Seattle Central College
PA-6: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Seattle Central College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion, disability, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or age in its programs and activities. http://www.seattlecentral.edu/policy/nondisc.php

The Seattle College District recognizes its responsibility, described in Policy 419, for investigation, resolution, implementation of corrective measures, and monitoring the educational environment and workplace to stop, remediate, and prevent all manners of discrimination. To this end, the Seattle College District has enacted Policy and Procedure 419, Discrimination and Harassment, prohibiting discrimination against and/or harassment of any employee, student, applicant or visitor, and legally defined members of a protected class. Any individual found to be in violation of Policy 419 will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal from the College or from employment. Any employee, student, applicant, or visitor who believes that he or she has been the subject of discrimination or harassment should report the incident or incidents to the College’s, or District’s Title IX / EEO Coordinator identified below. All District employees (faculty, staff, student employees and administrators) are designated as “responsible employees” and must report actual or suspected discrimination or harassment immediately, subject to limited exceptions for employees who are statutorily barred from reporting. All details of the reports they receive must be shared promptly. If the complaint is against that Coordinator, the complainant should report the matter to the president’s, or Chancellor’s office for referral to an alternate designee. http://seattlecolleges.edu/district/policies/policies.aspx?policyID=pro419

POLICY The Seattle Colleges are committed to recruiting faculty, staff, and students who reflect the cultural diversity of the Puget Sound Region and who will support its values of teaching, learning, students, diversity, and partnerships. http://seattlecolleges.edu/HR/ STUDENTS The College Success Program recruits and guides students who have been in a foster care program on a successful college journey with services designed especially for them. Additionally, the outreach office receives Perkins funds that must be spent on recruiting students from underrepresented groups. Outreach staff and individual college programs target underrepresented groups through various fairs, festivals, and organizations that they have developed relationships with. These include, but are not limited to, drug treatment centers, homeless youth shelters, PRIDE fest, veterans events, and others. FACULTY/STAFF Seattle Colleges posts all positions to HigherEdJobs, and at the request of the search committee, will post to Diversity Jobs, use Search Advocates, and other specific job sites to help recruit talent we may not find otherwise. Job pools are often recast if a pool is not diverse. For the 2016-17 academic year, the Seattle Central Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion has been leading an initiative to reframe faculty/staff search, screening and hiring processes from an equity and diversity framework. Integrating elements from the Diversity and Equity in Hiring and Professional Development (DEHPD) group, Search Advocate Model (University of Oregon, Corvallis) best practices, the mandate of the AFT Seattle 1789-Seattle Colleges District MOU to racially diversify the faculty and staff base and data drawn from state-wide and institutional documents, the ODEI scheduled one to four hour professional developments sessions for college employees to support learning around needs assessment in job descriptions, cognitive errors at different stages in the hiring process, introduction to the Search Advocate Model, multicultural organizational development interviewing techniques, and the role and responsibility of search committee members from an equity and inclusive lens.

STUDENTS There are several programs, 1) Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA)- helps educationally disadvantaged students at Seattle Central College to become engineers, scientists and other math-based professionals urgently needed by industry. MESA offers academic and professional support services to qualifying students studying science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) who plan to transfer to 4-year universities to pursue a STEM degree. 2) TRiO Student Support Services, formerly Student Academic Assistance (SAA), assists with the personal, academic and professional growth of first-generation college students, low-income college students and college students with disabilities. The program helps underserved students complete an associate degree and/or successfully transfer to a 4-year college program. 3) the Dreamers Taskforce is committed to ensuring that our campus is a safe and welcoming environment for all of our students, including those who may still be working their way through the complex process of citizenship. 4) The Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Center (AANAPISIS) supports student retention and success, with special focus on Asian American and Pacific Islander students. FACULTY/STAFF SCC has the Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which serves all faculty/staff with support, information about a variety of services and resources, and referrals. Furthermore, Seattle Colleges created a Leadership Development Program in fall 2017 to increase leaders on campuses, provide leadership development, and continue to educate administration, faculty, and staff, regardless of their formal job title or position of authority. Seattle Central College Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion has been engaged in the following work: Direct support for faculty/staff from underserved groups: 1. Employee Affinity Groups: - Women of Color Affinity Group (Central campus) - Asian Pacific Islander Affinity Group (District wide) 2. Cross Institution Faculty of Color Mentorship Program + (2016-17) 10 Seattle Central faculty of color participated + (2017-18) 9 Seattle Central faculty of color participating 3. Social Justice Leadership Institute, Bellevue College + (2014-15) 1 Seattle Central employee of color attended + (2016-17) 2 Seattle Central employees of color representing Student Services and Instruction attended + (2017-18) 2 Seattle Central employees of color representing Student Services and Instruction attending Campus Climate Professional Development for all faculty and staff: - Kognito LGBTQI online training: 2015-16 & 2016-17 - Trainings to support Undocumented Students – COSI and college communitypresentations; individual trainings for a number of instructional divisions and their faculty - UndocuAlly training presented by the University of Washington - Advancing Equity and Inclusion in the Hiring Processes – Office for DEI conducting 1.5-2 hr professional development orientations/trainings to screening committees for faculty, staff and administrative positions - Search Advocate Training – 13 Seattle Central/SVI faculty, staff and administrators participated in two-day training; 10 participated in follow up meetings 2015-16 Trainings on: + Search Advocate and Diversity and Equity in Hiring and Professional Development (DEHPD) Elements in the Hiring process training +Cognitive Errors +Multicultural Competency Interviewing Rubric for Administrative positions 2016-17 Trainings on: + Stop the Hate + Implicit Bias + Microaggressions + White Privilege (FQ & SQ) + Supporting Undocumented students 2017-18 Trainings on: + Stop the Hate + Free Speech Webinair + Supporting Undocumented students + Know Your Rights – BSU; ACLU Day of Remembrance Commemoration of signing of EO 9066 that incarcerated 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans during WWII – annual presentations since 2011 Development of syllabi language suggestions to support campus climate Taskforce/Advisory Groups: - LGBTQI taskforce – comprised of faculty and staff; advancing campus knowledge, skills development around LGBQI issues, concerns to support the larger college community - Dreamer taskforce – comprised of faculty, staff and students – support undocumented students access to Seattle Central educational services; supports student success - Bias Incident Response Protocol taskforce – developing a bias incident protocol for college community members to report bias incidents and for the institution to respond to such incidents that fall us this purview Community Conversations: Engaging individuals from different racial, ethnic, cultural communities who are representative of different community and professional spheres, i.e., activists, non-profits, business, media, local government agencies, etc. - 2016-17 Community Conversations with Muslim, Latinx, LGBTQI, African American, SE Asian communities - 2017-18 March 2018 meeting with Native American/Native Alaskan/Indigenous Peoples Trainings for college leadership teams that have focused on: - Integrating the Racial Equity Tool in decision making - Assessing efficacy of individual and group working relationships with the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) tool Supporting teams of faculty and staff to attend the following conferences: - Citizen’s University Conference (2016 & 2017) - National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (2016 & 2017; 2018 - WA State Faculty and Staff of Color Conference (2017)

Seattle Central Community College actively participates in the University of Washington's Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Project. Administrators and faculty from Seattle Central assist with panels and workshops that focus on students from underrepresented groups wanting to learn more about going into a teaching or education administrator role. From the programs website: "As a unit of the UW Graduate School, the Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program (GO-MAP) is committed to serving the needs of students of color and students from other underrepresented groups, while simultaneously fostering an educational and social environment in which all students can learn and develop through experiences rich in cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity. GO-MAP’s three main areas of focus are: Outreach, recruitment, and retention Enhancing scholarship and research Building community, on and off campus The Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program, or GO-MAP, has been an integral part of the University of Washington for over 40 years, taking very seriously our efforts to establish and maintain campus, local, national, and international networks for students in our program. Members of our staff work closely with faculty, staff, and graduate students currently on campus to enhance academic and funding opportunities and to encourage scholarship and research that explores and supports cultural diversity."

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Student Services are currently working on establishing a Bias Incident Response Team and protocol. https://intl.seattlecentral.edu/index.php http://seattlecentral.edu/multicultural/index.php