Hispanic Pathways to Family Science Literacy, STEM Careers and Green Jobs

September 15th, 2012 - August 31st, 2013 | PROJECT

This Pathways project will develop and evaluate a new model for a STEM career exploration program for at-risk Hispanic youth and their families in New Mexico where 46% of the population is Hispanic. The target audience includes Hispanic youth incarcerated in juvenile detention centers. The Hispanic Communications Network will partner with the Juvenile Justice Division of the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department, Youth Development Inc.; and Youth Works in Santa Fe. STEM professionals from Los Alamos and Sandia labs and private sector companies in New Mexico will participate as role models. The evaluation findings will add to the knowledge base about strategies to increase interest and engagement in pursuing STEM careers among hard-to-reach Hispanic audiences including low income families, gang members and incarcerated youth. The project design includes using two main strategies: family evenings with STEM role models; and a social media and Facebook contest focusing on Green Jobs of the Future. The evaluation will use a mixed-methods approach for gathering data including brief questionnaires after the family evenings, pre-and past-activity surveys, observations, and telephone and online surveys. The evaluation will provide ongoing feedback to the project team on how well the strategies are working. The project will hold 8 family nights, involve approximately 16 STEM professionals (role models), and projects about 16 edited media submissions by the youth teams. Toward the end of the project the evaluation will comment on the viability, efficacy and potential transferability of this model to other communities.

Project Website(s)

(no project website provided)

Project Products

Final Report: Pathways to Brighter Futures Through STEM Careers

Team Members

Carlos Alcazar, Principal Investigator, Hispanic Communications Network
Trinity Treat, Former Co-Principal Investigator, Hispanic Communications Network
Alliyah Noor, Co-Principal Investigator, Hispanic Communications Network
Lynn Dierking, Co-Principal Investigator, Oregon State University

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: ISE/AISL
Award Number: 1221538
Funding Amount: 249911

Tags

Access and Inclusion: English Language Learners | Ethnic | Racial | Hispanic | Latinx Communities
Audience: Families | Museum | ISE Professionals | Scientists | Youth | Teen (up to 17)
Discipline: Ecology | forestry | agriculture | General STEM
Resource Type: Project Descriptions
Environment Type: Community Outreach Programs | Media and Technology | Public Programs | Websites | Mobile Apps | Online Media