Contact: Carol Meagher, Executive Director info@kidzonemuseum.org
June 13, 2024
KidZone Museum one of five U.S. museums to complete Cambio’s 2023-24 cohort
TRUCKEE, CA — KidZone Museum has successfully completed the nationally recognized Cambio program after a highly competitive selection process and one year of intensive professional development. Cambio’s aim is to advance equity by building museums’ capacity to support Latinx communities’ full participation in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics).
In partnership with the Exploratorium in San Francisco and the Cultural Competence Learning Institute, this designation recognizes KidZone Museum’s commitment to creating culturally relevant and responsive STEAM experiences for Latinx communities in the Truckee-Tahoe region.
“Participating in the Cambio Initiative has not only strengthened our STEAM identity but also deepened our engagement with our diverse community,” said Carla Boscacci, KidZone Museum community advocate. “The experience has brought our team closer together and sharpened our focus on listening to our community, ensuring our actions are intentional and aligned with their needs.”
The Cambio experience focuses on incremental change in organizational practice, building on strengths, and improving what they do well, with a goal of long-term transformational change that includes questioning assumptions, examining systems, and changing structures toward more equitable institution-wide change.
Carol Meagher, KidZone Museum executive director for more than 20 years, said Cambio has strengthened a decades-long effort to grow inclusivity efforts and STEAM programming at the museum.
“Cambio has really sparked our thinking on how we can better support our English language learners,” Meagher said. “We’re committed to helping them thrive in literacy and math through culturally enriching STEAM programs now, and in our new facility and science center.”
Cambio represents more than just a program—it’s a catalyst for change. As the Cambio museum and science center participants reconvene in 2025, museums across the country will continue to share insights and lessons learned, driving forward their efforts of inclusivity and equity in STEAM education.
Stay tuned for updates on KidZone Museum’s exciting new projects, including more community listening sessions and more bilingual programming. To help provide feedback to the museum, please visit https://tinyurl.com/kzm-voice.
Cambio is a National Science Foundation-funded professional development project for informal learning institutions—zoos, children’s museums, science centers, and other similar organizations—across the United States. It’s built on the premise that by developing cultural competence specific to Latinx communities and STEAM—the fields known collectively as science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics—coupled with intentional changes in practice, museums can improve their ability to be inclusive of their Latinx communities, cultures, and audiences.
KidZone Museum is the only children’s museum serving North Lake Tahoe and Truckee, with nearly 30,000 visits annually. The creative play spaces, including an outdoor nature play-space, are optimal for children under 7 years of age. Learn more at https://kidzonemuseum.org
