Formalizing the leadership team under the ERG umbrella, with Erin Sholl as JSC Parenting ERG chair, also brings increased resources, visibility, and support. In becoming its own ERG, JSC Parenting allows WELL to focus its attention as a force for women and encourages continued growth and support within the center’s parenting community. Credits: Courtesy of the JSC Parenting ERG

JSC Parenting officially launched in February 2020 with a vibrant panel discussion and fireside chat led by New-York-City-based Mindr Global with panelists Megan Behnken, Rex Walheim, Mary Lawrence, Pooja Jesrani, and Parenting ERG representatives from Facebook and Google. Mindr also conducted a Work/Life Success workshopduring their visit. I hope other dedicated fathers will recognize the benefits of membership - as their inclusion was an important tenet of the group’s desire to spin off into a fully independent ERG.” As a single parent of two children and the acting director of ODEO, I personally witness this support firsthand and observe the incredible impact their resources continue to have on so many. “Throughout the pandemic, this subgroup of the WELL ERG supported me and countless other employees agencywide.

“The JSC Parenting ERG represents what is possible when employees gather around a specific theme or affinity,” said Robert Blake, acting director, JSC’s Office of Diversity & Equal Opportunity (ODEO). With nearly 400 members and growing, the former subcommittee of the Women Excelling in Life and Leadership (WELL) ERG was ready to branch out to provide resources for all Johnson parents, guardians, and supporters of parents. In September, NASA Johnson Space Center’s newest Employee Resource Group (ERG), JSC Parenting, was approved by the Inclusion and Innovation Council right around National Working Parents Day - a happy and fitting coincidence.

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