Science Together: Co-Creating Meaningful Informal Science Education Experiences Between a Science Center and a Temporary Homeless Shelter – A Case Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Homeless families are a vulnerable population not often engaged with directly by science centers. In 2019, the Museum of Life and Science formalized and strengthened a partnership with Families Moving Forward, the largest temporary homeless shelter serving families in Durham County, North Carolina. This partnership aimed to engage families in a co-creation process of understanding needs, co-developing projects, and delivering based on mutual interests between stakeholders. Along the way, lessons learned included designing equitable active listening opportunities, honest and transparent assessments of needs and assets, learning how to meet a new audience where they were, and learning how to be inclusive and accessible to an audience who is rarely designed with or for in museum settings.