Our website proclaims that an area of focus for Portland Metro STEM Partnership is to “Achieve equity in STEM education and careers for all students—regardless of ability, ethnicity, gender, language, race, socioeconomic status, or ZIP code—including improved outcomes and greater participation for underserved students.” Quite rightly, a partner recently asked us, “How does a STEM Hub, focused on regional partnerships, keep focused on actions that benefit those students needing the most support?” Implicit in that question are several challenges STEM Hubs must address:
How to engage and work with
organizations with different understandings of what Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion actually means (beyond textbook definitions)
Individuals within the dominant culture (i.e., white privilege) with a wide range of understanding or experience as an Ally to the BIPOC community
marginalized communities that have legitimate reasons not to trust individuals from or representing the dominant culture
Luckily, we have been able to engage people of color alongside white Allies within our governance structure. Our Steering Committee understood the challenge of staying focused on Equity within a broad-based collaborative partnership and created a “Strategic Decision Filter” as a tool to engage current and future partners around designing collaborative projects to specifically benefit underserved students. After much deliberation and debate, one Steering Committee member sketched out the tool on the agenda:
Perhaps not surprisingly, given that the Steering Committee included STEM practitioners, the tool does indeed act like a filter. The idea, concept, or proposed project starts at the top of the filter and must work its way through each of the six “elements. Each element provides PMSP and the partners the opportunity to discuss what that it means and, more importantly, how the proposed work can be strengthened to reach more underserved students. How would you or your organization answer the following questions in the work that you do to improve outcomes for underserved youth?
Does it address Equity?
Not all students, communities, and geographic areas within our region have the same access to the tools, skills, and resources needed to lay the foundation for STEM learning. We use our funding, resources and programs to promote equitable access to effective STEM learning, with a focus on increasing access for youth of color and youth experiencing poverty.
Is it strengths-based and synergistic?
We identify community needs, then concentrate on strategic actions with high potential to amplify impact and maximize effectiveness while reducing duplication of efforts by leveraging the strengths and assets of partners for mutual benefit.
Does it cultivate a Growth Mindset?
We use our resources and programs to help instill in both adults and children a mindset that all learners (students and teachers) can develop the skills they need to succeed.
Does it build cross-sector collaborations?
We use our resources and programs to connect partners to each other and leverage the strengths (interests, skills, resources) of each partner by supporting projects that engage and benefit multiple partners.
Does it build leadership?
We build leadership capacity throughout the community and within the educational systems—including with administrators, teachers, community partners, and students—by infusing leadership principles throughout our projects and programs.
Is there accountability and use of evidence?
We build our partners' capacity to utilize evaluation strategies that measure impact, not just outputs, by supporting the use of common measures, providing research, implementing strategies for collecting relevant evidence, and implementing evaluation strategies throughout our projects and programs.