[DEOC] Please respond to opportunity: Building Practices to Improve College Equity Plans

[Sophia Agtarap]

Dear DEOC family-- I'm emailing you all to invite you to participate in a co-creation opportunity with the organization, Communities for our Colleges (copied here), a multiracial student-centered coalition in Washington State that works to improve the state’s community colleges by engaging students, faculty, staff, and the community to advocate for improved funding, access, and racial equity.


Please see below for the opportunity and respond to LeeAnn and Gabby directly (copied here) with your interest so we can set some dates.


Communities for Our Colleges (C4C) believes Washington’s thirty-four community and technical colleges are engines of local economies, individual advancement, and racial justice. Community colleges are essential to successful four-year colleges, serving communities of color and low-income communities, preparing tomorrow’s workers, and offering opportunities to the underserved. Our community colleges benefit all Washingtonians. Full and equitable funding for our colleges is an investment in a prosperous and equitable future for the state.


Communities for Our Colleges worked with others to pass SB 5194<https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5194&Initiative=false&Year=202>, appropriating $33 million and mandating the creation of equity plans at all CTCs, providing funding to CTCs for outreach to BIPOC communities, making improvements to academic and career counseling programs, creating standards for mental health counseling programs, and several additional measures to promote equity policy and planning at CTCs.



As you are aware, 2022 was the first year the bill was implemented to mixed results (see report<https://ourcolleges.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/FINAL-JS_WashtingtonStateEquity_Report_v4.pdf> from C4C). Communities for Our Colleges would like to partner with SBCTC and the Equity Officers at our 34 CTCs to build their (and our) practice and ability to implement the legislation. The invitation is as follows:


Create three working committees that meet three times in the next 8 weeks and then do a webinar for the larger community of DEI Officers and other relevant stakeholders. Committees would be made up of C4C staff, students, and DEOs.

  *   The 1st meeting is for students and campus equity officers to share experiences and brainstorm recommendations.

  *   The 2nd meeting is to continue to outline recommendations and build out ideas for experimentation and

  *   The 3rd is to shape a recommendation to the full team.

Timeline: Committee meetings in April and May and Webinar with recommendations in May or June.


Please reach out with any questions!


Peace,

Sophia


Sophia Kristina R. Agtarap (she/siya)

Director, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges


[cid:59e0c00d-3bb4-47d6-b33e-eb16f6495518]<https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/428a9a0a3cb14afe82036360d2d894a8@sbctc.edu?anonymous&ep=signature>                Book time to meet with me<https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/428a9a0a3cb14afe82036360d2d894a8@sbctc.edu?anonymous&ep=signature>
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