives of youth living with
limited mobility through our Jeep Hack service initiative. Our students volunteer
their time and talent to modify toy jeeps for children who cannot use their legs,
enabling children to push a button to move the jeep. Once modified, these toy
jeeps are given free of charge to children in need.

MOBILE STEM CENTER: Firewheel deploys its Mobile STEM Center,
affectionately known as the STEAM Engine, to bring a pop-up STEM classroom
and hands-on STEM experiences wherever they are needed. The STEAM

Engine comes equipped with 10 laptops, four 3D printers, one laser engraver,
and one CNC mill. It is battery-powered and connected to the internet via
Starlink, so it can operate entirely off the grid, enabling us to deploy it anywhere.
Firewheel's students have been a great source of pride for our organization and the City
of Chandler. Our women's college robotics team, Desert WAVE, was presented with
certificates of recognition by the City of Chandler for their national and global robotics
competition performances, and our high school robotics team, Degrees of Freedom,
received formal recognition from the City of Chandler for qualifying to compete at the
world FRC championships. Firewheel's work was also highlighted by the City of
Chandler in their February 2025 State of the City address.
Impact on the City of Chandler
Firewheel STEM Institute has been serving Chandler's youth for 28 years. During fiscal
years 2027 and 2028, Firewheel aims to deliver free, substantive STEM instruction and
support to approximately 700 students (each year) from underrepresented communities
in STEM fields. Because our STEM Center is located in Chandler, many of the students
we serve are Chandler residents or attend Chandler schools. We provide these
students with a safe and productive environment where they can build academic skills
and confidence within a supportive community. We serve additional Chandler residents
and students
through our STEM outreach at community organizations and events. We also host a
Lego Robotics tournament each December at Microchip Technology's headquarters in
Chander, attended by nearly 300 middle school students and their families.
Address of Non-profit Organization the City of Chandler will Send the Tribal
Community Grant Payment Address
3225 N Washington St.
Chandler, Arizona. 85225
Contact Name for Receipt of Payment
Name
Glen Pohle