Sustaining AGEP Activities from Grant Inception Forward: Successful Strategies from Transforming Indigenous Participation in STEM

Return to Agenda

Presenter

Barbara Komlos, PNW-COSMOS

Co-Authors

Sweeney Windchief & Jerry McMurtry

Abstract

Sustainability is one metric of success in organizational change. Frequently, finding ways to sustain AGEP programs and activities is not prioritized until the last year of the funding cycle. However, integrating a focus on sustainability from grant inception can provide both short and long-term benefits. Members of the Pacific Northwest Circle of Success: Mentoring Opportunities in STEM (PNW-COSMOS) Alliance will describe their collaborative efforts and successes with sustaining two key Alliance activities: the Indigenous Mentoring Program (IMP) and the Indigenous Knowledge Field Camp (IKFC). With the primary goal of institutional transformation toward Indigenous participation in STEM, the IMP and IKFC were first implemented in 2015. Since that time, programmatic activities have remained flexible and responsive to contextual changes, even being re-envisioned to maximize their sustainability and institutionalization within the Alliance and to invite external adaptation. Workshop participants will have an opportunity to engage in visioning around their own initiatives and apply strategies for identifying and engaging potential allies at their institutions and partnering with local organizations and communities to strengthen and sustain AGEP activities.

View the Jamboard to see the ideas generated by the participants of the session: https://tinyurl.com/AGEPJams. The first page includes where Alliances who participated see themselves on their project timeline and the second page has ideas for sustaining activities under the 4 strategies discussed.