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Despite a significant investment of resources, underrepresented minorities constitute~ 8% of the geosciencerelated workforce, making the geosciences one of the least diverse of all science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. While this pattern of underrepresentation has been attributed to numerous factors, the Geo-Needs project is focused on lack of access to undergraduate courses and programs of study at two-year technical and community colleges (2YCs) and minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Based on our analysis, only about 2.5% of institutions with geoscience degree programs are federally designated as minority-serving. Furthermore, geoscience programs are rarely available at 2YCs, which typically have higher minority student populations. As a result, 2YC and MSI students are often excluded from the geoscience workforce simply because few pathways from these institutions to geoscience careers currently exist. To address this issue, four focus group meetings were held in August 2015 at the Northern Illinois Conference Center, Naperville, Illinois, USA. Meetings were structured to learn about participants’ perceptions of the needs, barriers, and opportunities facing 2YCs and MSIs in expanding or developing geoscience programs and experiences for their students. Specifically, the Geo-Needs project sought to achieve two overarching goals:• Identify and clarify barriers and opportunities for better use of existing instructional resources that engage underrepresented students in the geosciences at 2YCs and MSIs.