Expand: Checklist for Success
- Directly involve parents, and particularly mothers, in events and communications to learn more about career opportunities and pathways in Advanced Manufacturing.
- Use trusted community members (civic leaders, community leaders, school principals and/or teachers) and/or cultural brokers to connect you to families.
- Utilize multiple channels of communication (phone, email, flyers, social media, etc.) to reach parents.
- Provide specific opportunities for parents to experience (e.g., hands-on) and learn more about advanced manufacturing, and about guiding their students through choosing a career and entering the advanced manufacturing pipeline.
- Offer parent/caregiver-daughter hands-on events.
- Work with career counselors to provide parents with information on how to advise and support their children on career and education goals.
- Provide support services at public events to reduce barriers to participation, for example child care, free meals, transportation.
- Use parent testimonials from families who are a part of AMT, or have participated in previous events.
- Help create parent buddies that commit to helping each other stay informed. If one cannot make it to an event, the other will retrieve information and address questions.
- Make a list of community organizations and call two each week to discuss potential ways to partner.
- Take time to develop relationships with staff of community organizations where diverse students can be reached
- Invite CBO’s to come into your classroom or attend your event to inform students about the pathways they have to offer that can supplement their learning.
- Offer your services to help teach a lesson, be a volunteer, or make your facility available (with permission of course) to help local programs be successful. Ultimately this will benefit you with students interested in a advanced manufacturing pathway.
- Invite CBO staff to serve on your Advisory Committee.
- Invite CBO staff that have a particular expertise to help you with a project or lesson, giving them the opportunity to promote their pathwayming with your students.
- Be creative about where you look for CBO partners. Find out where students hang-out, participate in after-school and summer activities and find them there.
- The career field of advanced manufacturing is misunderstood and the commonly held biases about what it means to work in this field can be a significant barrier to getting girls and women to enroll. You have to get out into the community to dispel those myths if you want to change who arrives at your classroom door. It will be well worth the investment of your time and resources.
- Identify the top 10-15 businesses that hire your graduates and reach out to them to become part of your advisory council.
- Include diverse individuals on your advisory council. If increasing the diversity of your students in your pathway, model this in every aspect of what you do.
- Develop work-based learning opportunities for students in companies that share your diversity goals and have positive workplace cultures.
- Share resources on workplace diversity strategies with all companies you work with in your community.
- If you have a student report a hostile workplace experience be sure to report it to your Title IX Coordinator at your school and follow any school policies completely.