Fostering Equity and Access to Empower Marginalized Communities through Making

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3704637.3734764.pdf (6.07 MB)

Links to Files

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3704637.3734764

Permanent Link

https://doi.org/10.1145/3704637.3734764
 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/41484

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UMBC Information Systems Department
UMBC Faculty Collection
UMBC Student Collection

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3189-6540
 https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3938-2598

Date

2025-07-14

Type of Work

conference papers and proceedings
Text

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Lopez-Delgado, Maria, Kevin Lemus, and Patricia Ordóñez. “Fostering Equity and Access to Empower Marginalized Communities through Making.” Proceedings of the 2025 Conference on Research on Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology, RESPECT 2025, July 14, 2025, 122–29. https://doi.org/10.1145/3704637.3734764.

Rights

Attribution 4.0 International

Subjects

UMBC Interactive Systems Research Center
UMBC Human-Centered Computing Program

Abstract

This report discusses the need to provide mothers in low-income communities with experiences to develop the powerful skills of making. The development of a curriculum led to opportunities for the participants to develop skills like focusing on the process rather than the end product, seeing mistakes as opportunities to learn, and strengthening problem-solving and tinkering abilities. Activities were tailored to participants' interests and strengths, and encouraged the initial exploration of computing literacy and STEM ideas in an informal, fun, and creative environment with a comfortable entry point. Including creative technologies in computing community centers served as a source of confidence-building, hope, and mental health support, and inspired entrepreneurial endeavors.