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Community Engagement

Our Mission

The mission of the CRS Community Engagement committee is to raise awareness and increase accessibility of reproductive science and medicine topics in the local community and with the broader public.

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Pillars of our mission are creating and fostering collaborations to support local and national initiatives, providing mentorship and educational opportunities to underserved communities, and bringing the reproductive science and medicine to the mainstream. We plan to build long term initiatives to engage with our local community, inspire the next generation of reproductive scientists and foster inclusiveness, equity, and diversity.

Our Initiatives

Mentorship 

Having mentors and being able to identify with them is key to pursuing a successful and fulfilling career. Mentorship shapes how individuals view themselves and their idea of what they can achieve. This is particularly true for underrepresented minorities. Our goal is to create a positive and accurate representation of Reproductive Scientists, and to empower individuals from underserved communities to pursue careers in science. Our mentors aim to serve as positive role models by conveying how diverse our scientific community is. In addition, mentorship will provide exposure to what reproductive science entails.

Scientific Communication

Communicating science, sharing new discoveries in the field and showcasing the daily life of scientists is crucial to draw the general public closer to science, as well as increasing confidence and trust in the scientific progress. One of the main goals of our committee is to make reproductive science and medicine research more accessible to the broad community, through the dissemination of educational content on social media. Additionally, we started a campaign called: “this is what a reproductive scientist looks like” that is adapted from the initiative ‘this is what a scientist looks like’ ideated by science communicator Allie Wilkinson. Our initiative aims to showcase reproductive scientists within the CRS Community as a way to challenge the stereotypical perception of what scientists look like. In addition, we share videos of what a day in the life of a reproductive scientist looks like to engage the broader community in the science being conducted by CRS members at Northwestern.  

Community Partnerships

The committee collaborates with local organizations and initiatives aimed at supporting our community and contributing to fulfilling the needs that might arise. These include drives of menstrual products, clothing for local shelters, homes, and schools.