INCLUDES Collaborative Change Consortia: Developing and Strengthening Partnerships to Better Support Women of Color in the Engineering Workforce

NSF INCLUDES协作改变联盟项目的更广泛影响是通过提高有色人种女性的保留率来增加性别和种族交叉领域工程劳动力的多样性。在劳动力中，有色人种女性占工程专业人员的比例不到6%。研究表明，女性离职率高于男性，这凸显了现实世界中在招聘、晋升和薪酬决策方面存在的偏见和歧视，这对有色人种女性造成了特别严重的后果。专业的STEM协会、学术机构和雇主已经为女性工程师和有色人种工程师开发了许多项目和服务，但这些努力往往没有为有色人种的女性工程师提供足够的服务。该项目支持有色人种女性工程合作组织（WCEC），该组织致力于解决有色人种女性工程师面临的独特挑战。通过跨部门组织的凝聚力支持系统，WCEC将利用资源促进系统性变革，同时共同消除导致有色人种女工程师流失的障碍。WCEC增加了NSF INCLUDES国家网络的STEM平等知识库，集中了一个经常被引用，但研究和解决不足的挑战，即在工程劳动力中保留有色人种女性。拟议的项目解决了一个首要问题：在工程专业中保留有色人种女性的有前途的做法有多大影响？为了回答这个问题，WCEC将与成员组织分享有前途的实践案例研究，支持有色人种女性追求专业发展机会，并增加有色人种女性工程师及其参与组织对现有项目和服务的接触和曝光。WCEC将从目前的29个成员组织扩展到包括更多来自行业，政府，高等教育和专业STEM协会的合作伙伴，通过他们在高等教育和公共和私营部门的网络，创建一个支持系统，系统地影响女性从大学到职业生涯到晋升的过渡。WCEC将采用集体影响的方法，通过创新的解决方案和集体知识的共享，解决有色人种女工程师面临的系统性障碍。项目的影响将通过参与者的反馈、增加的意识和观点、更牢固的关系、更大的信心和更有效的领导来衡量。WCEC项目资源将通过WCEC网站、播客、网络研讨会和会议与NSF INCLUDES国家网络和公众共享。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this NSF INCLUDES Collaborative Change Consortia project is to increase the diversity of the engineering workforce at the intersections of gender and race by improving the retention of women of color. In the workforce, women of color comprise less than 6% of engineering professionals. Research shows women leave the profession at higher rates than men, highlighting real-world experiences of bias and discrimination in hiring, promotion, and compensation decisions, which have particularly dire consequences for women of color. Professional STEM societies, academic institutions, and employers have developed numerous programs and services for women engineers and engineers of color, but women of color engineers are often left underserved by these efforts. This project supports the Women of Color in Engineering Collaborative (WCEC), a consortium addressing the unique challenges facing women engineers of color. Through a cohesive support system of organizations from across sectors, the WCEC will leverage resources to promote systemic change while collectively removing barriers that lead to the attrition of women engineers of color. The WCEC adds to the NSF INCLUDES National Network’s STEM equity knowledge base, centering an often cited, yet understudied and under addressed, challenge of retaining women of color in the engineering workforce.The proposed project addresses one overarching question: How impactful are promising practices in retaining women of color in the engineering profession? To answer this question, the WCEC will share case studies of promising practices with member organizations, support women of color in their pursuit of professional development opportunities, and increase access and exposure of existing programs and services to women engineers of color and the organizations with which they engage. The WCEC will expand from its current membership of 29 organizations to include more partners from industry, government, higher education, and professional STEM societies to create a support system that systematically impacts women’s transition from college to career to promotion through their networks in higher education and the public and private sectors. Using a collective impact approach, the WCEC will tackle the systemic barriers that exist for women engineers of color through innovative solutions and the sharing of collective knowledge. The impact of the project will be measured through participant feedback, increased awareness and perspective, stronger relationships, greater confidence, and more effective leadership. WCEC project resources will be shared across the collaborative and with the NSF INCLUDES National Network and the public through the WCEC website, podcasts, webinars, and conferences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.