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

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.