Tag: The Discovery Center

Climate Science and Communication

Semester: Fall 2024

Faculty Advisor: Don Barber

Field Site: The Discovery Center

Field Supervisor: Bria Wimberly

Praxis Poster: 

Melanie Golden Praxis Poster_Final

 

Further Context:

Ever since I participated in Bryn Mawr’s 360 course cluster on “Climate Change: Science and Politics”, I have been intrigued by environmentalism and its specific manifestations in the Philadelphia area. Luckily, I was able to pursue this goal by participating in a Praxis independent study at The Discovery Center of Philadelphia (TDC), which has been providing a sanctuary for Philadelphians for over 6 years. Through this Praxis I was able to practice climate communication, research previous reports, learn about the local community, and employ my academic knowledge. I accomplished many of these goals through the numerous projects I took on with my field supervisor, Bria, and my fellow Praxis student, Emily. We helped host TDC’s first Environmental Justice Resource Fair, spoke with students at the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP), facilitated middle school field trips, and created a resource focused on Indigenous history. All of these projects prioritized the interests of the Strawberry Mansion community.

During one of my first in-office days at TDC, Emily and I spoke with one of the center assistants, a woman born and raised in Strawberry Mansion. From a first-hand perspective, I learned about how the neighborhood has changed as well as the present-day environmental issues. I also learned about the area from various readings and a study done by Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability. Between the written work and conversations, I gained a multi-faceted understanding of the neighborhood. Overall, the area is rich with community but is harmed by gentrification, inadequate trash pickup, and high rates of asthma. Eventually, these issues became the basis for our Environmental Justice Resource Fair.

The Environmental Justice Resource Fair was the first of its kind at TDC and aimed to connect community members with environmentally focused organizations. This included the Strawberry Mansion Neighborhood Action Center (NAC), the Clean Air Council, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Brewerytown Garden, and more. We contacted these organizations through The Discovery Center’s existing contacts as well as cold-calling and emailing.

The event took place at The Discovery Center’s space and utilized the Civic Engagement Mini-Grant from the Career & Civic Engagement Center. The grant money provided the capital to provide snacks and small giveaways to encourage attendance as well as the money for a speaker from the Strawberry Mansion NAC. We also provided a handful of environmentally focused crafts for children who came. Overall, we had a decent turnout and provided a great space for organizations and community members to come together and learn from each other.

Hosting this event provided the space to practice climate communication as well as re-affirming the difficulties of event planning. Although the Environmental Justice Resource Fair was the largest project I undertook at The Discovery Center, the other smaller projects provided excellent learning opportunities as well. I practiced science communication through helping facilitate middle-school field trips and speaking at a class at the Community College of Philadelphia. These events covered a variety of different ages and varying prior knowledge regarding environmental issues. The Discovery Center’s relationships with nearby schools and other community spaces facilitated these opportunities. These interactions emphasized the importance of environmental education and the fostering of relationships with nature and space.

Overall, I learned quite a bit about the nonprofit world and the importance of community engagement and support. The Discovery Center provides a valuable space for community members to gather and connect with nature. Their mission of engaging and serving the local community is admirable and evident in their actions. Their work has renewed my interest in the environmental world and shown how my academic skills can contribute to the professional world. Ultimately, I look forward to following what The Discovery Center does in later years and seeing how they develop the Environmental Justice Resource Fair.

Climate Science and Communication

Semester: Fall 2024

Faculty Advisor: Don Barber

Field Site: The Discovery Center

Field Supervisor: Bria Wimberly

Praxis Poster: 

Emily Short_FinalPoster

 

Further Context:

This semester, I developed a curriculum based on building community resilience to climate change, specifically in communities that have historically faced issues with environmental justice. I was fortunate enough to work with The Discovery Center in Philadelphia, an organization dedicated to connecting local residents with nature. Working with The Discovery Center under my field supervisor Bria allowed me and my fellow Praxis student, Melanie to practice this curriculum through the creation of science communication projects, the development of an environmental justice resource fair, and the facilitation of field trips. More importantly, through my work this semester, I assisted The Discovery Center in better connecting with the neighboring Strawberry Mansion community, a neighborhood that has faced an array of challenges due to environmental racism.

As previously mentioned, one of my biggest projects I worked on this semester was assisting The Discovery Center in creating the first environmental justice resource fair to provide materials to members of this community. To do this, I first connected with community leaders to hear first hand what environmental problems they see in their communities. Then, I reached out to other environmental organizations specializing in these topics to come and table at the event. This is when we started to hit real obstacles; at first, we were only able to get 2 organizations to commit to our resource fair, and were continually receiving rejection emails or no responses from organizations. We started cold calling and emailing organizations, and even physically went to a few organizations to drop off information about the event in the hopes we would get a few more participants. By the end of our search, we reached out to around 40 organizations in total, and had about 10 organizations commit to tabling at our resource fair.

Reaching out to organizations and understanding what resources the Strawberry Mansion community wanted were only the first steps to planning the environmental justice fair. There was also the matter of providing food and activities to attendees. We were able to utilize the Civic Engagement Mini-Grant from the Career & Civic Engagement Center to assist in funding the event. Through the assistance of the Career & Civic Engagement Center, we were able to provide food and small giveaways to encourage attendance, as well as hire a guest speaker from the Strawberry Mansion Neighborhood Action Committee, an organization dedicated to promoting community and providing assistance to individuals in the neighborhood. Overall, the environmental justice resource fair was an overwhelming success; we had a decent amount of participants and were able to connect with other environmental organizations in the Philadelphia area.

In addition to the resource fair, I also assisted in a few field trips that came into The Discovery Center and gave a brief talk to the students about conservation. Similarly, I assisted my field supervisor, Bria, in giving a talk on environmental justice at a community college in Philadelphia. Through these experiences, I learned that I enjoy working with students and simplifying complex scientific information to appeal to younger audiences.

Overall, I had a positive experience working with The Discovery Center. I learned how to connect with people from diverse backgrounds, build connections in communities, and condense complicated information into ways that appeal to a broad audience. This experience has made me interested in future work in the nonprofit world, and has made me realize the value in connecting with other people.