A partnership between The Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley and Justice Outside, Working Towards Racial Equity (WTRE) is a workshop series model that supports Outdoor Environmental Science and Education (OESE) organizations in fostering more inclusive, equitable, and just work environments. The model builds on previous work to address the underlying conditions preventing equitable access to participating in programs or obtaining organizational leadership positions for people of color in the OESE field. WTRE’s goal is to support organizations in making equity-focused internal changes (operational, cultural, relational) that will, in turn, bring about positive changes in their programming and within their communities.

As the evaluation team, Informing Change focused on evaluating the model design and the effectiveness of the project for participating organizations and individuals. Our evaluation report pertains to the 2020-23 National Science Foundation (NSF) three-year grant award (NSF Grant No. 2005829) to implement a two-year model of WTRE. The findings relate to program activity that took place during WTRE between the fall of 2021 and the fall of 2023.

This report primarily covers WTRE participants’ experience in and perception of WTRE and the changes and growth that resulted for individuals and their organizations approximately 18 months after participating in WTRE.

This report was prepared by the following Informing Change team:

• Inti Chomsky, Associate
• Evan Gattozzi, Senior Associate
• Johnny Du, Writer/Editor
• Michael P. Arnold, PhD, MSW, MPH, Partner & Co-Executive Director

We also extend our gratitude to our colleagues and thought partners who contributed to the report, project concept, and implementation at various stages:

• Theresa Esparrago Lieu, Former Senior Associate, Informing Change
• Dina de Veer, MPP, Former Senior Associate, Informing Change
• Zoe Bell, Former Associate, Informing Change
• Jedda Foreman, Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley
• Valeria Fike Romero, Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley