Gathering around a desktop computer tower, seventh- and eighth-graders at Christopher Elementary School’s STEM Leadership Academy eagerly started to take the system apart.

The San Jose students were getting a sneak peek at the hands-on activities they would be doing if they joined Mouse_California, a statewide program aimed at getting more minorities and low-income youth interested in science, technology, engineering and math.

“It gets them familiar with the components of a computer processing unit and what’s needed to make it operate,” said Carlos Inda, an instructor for the program, which the school offers as part of a lunchtime club. “I want them to understand if their computer is running slow what they can do to upgrade it.”

Mouse_California, which also serves schools in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park’s Belle Haven area, is among more than 50 local nonprofits that received grant funding from social media giant Facebook this year. The tech firm distributed $250,000 in grants, compared with about $100,000 in 2015.

As Facebook continues to expand its office space and workforce in Menlo Park, the company’s increasing support of nonprofits has helped the tech firm boost its reputation as a good neighbor amid traffic and housing concerns. The tech firm wants to add two more office buildings and a hotel, and some nonprofit leaders have highlighted Facebook’s community efforts in government meetings about the proposed expansion.

Facebook first created a grant program for nonprofits in 2012 as part of a deal with city officials when it increased its workforce in the former Sun Microsystems campus. Facebook contributed $500,000 to the fund and then another $100,000.

But it’s up to the tech firm to continue funding the nonprofit grants once the money is used up. Since 2012, the company with the help of Philanthropic Ventures Foundation has distributed $750,000 to nonprofits, surpassing its obligation to the city.

“In the past few years, we’ve gotten a lot of applications, so it was very obvious to us there was a lot of really great programs that bring a lot of value to the community and community members,” said Lauren Swezey, Facebook’s sustainability and community outreach manager. “We wanted to make sure that our neighbors have all the great opportunities that all the communities are getting.”

Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula, the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation, the East Palo Alto Boxing Club and Collective Roots are some of the organizations that received a grant this year. Facebook declined to disclose how much each nonprofit received, but the company offers grants of up to $15,000.

The company also runs a farmer’s market, volunteers and donates to local schools among other efforts.

“It’s really nice that Facebook is involving local organizations because I don’t know if you can have a whole lot of success if you’re not in those lines of communication,” said Wendy Horton, executive director of Collective Roots.

The nonprofit, which received a grant from Facebook for the first time this year, runs a weekly farmer’s market at the Ravenswood Family Health Center that helps increase access to healthier foods for the low-income.

Facebook keeps an eye on how the nonprofits are using the funding and its impact on Menlo Park’s Belle Haven neighborhood and East Palo Alto, Swezey said.

Mouse_California, a statewide student tech leadership program that’s part of the part of the nonprofit Aspiranet, has received grant funding from Facebook since 2013. It was formerly known as Mouse Squad of California.

More than 60 percent of students that go through the program are African-American or Latino, 40 percent are female and 65 percent qualify for free or reduced lunch, according to the organization.

At Christopher Elementary School’s STEM Leadership Academy, students participating in the nonprofit’s program said it has sparked their interest in technology. Students said they wanted to learn more about 3-D printing, robotics, programming and other activities during the school year.

“Hopefully, learning these skills will inspire them to want to go to college and pursue a career in technology, science and any of those areas given that we got this mecca of tech companies here,” said Colette Samimi, program manager for Mouse_California.

Eighth-grader Jennifer Sandoval said she joined the program to become more tech savvy.

“I mostly just wanted it for the skills to help out around school and my house and get my siblings into it so they can have those skills and get ahead,” Sandoval said.

Her friend Gisella Torrez wants to pursue a career in technology, but also knows that women are still in the minority in this field.

“Knowing that I could do something like that,” she said “it’s just empowering