Senior Education Specialist Universities Space Research Association Houston, Texas, United States
Abstract: As the population of the United States continues to diversify, the planetary science field must do so in parallel. However the Black and Latinx communities continue to be severely underrepresented in the field of planetary science and astrobiology, making up just 1% and 5% respectively. In response, The State of the Profession (SoP) chapter in the Origins, Worlds, and Life (OWL) report laid out actionable items that can be taken by funding agencies and highlights community actions that can help to increase the diversity of professionals within the field of planetary science and their inclusion. One theme emphasizes the importance of community engagement and outreach. In response, the Planetary Resources and Content Heroes (ReaCH) project is taking deliberate steps to enhance the planetary science and astrobiology community’s ability to engage with diverse audiences, specifically Black and Latinx youth and their families. To this end, ReaCH is conducting a series of workshops at locations across the country. During each workshop, evaluation data are collected from participants by external evaluators. This data not only informs the on-going design and implementation of future ReaCH workshops, but also informs the development of a replicable model for planning and implementing workshops that provide scientists with useful strategies for being more culturally inclusive in their public engagement efforts. Still in development, the ReaCH “proto-model” contains four pillars on which workshops are framed: Creating the Workshop Space, Creating Workshop Content, Delivering Workshop Content, and Applying Workshop Content. Actions within each pillar are aligned with diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) practices as operationalized by the ReaCH project. Here we present lessons learned to date as informed by evaluation data.
