Uncharted Waters: Outreach and Building Connection with Under-Resourced Communities

Are your recruitment and outreach efforts reaching communities of people who have been historically excluded from nuclear science education and from participating in the nuclear industry? Do you find yourself doing the same few events for the same audiences every single year, such as presenting about nuclear science at your child’s school or posting job openings on LinkedIn? Have you tried to build connection with new communities, but faced barriers rooted in distrust or communications? The ANS Cares Committee, Young Members Group, and Education, Training and Workforce Development Division have developed this session to help you strengthen your outreach with underresourced and low-income communities in your local area. You will learn how to identify and develop relationships with community gatekeepers, and overcome potential perceived dissimilarity and distrust, as well as logistical barriers to communicating with the gatekeeper or community members. From there we will address how you can create relevant, engaging, and culturally sensitive sessions that resonate and build trust with the community. You will learn to think more critically about tailoring your engagements to various physical settings and audience perspectives, and cover best practices for respecting a community’s cultural norms and schedules. Finally, we will focus on building and sustaining authentic, long-term relationships with communities and partners beyond that first outreach event. Learn strategies to nurture trust through leadership transitions, maintain meaningful engagement despite turnover, and ensure their outreach remains valuable and relevant over time. Explore how to identify what level of engagement best meets a community’s needs, balance focus between depth and reach, and develop longevity plans that outlast individual volunteers. It also addresses common “good intention” pitfalls and how to avoid outreach fatigue while sustaining impact. With the help of the strategies discussed in this session, participants can help expand nationwide access to nuclear science for all.