Open access is one of the key priorities of community colleges in the United States of America. Open access means that all members of the college community - not just a select few - are welcome and encouraged to attain a college education, certification or refresher course either in workforce training or through the pursuit of advanced degrees.
This resource page is to encourage advocacy for change as it relates to the injustice and oppression of marginalized and underrepresented groups and/or individuals experiencing challenging situations with differences. The goal is to encourage future and deeper exploration in how we create spaces that are diverse, respectful and give a sense of belonging to all.
Please see various resources, topics and experiences adopted from across our local, national and global communities.
MCC invites you to assist our community in developing an institutional infrastructure that promotes diversity, inclusion, and equity for students, employees and community as stated in MCC's strategic plan. We encourage you to commit to lifelong self-evaluation and learning around the areas of Race, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (R.E.D.I.).
More on R.E.D.I.
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Race: is a social construct: it's a human-invented classification system. It was invented as a way to define physical differences between people, but has more often been used as a tool for oppression and violence.
Equity: is freedom from bias or favoritism.
Diversity: Diversity is any dimension that can be used to differentiate groups and people from one another. In a nutshell, it's about empowering people by respecting and appreciating what makes them different, in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, education, and national origin.
Inclusion: Inclusion is an organizational effort and practices in which different groups or individuals having different backgrounds are culturally and socially accepted and welcomed, and equally treated.
These differences could be self-evident, such as notional origin, age, race and ethnicity, religion/belief, gender, marital status and socioeconomic status or they could be more inherent, such as educational background, training, sector experience, organizational tenure, even personality, such as introverts and extroverts.
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Decades of research by organizational scientists, psychologists, sociologists, economists and demographers show that socially diverse groups (that is, those with a diversity of race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation) are more innovative than homogeneous groups.
It seems obvious that a group of people with diverse individual expertise would be better than a homogeneous group at solving complex, non-routine problems. It is less obvious that social diversity should work in the same way - yet the science shows that it does.
This is not only because people with different backgrounds bring new information. Simply interacting with individuals who are different forces group members to prepare better, to anticipate alternative viewpoints and to expect that reaching consensus will take effort.
Source: How Diversity Makes Us Smarter
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Social Class: A social class is a group of people of similar status, commonly sharing comparable levels of power and wealth.
Historically Underrepresented: The definition of Under-represented minority is far from being crystal clear. However, the URM designation is relatively consistent among schools. Underrepresented minority can be defined as a group whose percentage of the population in a given group is lower than their percentage of the population in the country.
At many colleges and universities, underrepresented minorities are generally considered to include: Hispanic/Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, and those of two or more races. International students generally fall into a separate category of their own.
Ethnicity: an ethnic group; a social group that shares a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like.
Culture: the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time.
Privilege: Unearned access to resources (social power) that are only readily available to some people because of their social group membership; an advantage, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by one societal group above and beyond the common advantage of all other groups. Privilege is often invisible to those who have it.
Ally: one that is associated with another as a helper.
Bias: A bias is a tendency, inclination, or prejudice toward or against something or someone. Some biases are positive and helpful - like choosing to only eat foods that are considered healthy or staying away from someone who has knowingly caused harm.
But biases are often based on stereotypes, rather than actual knowledge of an individual or circumstance. Whether positive or negative, such cognitive shortcuts can result in prejudgments that lead to rash decisions or discriminatory practices.
Stereotype: In social psychology, a stereotype is a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people. By stereotyping we infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and abilities that we assume all members of that group have.
Prejudice: A judgment or belief that is formed on insufficient grounds before facts are known or in disregard of facts that contradict it. Prejudices are learned and can be unlearned.
Discrimination: is defined as conduct directed at a student/employee on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression including transgender status), age (40 or older), national origin, disability, genetic information (including family medical history) or any other class protected by law, that adversely affects the student's/employee's ability to participate and benefit from MCC's programs, activities, employment and/or status thereof.
- The ability to name or define.
- The ability to decide.
- The ability the set the rule, standard, or policy.
- The ability to change the rule, standard, or policy to serve your needs, wants or desires.
- The ability to influence decisions makers to make choices in favor of your cause, issue or concern.
Assimilation: Assimilation is the process whereby persons and groups acquire the culture of other group in which they come to live, by adopting its attitudes and values, its patterns of thinking and behaving - in short, its way of life.
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MCC's Policies and Procedures for Students & Employees
Race/Color: any one of the groups that humans are often divided into based on physical traits regarded as common among people of shared ancestry.
Religion: Title VII defines "religion" to include "all aspects of religious observance and practice as well as belief." Religion includes not only traditional, organized religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, but also religious beliefs that are new, uncommon, not part of a formal church or sect, only subscribed to by a small number of people, or that seem illogical or unreasonable to others.
Sex: refers to the biological differences between males and females, such as the genitalia and genetic differences.
Gender: Gender refers to the socially constructed characteristics of women and men, such as norms, roles, and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It varies from society to society and can be changed.
Age: The time of life at which some particular qualification, power or capacity arises or rests.
National Origin: refers to a person's, or his or her ancestor's, country of birth or because a person has physical, cultural or linguistic characteristics of a national origin group.
Disability: The ADA defines a person with a disability as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity. This includes people who have a record of such an impairment, even if they do not currently have a disability. It also includes individuals who do not have a disability but are regarded as having a disability.
Genetic Information: includes information about an individual's genetic tests and the genetic tests of an individual's family members, as well as information about the manifestations of a disease or disorder in an individual's family members (i.e. family medical history).
Family medical history is included in the definition of genetic information because it is often used to determine whether someone has an increased risk of getting a disease, disorder, or condition in the future.
Genetic information also includes an individual's request for, or receipt of, genetic services, or the participation in clinical research that includes genetic services by the individual or a family member of the individual, and the genetic information of a fetus carried by an individual or by a pregnant woman who is a family member of the individual and the genetic information of any embryo legally held by the individual or family member using an assisted reproductive technology.
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Here are Diversity & Inclusion Self/Assessments and tools of many topicshttps://pisab.org/note these assessments, tests and tools or simply for awareness, thought and conversation purposes. Please do not use these assessments beyond the intended purpose of awareness, thought and conversation.
Project Implicit: is a non-profit organization and international collaboration between researchers who are interested in implicit social cognition - thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control. The goal of the organization is to educate the public about hidden biases and to provide a "virtual laboratory" for collecting data on the internet.
The Kirwan Institute: (Implicit Bias Module Series) The Kirwan Institute is locally and nationally engaged in marginalized communities to expand opportunity for all, focused in areas such as employment, health, education, criminal justice, and housing.
Are you an inclusive Leader? (Downloadable quiz) What does that mean, exactly? It's all about supporting your team and making employees feel valued for the unique talents and perspectives they bring to the table - without emphasizing their differences so much that they feel alienated. When employees feel included at work, they're better team players and more likely to go above and beyond, suggesting new ideas and ways of getting work done - which can boost overall organizational performance.
How do you know if you're an inclusive manager? This quiz will help you start conversations about inclusive leadership.
White Privilege Checklist: Peggy McIntosh, Associate Director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, describes white privilege as “an invisible package of unearned assets, which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant' to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks.” (McIntosh, 1989)
White Supremacy Culture and Characteristics: White Supremacy culture is the widespread ideology baked into the beliefs, values, norms, and standards of our groups (many if not most of them), our communities, our towns, our states, our nation, teaching us both overtly and covertly that whiteness holds value, whiteness is value.
Knowledge of the Hidden Rules of Social Class: A Questionnaire to help you gain insight into the taken-for-granted knowledge needed to survive in various social classes.
World Religion Quiz: This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of the religions of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity.
Social Motivation: The SCARF® Model assesses the differences in people's social motivation. Some people are more sensitive to status threat and rewards, others to certainty and relatedness. Having SCARF needs satisfied drives engagement and retention.
Thinking Routines: This toolbox highlights Thinking Routines developed across a number of research projects at PZ. A vast array of PZ's work has explored the development of thinking, the concept of thinking dispositions, and the many ways routines can be used to support student learning and thinking across age groups, disciplines, ideals, competencies, and populations.
Personality Test: This personality quiz measures the BIG FIVE personality traits that were developed over three or four decades by several independent scientific researchers.
Personality Test: This free personality test is based on Carl Jung's and Isabel Briggs Myers' personality type theory.
Emotional Intelligence: How well do you know yourself and your emotions?
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- Crossroads Anti-racism Organizing and Training
- Crip Camp (A Disability Revolution)
- Undoing racism - The People's Institute for Survival and Beyond
- Social Justice Training Institute
- National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE)
- Facing Race
- Color Lines
- Othering & Belonging Conference
- UnidosUS - Stronger Communities. Stronger America
- Native Americans
- Hispanic/Latinx
- Standing up for Racial Justice, Kansas City (SURJ)
- Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation
- Equity Literacy Institute
- EdChange
- Anti-oppression resource & training alliance
- Differing Abilities/Disabilities
- National Disability Authority
- Intercultural Tool Kit
- Zinn Education Project
- Teaching Tolerance (K-12)
- Social Justice Books - A Teaching for Change Project (K-12)
- Equal Justice Initiative
- Adopting Cultural Humility
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Consultants/Trainings:
- (K-12) Kass and Corn
- (Higher Education) The Center for transformation and change
- (Higher Education) Washington Consulting Group
- (General Industries) The Open Table KC - Anti-racism trainings
- (General Industries) Sophic Solutions, LLC
- (General Industries) Alive and Well Kansas City
Videos:
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The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is to build an environment of trust and respect of diverse opinions and perspectives by promoting equity in student success, recruiting and retaining employees from diverse backgrounds, and fostering an equitable and diverse institutional infrastructure.
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To share feedback and/or add additional resources you have found helpful to the race, equity, diversity and inclusion resource page, email OIE at mcchowlingplace@mcckc.edu.
We appreciate any ideas, reactions, additions and/or requests for this page as we continue to grow our community in R.E.D.I. work.
We can't guarantee all submissions will be accommodated but we do welcome all entries and ideas for consideration.
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