Session 3: Addressing Structural Racism in the Postsecondary System – August 26, 2021
Summary:
The session focused on the impact of structural racism in the context of postsecondary education, and highlighted solutions and interventions that communities, students, and postsecondary institutions are implementing to improve institutional outcomes and outcomes of students color and other traditionally underserved populations, while fostering belonging and meaning-making for students.
Goals for the session included:
- Feature postsecondary efforts that reinforce anti-racism practices and improve outcomes for students of color and other traditionally underserved populations.
- Tell stories of change across the OYF network and partners, in the context of postsecondary system/institutional change and programs that work in supporting postsecondary success of students of color.
- Feature the work in Boston at several levels – community-wide commitment to improving systems, policies, and programming (with a focus on programming that centers identity, belonging, and meaning-making for Black and Latinx male students).
- Feature the work of Amarillo College and the leadership of Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart aimed at improving postsecondary outcomes for all students with a commitment to equity.
- Uplift the role of student voice in community college system change.
Session Introduction and Boston Story: Success Boston
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Summary:
This session provided a comprehensive overview of the
initiative, a citywide college completion initiative that was launched in 2008 by
,
(BPS), the
, 37 area institutions of higher education led by
and
(BHCC), and area nonprofits with the goal of doubling the college completion rate for students from BPS.
Success Boston leaders will share the history and structure of initiative, including the coaching and supports model, the role of core partners, data-sharing strategies, and how they are using data to understand the impact on student outcomes, particularly the outcomes of young men of color. Leaders from BHCC helped the audience situate the role of Success Boston in the context of community college vision, leadership, and impact, including the partners’ commitment to take bold steps to achieve racial equity and how BHCC is redesigning systems and practices to better support young men of color on campus – including the role that young men of color on campus, in partnership with male faculty of color, are playing in informing this redesign.
Speakers: Annabelle Cataloni, Postsecondary Success Manager, Boston Private Industry Council
Dr. Nuri Chandler-Smith, Dean of Academic Support and College Pathways, Bunker Hill Community College
Dr. Pam Eddinger, President, Bunker Hill Community College
Marsha Inniss-Mitchell, Director of Postsecondary Initiatives and Partnerships, Boston Public Schools
Antoniya Marinova, Assistant Director, Education to Career, The Boston Foundation
Joe McLaughlin, Director of Research and Evaluation, Boston Private Industry Council
Karina Nova, Success Boston Alumna
Elizabeth Pauley, Associate Vice President, Education to Career, The Boston Foundation
Moderated Discussion with Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart on Structural Love
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Summary:
In this moderated discussion, Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, President of
– named 2021 Top Five Institution and Rising Star for the
Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence
– share his vision for improving student success by fostering an institutional commitment to “structural love” and driving institutional and system-level changes which, at their core, focus on loving every student. Dr. Lowery-Hart shared how he communicated and advanced this vision to invest in all students so that students can feel that they meaningfully belong and that their identities and cultures are affirmed by the institution, his approach to engaging multiple stakeholders (including board, faculty, administrators, and students), and the through-line from loving every student to advancing racial equity in place at the Amarillo College.
Speakers: Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, President, Amarillo College
Monique Miles, Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions (Moderator)
Student Voice, Leadership, and Activism to Advance Equity in Postsecondary Education
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Summary:
This session presented two models of student engagement, leadership, and activism in the effort to drive system, policy, and practice change at community colleges in California and Boston.
(SMAC) Fellows discussed how SMAC – a student-led program that works to create transformative leadership opportunities for community college students in educational policy advocacy, innovative community engagement, and organizing – engages administrators, faculty, staff, trustees, and elected official to advocate for equity and justice at the City College of San Francisco and beyond.
At Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC), the
Halting Oppressive Pathways through Education
(HOPE) Initiative works to examine and eliminate the social, institutional, and academic barriers that often prevent male students of color from achieving their full potential. The HOPE Initiative, a partnership between students, faculty, staff, and administrators, aims to transform inequitable systems and structures so that Black and Latino male students can thrive, by focusing on research and analysis, gaps
in BHCC programs and services, and mentoring. SMAC and HOPE present models of student-centered leadership and youth-adult partnerships that center student voice in the work of transforming policy and practice at community colleges with a goal of creating institutions where students of color can feel meaningful belonging and thrive.
Speakers: Trillia Hargrove, SMAC Fellow, City College of San Francisco
Rodrigo “Rico” Velazquez Angel, SMAC Fellow, City College of San Francisco
William Cook Fernandez, HOPE Ambassador, Bunker Hill Community College
Evans Erilus, The HOPE Initiative, Bunker Hill Community College
David Medina, HOPE Ambassador, Bunker Hill Community College
Yelena Nemoy, Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions (Moderator)