Scalable Community Mentorship: A Vision for Engineering Literacy & Access

Black and Hispanic/Latine communities remain underrepresented in engineering careers due to persistent economic, social justice, and human rights issues. Consequently, students from these communities face unique challenges when entering into engineering fields. Barriers s tem from economic disenfranchisement, racial profiling, lack of community, and an absence of cultural competence. However, many programs that aim to tackle these issues are not holistic nor scalable to the degree needed for broader impact. To address the lack of holistic and scalable mentorship programs for Black and Hispanic/Latine students, we analyzed AVELA - A Vision for Engineering Literacy & Access’ (AVELA) holistic student-led STEM engagement model. This model leverages multi-tier near-peer mentorship, mentor-embodied community representation, culturally responsive experiential & service-based learning, and compensated student-led community engagement. Thus far, AVELA has supported 361 university student instructors in teaching to 4,412 secondary school students across 213 classrooms. To evaluate members’ motivations for participating in this mentorship program, we conducted 24 semi-structured interviews with undergraduate and graduate AVELA members. We find AVELA’s holistic student-led STEM engagement model improves Black and Hispanic/Latine engineering students’ experience in post-secondary education. Reduced power dynamics, community involvement, soft skill development, as well as financial support and technical skill building were indicated as key motivators for students’ participation in the program. Students expressed that the depth, applicability, and scale of their mentorship relationships cultivated a reliable student community that empowered them to build a robust professional skill set.