2020 has been a year filled with tragedy, anxiety and uncertainty as communities have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic and the greater realization that systemic racism has existed for years and that something must be done about this immediately. We also saw intense wildfires and storms affecting so many areas of the country, including some in our own backyard. We know that these catastrophic events have disproportionately affected communities of color.

It is amidst this challenging environment that the Makers + Mentors Network (M+MN) Community of Practice came together virtually on November 16th-18th, to discuss how recent changes have impacted their efforts to support maker-centered learning, hands-on STEM and mentorship in their communities. Over these three days, network members focused on building relationships across communities by sharing their work, best practices and challenges.

With the theme of “Equity Begins With Opportunity,” the Convening provided the chance to co-design the future of this network based on the needs of the 21 communities which make up the M+MN Community of Practice and the shared understanding that equity, inclusion and anti-racist approaches must be at the heart of these efforts. The Community of Practice also welcomed a new member, Dayton, OH, which is led by the Dayton Regional STEM Center.

The first day of the Convening kicked-off with a thought-provoking session focused on sharing how Citizen Schools is prioritizing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as a pillar of our core values and what this looks like in action within the organization. To move toward racial equity, organizational culture, we must prioritize humanity. People need the ability to work and live with the dignity of having their histories acknowledged and their life experience valued. Only then will schools, companies, governments and other institutions be able to teach, serve, recruit and retain the thriving and diverse ecosystem that makes up this country. Individuals also participated in a powerful reflection exercise where they shared the facets of themselves that they felt were most central to their identities. 

Later in the day, Community of Practice members used design thinking to begin determining what main challenges the future of this network will focus on addressing together and what steps we will take to do this. Collectively, the participants identified 4 main challenges they are facing in the field that they feel the Community of Practice is well positioned to address: 1) bridging communities; 2) equity & access; 3) virtual engagement; 4) supporting mentors.

During a session focused on sustainability for STEM and Maker Coalitions in a post-COVID World, we had a chance to hear from Mary Adams, Founder and Executive Director of the Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative, who shared the importance of having a strong “backbone” of public and private supporters for their organizations and how this infrastructure of support was critical to enabling them to pivot their programming and activities quickly during COVID-19. Christy Christopher, STEM Hub Director of the Columbia Gorge STEM Hub in The Dalles, OR shared how her organization has designed for sustainability from the beginning, using approaches such as creating events and activities that pay for themselves and creating high-quality projects that require less effort to sustain than launch. These are just a few examples of how local coalitions meeting community needs by driving collaboration despite constraints and unexpected developments in a post-COVID landscape. 

Two special guests shared their maker skills with us. We were incredibly inspired by Bruce Rosenbaum, a maker, artist and storyteller who shared his creative and imaginative approach of reimagineering art, technology and learning through Steampunk. Bruce also gave us a tour of 1870’s church in Palmer, MA that he renovated into Steampunk Wonderland, a multi-purpose gallery and workspace. 

Jacqueline Russell, Program Manager for Microsoft’s MakeCode hosted an engaging and fun hands-on workshop. Participants learned more about MakeCode’s goals to lower the barriers to entry for all students to engage in computer science and had a chance to program their own micro:bits!

The creativity, resourcefulness and unique approaches that Community of Practice members are taking to ensure that students are continuing to engage in meaningful, hands-on maker-centered learning could be observed during the STEM and Maker Kits: Best Practices and Resources session. Jessi Orth, a Maker Fellow at Gizmo at North Idaho College discussed how they plan to create fully contained kits for educators to borrow and return which would have themes to engage students with a broad range of interests, from Reusing/Recycling/Upcycling to Food Production and Alternative Energy. Eric Saliim, North Carolina Central University FAB Lab manager described how important it is to be able to measure the impact of their Fab & Grab kits on student learning moving forward.

The ideas and best practices shared during the Convening will be integrated into a new strategic plan for the Makers + Mentors Network Community of Practice that addresses the current challenges facing members. This plan will be shared and put into action in early 2021.