NSF INCLUDES Planning Grant: Developing and Strengthening Partnerships to Better Support Women of Color in the Engineering Workforce

这项NSF包括计划拨款由NSF纳入全国工程和科学领域未被充分代表的发现者的学习社区(NSF Includes)资助，这是一项综合性的全国性倡议，旨在通过关注多样性、包容性和扩大对STEM的参与来加强美国在发现和创新方面的领导地位。这笔规划赠款的目标是：1)建立有色人种女性工程合作协会(WCEC)，这是一个由专业工程协会和STEM公司组成的伙伴网络，致力于解决妨碍有色人种女性工程师获得公平工作环境的系统性障碍；2)创建一个共同的愿景，专注于消除阻碍有色人种女性工程师留住和提升的系统性障碍；以及3)制定指导WCEC活动的战略计划。在工程学上达到平等，不能通过只关注招募或“修复”代表性不足的群体的方法来实现；相反，需要努力联系和激励人们，跨越部门，并推动系统变革走向公平。到目前为止，许多NSF包括的项目都集中在STEM教育项目中招募和留住学生，但WCEC将重点放在经常被提及但未得到充分研究的挑战上，即在工程劳动力中留住女性。通过WCEC，伙伴组织将更好地利用其资源促进系统变革，同时共同努力减少导致有色人种女工程师流失的障碍。为了实现上述目标，该项目包括两次召集会议和每月工作组会议。第一次为期两天的虚拟会议将包括来自30个组织的代表，包括专业工程协会和STEM公司。参与者将制定共同的愿景，确定工作场所存在的有色人种女工程师的障碍，并确定WCEC最适合解决这些障碍中的哪些。将围绕旨在消除这些障碍的具体支持建立工作组。在接下来的六个月里，WCEC合作伙伴将在其工作组内合作，制定一项战略，以促进针对其具体支持的协作活动。将举行第二次虚拟会议，以巩固工作组的战略，并制定一项综合战略计划，以支持WCEC活动的继续。WCEC将制定一份最终报告，其中包括综合战略计划，其中包括共同愿景声明、支持工程劳动力中有色人种妇女的详细资源总清单、潜在的合作活动以及促进这些活动向前发展的概述基础设施。我们的目标是创建一个积极参与的利益相关者社区，并建立一个共同的愿景和伙伴关系，以支持协作基础设施，鼓励协调努力，消除资源障碍，减少重复，增加资源的杠杆作用，并扩大对劳动力中有色人种女性工程师的接触。WCEC的工作将增加STEM股权知识库，通过NSF共享的成果包括国家网络。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This NSF INCLUDES planning grant is funded by NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES), a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion and broadening participation in STEM at scale. The goals of this planning grant are to: 1) establish the Women of Color in Engineering Collaborative (WCEC), a partnership network of professional engineering associations and STEM-based companies dedicated to addressing systemic barriers that prohibit equitable work environments for women engineers of color; 2) create a shared vision focused on dismantling systemic barriers that impede the retention and advancement of women engineers of color; and 3) develop a strategic plan to guide WCEC activities. Reaching parity in engineering cannot be accomplished by approaches that solely focus on the recruitment or “fixing” of underrepresented groups; rather, efforts that connect and energize people, cross divides, and drive systemic change toward equity are needed. To date, many NSF INCLUDES projects have focused on the recruitment and retention of students into STEM education programs, but the WCEC will focus on the often cited, yet understudied, challenge of retaining women in the engineering workforce. Through the WCEC, partner organizations will better leverage their resources to promote systemic change while working collectively to decrease the barriers that lead to the attrition of women engineers of color.To reach the goals stated above, this project includes two convenings and monthly workgroup meetings. The first two-day virtual convening will include representatives from thirty organizations, including professional engineering associations and STEM-based companies. Participants will develop a shared vision, identify barriers that exist in the workplace for women engineers of color, and determine which of these barriers the WCEC is best positioned to address. Workgroups will be established around specific supports aimed at addressing those barriers. Over the course of the next six months, WCEC partners will work within their workgroups to develop a strategy to facilitate collaborative activities for their specific support. A second virtual convening will be held to consolidate the workgroup strategies and develop an integrated strategic plan to support the continuation of WCEC activities. The WCEC will develop a final report that includes the integrated strategic plan that includes a Shared Vision statement, a detailed master list of resources to support women of color in the engineering workforce, potential collaborative activities, and an outlined infrastructure to facilitate these activities moving forward. We aim to create an engaged stakeholder community and develop a Shared Vision and Partnerships to support a collaborative infrastructure that encourages an alignment of efforts, removal of resource barriers, reduction of duplication, increased leveraging of resources, and greater reach to women engineers of color in the workforce. The work of the WCEC will add to the STEM equity knowledge base, with outcomes shared through the NSF INCLUDES National Network.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.