# SteamHead

> SteamHead is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit maker education organisation. It
> partners with schools and learning communities to deliver hands-on,
> project-based STEAM programs, and supports educators in adopting
> maker-centered teaching practices. Legal name: "SteamHead" (no "LLC").
> Volunteer work began in 2011; recognized as a 501(c)(3) public charity in
> California in 2018. EIN 82-4533355.

## Programs

- [MakeFashion Edu](https://steamhead.space/makefashion-edu/): FashionTech in
  the classroom — students combine fashion and technology in wearable pieces
  they design themselves. Free to schools; typically ~100 hours of adult
  supervisor time, mostly in-class with students. Runway shows and season
  books archived on [The Shelf](https://steamhead.space/theshelf/). An online
  course is also available at
  [/courses/mfedu-intro/](https://steamhead.space/courses/mfedu-intro/) and
  [/courses/mfedu-2026/](https://steamhead.space/courses/mfedu-2026/).
- [Neighborhood Earth](https://steamhead.space/neighborhood-earth/):
  SteamHead's longest-running program — global educator outreach and
  place-based learning, active in nine countries since 2011 (US, China,
  Bhutan, Brazil, Germany, Canada, UK, Sri Lanka, Italy). Includes Maker
  Events and the Mobile Makerspace (Argosy Airstream) project.
  - Resident Educators (SteamHead R.ED): by invitation only, based in
    California (previously hosted at the Shenzhen makerspace).
  - Shenzhen Makerspace: closed in 2024.
  - Virtual Maker Exhibition: historical, held 2020–2021.
- [System Upgrade](https://steamhead.space/system-upgrade/): rethinking
  education through authentic, project-based learning. Includes SHTEAM Labs
  activity journals and a multi-year partnership with the San Francisco
  Unified School District (~900 students over 3 years) and Tucson Unified
  School District. SteamHead Productions produces runway films, class
  documentaries, and teacher resources.

## Impact (approximate)

- Founded 2011; 501(c)(3) since 2018.
- Direct contact with roughly 1,000 elementary, ~30 middle school, 6 high
  school, and ~20 university students each year, plus an estimated 2,000+
  more reached indirectly (exhibitions, social media, runway events, online
  tutorials).
- Primary school partners: San Francisco Unified School District and Tucson
  Unified School District, plus 3–4 additional schools or learning
  communities worldwide each year for individual projects.
- Nine countries reached: US, China, Bhutan, Brazil, Germany, Canada, UK,
  Sri Lanka, Italy.
- Cities include Shenzhen, San Francisco, Tucson, and Calgary.

## Funding & Partnerships

SteamHead runs on volunteer time, in-kind support, project-based grants, and
donations of any amount. It does not run fixed-tier sponsorship packages;
funding and partnership conversations happen case by case. Details:
[/funders-partnerships/](https://steamhead.space/funders-partnerships/).
Contact: James Simpson, james@steamhead.space.

## Governance

Volunteer Board of Directors: Christy P. Wang (President), Carrie Leung
(Treasurer; board member since Feb. 2018), Benjamin (James) Simpson
(Secretary), Twila Busby, Maria Ellena Villagomez, Shannon Hoover. Full
listing: [/about-us/](https://steamhead.space/about-us/).

## Key pages

- [/about-us/](https://steamhead.space/about-us/) — mission, team, board,
  funding.
- [/faq/](https://steamhead.space/faq/) — common questions.
- [/funders-partnerships/](https://steamhead.space/funders-partnerships/) —
  how to fund or partner with SteamHead.
- [/form-990-n/](https://steamhead.space/form-990-n/) — nonprofit status,
  EIN, and links to verify directly with the IRS.
- [/blog/](https://steamhead.space/blog/) — the Great Things Blog.

## Licensing and reuse

Full terms: [/license/](https://steamhead.space/license/).

- **Writing and teaching materials** — blog posts, lesson plans, course
  material, guides, worksheets, and SteamHead's own diagrams and illustrations
  — are licensed **CC BY-SA 4.0**. Quote them, index them, learn from them,
  adapt them. Credit SteamHead and pass adaptations on under the same terms.
- **The website's source code** is MIT.
- **Photographs and video showing identifiable people are all rights reserved
  and are NOT licensed for reuse, redistribution, dataset inclusion, or model
  training.** Many of the people pictured are children. A Creative Commons
  licence grants copyright only and cannot grant their likeness rights, so
  SteamHead does not offer these images under one. Reuse requires written
  permission from james@steamhead.space, which is given readily for
  educational use. Photographs with no identifiable person in them are
  CC BY-SA 4.0 like everything else.
- **"SteamHead" and the SteamHead logo are trademarks.** Naming SteamHead to
  credit it is welcome and is what CC BY-SA attribution requires. Using the
  name or logo as a badge on other organisations' programmes or materials is
  not permitted.

Anyone appearing in a photograph on the site, or their parent or guardian, can
have it removed by writing to james@steamhead.space. No reason required.

This entire site is open to crawling and indexing by AI systems and search
engines; no pages are blocked. That openness covers the text as described
above. It does not extend to the photographs.