Seattle Central College
PA-7: 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

Seattle Central College is a member of the College District VI.

Seattle Colleges is committed to the concept and practice of equal opportunity for all its students, employees, and applicants in education, employment, services and contracts, and does not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity, color, age, national origin, religion, marital status, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran or disabled veteran status, political affiliation or belief, citizenship/status as a lawfully admitted immigrant authorized to work in the United States, or presence of any physical, sensory, or mental disability, except where a disability may impede performance at an acceptable level. In addition, reasonable accommodations will be made for known physical or mental limitations for all otherwise qualified persons with disabilities.

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

Additionally, depending on the severity and details of the case, there are different groups that may respond to a bias incident, act of discrimination, or hate crime. For example, our Bias Incident Response team (BIRST) may respond to a student. The BIRST provides free, confidential support through counseling references, health and safety protections, temporary or long-term re-locations, etc. When HR is involved with faculty and staff, they ensure they have access to support through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). The Washington State Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a free, confidential program created to promote the health, safety, and well-being of public employees. More than 100,000 public employees have access to EAP services to help them address work and personal concerns. In addition, the EAP offers services to assist employees with legal and financial concerns. HR also works with the person on specific needs as a result of the incident(s). For example, accommodations such as temporary work assignments, moving to a different location, etc. are explored. Lastly, the college's EDI staff and HR regularly send out announcements and reminders on support available to the greater college community, like EAP, safe space discussions, and affinity groups.

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. Need to include https://collegepossible.org/washington/

Seattle Promise aims to deliver high-quality services, clear pathways to success, and to close race-based equity gaps. One major program element designed to contribute to achievement of these outcomes is providing college and career readiness supports beginning in the high school. In additional to general outreach activities in the 17 Seattle Public High Schools, Seattle Promise staff prioritize outreach to students traditionally underserved by higher education, including African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander, Underserved Asian populations, Other students of Color, Refugee and Immigrant, Homeless, English Language Learners, and LGBTQ populations. Seattle Promise staff work closely with high school staff to target these underserved students, including partnering with student affinity groups, using inclusive nomenclature for workshops, and offering translated workshops and materials.

A partnership between Seattle Central College and Seattle Public Schools (SPS), the Academy for Rising Educators (ARE) is an Associate of Arts degree with a focus on education and social justice. The program helps SPS high school seniors and recent graduates, current SPS staff, and community members earn their teaching certificate. In partnership with Seattle Central College, City University, Seattle Teacher Residency, University of Washington Special Education High Incidence Program, Seattle University, the Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL), and the City of Seattle, it provides candidates tuition, academic, and wrap-around supports. While the program is open to all students, the ultimate goal of the program is to attract more people of color into the teaching profession- currently, only 10% of teachers in Washington State are.

FACULTY/STAFF
As part of the Faculty Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the "District and the AFT (i.e. faculty union) share a mutual interest in hiring and retaining a diverse full-time and part-time faculty that reflects diversity of our students and our community. The District and the AFT are committed to increasing the numbers of faculty members in under-represented groups inclusive of, but not limited to, factors such as race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, veteran status and disability. The District and AFT seek to provide leadership and best practices in advertising faculty positions, conducting search committees, and supporting faculty who bring diversity to our colleges." 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. Seattle Colleges’ Inclusion Advocate program, developed with permission from and modeled after Oregon State University’s Search Advocate program, is designed to create a standardized, anti-biased search process to build a rich and diverse workforce that reflects the diversity of our students and community. Inclusion advocates are existing Seattle Colleges employees who volunteer. Employees who wish to serve, apply and receive two full days of training followed by twice quarterly districtwide meetings and trainings. Trained Inclusion Advocates participate in all levels of the hiring process as non-voting members to guide committee members to recognize and avoid unconscious bias. Inclusion Advocates work in conjunction with the search committee chair, hiring manager, and human resources to affirm the college’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

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.

In additional to general outreach activities in the 17 Seattle Public High Schools, Seattle Promise staff prioritize outreach to students traditionally underserved by higher education, including African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander, Underserved Asian populations, Other students of Color, Refugee and Immigrant, Homeless, English Language Learners, and LGBTQ populations. Seattle Promise staff work closely with high school staff to target these underserved students, including partnering with student affinity groups, using inclusive nomenclature for workshops, and offering translated workshops and materials. Once enrolled at a Seattle College, Seattle Promise students are assigned to a Retention Specialist who has a 1:100 caseload. This allows the specialist to conduct proactive interventions with their students as needed and creates opportunities for the specialist to connect students to individually-appropriate resources.

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

Campus Climate Professional Development for all faculty and staff:

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 in 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.

Supporting teams of faculty and staff to attend conferences, like:
- Citizen’s University Conference
- National Conference on Race and Ethnicity
- WA State Faculty and Staff of Color Conference

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."

Additionally, a partnership between Seattle Central College and Seattle Public Schools (SPS), the Academy for Rising Educators (ARE) is an Associate of Arts degree with a focus on education and social justice. The program helps SPS high school seniors and recent graduates, current SPS staff, and community members earn their teaching certificate. In partnership with Seattle Central College, City University, Seattle Teacher Residency, University of Washington Special Education High Incidence Program, Seattle University, the Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL), and the City of Seattle, it provides candidates tuition, academic, and wrap-around supports. While the program is open to all students, the ultimate goal of the program is to attract more people of color into the teaching profession- currently, only 10% of teachers in Washington State are.

Gender neutral bathroom map, https://seattlecentral.edu/about/visit-us/campus-maps/broadway-edison/BE/all-gender-restroom