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Community College Access and Equity Initiative
|Addressing Access, Equity, and Diversity in California's Community Colleges: Resources for Campus Change||
Addressing Access, Equity, and Diversity in California's Community Colleges: Resources for Campus Change is available for free by downloading the toolkit below. To receive a hard copy of the toolkit we will charge $10 which includes shipping.
Developed in partnership with campus leaders from California Community Colleges, this resource kit provides campus leaders with a set of tools to get started in the development of a more comprehensive, integrated, and sustainable plan for strengthening and expanding their access, equity, and diversity strategies. The kit includes powerful, easy-to-use activities for personal reflection, engaging campus leaders in a participatory cycle of dialogue, assessment, and planning to:
Prior to undertaking any dialogue, planning or training on equity and diversity issues we suggest you consider some of the following facilitation issues:
- Identify their college's current strengths and assets; as well as gaps and weaknesses.
- Consider strategies for engaging campus leaders from key departments, programs, and administrative functional areas that are needed to strengthen the college's culture and practices.
- Identify initial priorities for initiating or strengthening comprehensive campus change efforts related to diversity and equity; and,
- Build a leadership team that can work effectively to lead change on their campus.
As you begin to use the resources provided, we encourage you to personalize these resources as well as draw upon others to ensure that they fit your campus' needs, goals, and context.
- Have you clarified what you hope to accomplish?
What are your objectives for this session? What do you want to get out of it? Is this a one shot session with fairly modest outcomes (i.e., raise people's level of awareness about equity and diversity dynamics)? Or, is the session designed to launch a longer-term effort, with much more ambitious objectives and outcomes (i.e., evaluating current programs and services and/or informing and prioritizing organization-wide strategic planning)?
- What process will your team use?
Depending on your outcomes and objectives, who should facilitate your meeting? Is there a need for outside facilitation (i.e., you want to give everyone in your group a chance to contribute to the conversation from a more equal standpoint; or your outcomes require specialized expertise)? Or you are able to draw from your group's own internal expertise? Do you have a basic timeline?
- How will you create a safe environment and set the right tone for discussing issues which may be challenging and emotionally charged?
What are the best approaches for warming up the group? What are the best methods for group dialogue, participatory assessment, and collective planning approaches needed to achieve your desired outcomes and objectives?
- What are the logistical issues involved?
Have you set aside enough time? Have you chosen the right place, tools, materials, and other resources?
Included in this Campus Change Resource Kit:
Introduction to the Campus Change Resource Kit
A Sample Set of Ground Rules
These sample ground rules are provided to help you set the right tone and create a safe environment from which to begin working on these issues. We suggest that you let your group add any other ground rules they feel are necessary to ensure a productive and safe dialogue environment.
Tools for Opening Dialogue
These tools include a set of warm-up activities designed to provide a safe and comfortable way to open conversation about concepts of equity and diversity:
Mapping, Reflection, and Assessment Tools
- Dyads and Triads
- Grounding Ourselves - Diverse Voices from Students in Community Colleges
- Self-Reflection Tool
These exercises offer an interactive way to begin capturing your institution's history with equity and diversity; get a deeper sense of who the students are that your institution is trying to serve; and begin getting a sense of your institution's strengths and weaknesses around issues of access, equity, and diversity. Additionally, these tools will help your team arrive at some preliminary conclusions regarding priorities for change needed around access, equity, and diversity.
Creating an Action Plan
- Organizational History Journey Map
- Participatory Equity Mapping and Preliminary Assessment
- Collective Analysis
This planning worksheet was designed to help you draw together lessons learned from the collective set of activities provided in the resource kit. The worksheet should also help you begin drafting a plan of action along with steps for personal and organizational development.
You may download each file individually by clicking on the links below:
- Getting Started in the 1st Cycle of Inquiry
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