Increasing Capacity for Community Science Through Regional Hubs – AAPS Conference Poster
Since we first launched in 2013, Thriving Earth Exchange has embraced an adaptive and iterative approach ensuring we learn and continue to best serve our audiences over time. In the beginning, staff supported each project directly helping facilitate and provide project management until in 2019 when the Community Science Fellowship was launched and Fellows stepped into that role. In 2023, thanks to a generous grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Thriving Earth Exchange piloted an exciting element by establishing 4 regional community science hubs to expand and connect community science across the United States.
The four Community Science Hubs selected were:
- Capacity Collaborative: a network of primarily southeastern nonprofit, grassroots organizations that have come together to catalyze environmental and energy justice through training, technical assistance and capacity building. https://www.thecapacitycollaborative.net/
- The Nurture Nature Center: a leader in issues related to flood risk communication and education, with over a decade of experience conducting social science research about how individuals and professionals use weather forecast and warning information in decision-making. https://nurturenaturecenter.org/
- Creation Justice Ministries: work as a connection point between the church, the academy, and the public, bridging the divide between faith and science as two ways of knowing. https://www.creationjustice.org/
- Center for Hazardous Substance Research (CHSR): serves, collaborates, and empowers communities in EPA Regions 5, 6, 7, 8 and Indigenous communities nationally in addressing environmental, health, and economic concerns and support them in reaching their revitalization goals. https://engg.k-state.edu/chsr/
Together, Thriving Earth Exchange and the community science hubs launched 48 projects between 2023-2025. At the end of 2025, a graduation celebration recognized the 56 volunteer scientists, 84 community leaders, and 40 project managers who spearheaded local projects through this program, generating impacts that will better the lives of thousands of people. Key to these successes was providing time to establish relationships, allowing flexibility, and promoting communication not only within projects but across hubs. Thriving Earth Exchange continues to partner with community science hubs to complete individual projects, submit grant applications, and convene AGU annual meeting sessions.
Thriving Earth Exchange staff member Britt Forsberg and Community Science Hub Coordinator Kate Semmens from The Nurture Nature Center looked back on the experience and shared their insights at the virtual Conference of the Association for Advancing Participatory Science May 26-29, 2026. Reflecting on these lessons and the pilot for a Thriving Earth Exchange hub expansion journey allowed them to illustrate key take-aways relevant to others trying to build sustainable participatory science programs and collaborate across organizations. Their poster is below.
