A Public-Private Partnership Between a Research Institute and City Library System to Engage Marginalized in STEM

Black residents of North St. Louis have historically experienced significant social, economic, and educational, and economic disparities, including a lack of access to due high quality STEM education resources. A public-private partnership between a science research center and city libraries will co-develop a community-focused game, designed to meet the interests and needs of the community’s Black and economically disadvantaged adults.

The partnership will use surveys, town hall meetings, and feedback forms to seek input from the North St. Louis community. Over a two-month period, the game will provide zero-risk opportunities for community members to practice their problem-solving skills, while connecting with STEM disciplines that are strengths in St.

Louis (e.g., bioscience, geospatial science, and advanced manufacturing). The project partners are the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (DDPSC), a non-profit research center, and the St. Louis County Library (SLCL), a public library system.

DDPSC will contribute its extensive science research expertise and educational outreach to the project. Through town hall meetings, the partnership will identify grassroots organizations with similar interests and values that can join or support the partnership as it looks to expand the game beyond its pilot season.

This public-private partnership will integrate the region’s primary public library system with SCLS’ innovative research and education outreach center. By identifying effective policies, community outcomes, and best practices for decision-making and operations, the partnership will provide an evidence-based foundation for future public-private partnerships established for informal STEM education.

By collecting input and feedback from the community and local stakeholders, the project will identify incentives and interests that most effectively engage the North St. Louis Black community and proactively address physical, societal, and psychological barriers to their participation. Participation data indicating who engaged in the game and which activities they selected will reveal if partnership efforts to foster a sense of belonging by situating informal learning in a familiar public space, the library, was effective.

It will also reveal which activities are most accessible to library patrons who live in historically marginalized neighborhoods.

This Partnership Development and Planning project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.

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.