Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan

Measures

• Organizational Change Survey
• Leadership assessment
• Communication and engagement tracking and metrics
• Employee/student satisfaction data

Strategy Details

1. Connect funding to demographic representation, participation, and performance outcomes.

• Identify resources or services that don’t have equitable performance outcomes and require a programmatic performance plan review that addresses the outcome gaps.
• Require a performance plan with expectations and changes expected to address the underrepresented and underperforming outcomes within outreach, services provided, and resources available.
• Use annual performance plans as indicators of eligibility of future or continued funding.

2. Publicly display progress on equity and social justice initiatives within the program, department, division, and college level.

• Supervisors use demographic data from BIPOC and other marginalized/stigmatized community demographic data within meetings to identify progress and alignment of initiates.
• Use Interest Based Problem Solving Techniques to document the participation, consideration, and inclusion of feedback within decision making at every level of the college.

3. Incorporate off campus community in decision making.

• Convene professional technical program advisory boards with BIPOC and other marginalized/stigmatized owned businesses and organizations.
• Require student government representation within administrative committees be filled within 30 days of vacancy.

Measures

• Use of attendance/participation data from service and resource providers
• Data gaps on (race, age, sexuality, gender, veteran, disability, religion, and international) on the use of campus service and resource providers
• Data gaps in the incidents of Report Concerns
• Service satisfaction data
• Exit interview survey data (employees)
• Non-registered survey data (students)

Strategy Details

1. Assess and create a physical environment that welcoming and safe.

• Remove campus ground representation (names, plaques, sculptures, etc.) from individuals who participated in the oppression of marginalized communities.
• Post signs in multiple languages.
• Use language that is inclusive as possible (remove gendered/marked words with gender neutral and unmarked words).
• Ensure bilingual staff and volunteers are visible throughout the building.
• Increase visibility of different racial/ethnic/religious/sexualities on campus and website.
• Identify a point of contact at the school on which people have someone they can connect with within a structured communication system (CRM).
• Create a parental/guardian/family experience and expectations pathway.
• Provide website space for affinity groups on campus.

2. Identify student use and (un)satisfaction of resources, services, and programming events.

• Identify student’s use of services/resources within a centralized system like a CRM.
• Identify student’s satisfaction of services/resources within a centralized system like a CRM.
• Develop communication responses for unsatisfied experiences and provide next steps to resolution options.
• Conduct graduation survey to get the company, income, and geographic information.  Use the data to recruit and develop/strengthen pipeline to careers.

3. Create spaces that reflect the cultural/ethnic/religious diversity of the campus community.

• Create an accessible meditation/interfaith room for religions/beliefs on campus.
• Create a more visible presence on campus with the use of symbols, artwork, or languages that represent marginalized communities, voices, images, and ideologies.
• Improve campus signage with more color/tonal signs .
• Development and expansion of mentoring programs for specific populations throughout the College.
• Evaluate the performance/outcomes/impact of student services, to ensure they promote student success and continue successful programs.

4. Increase partnerships with institutions/agencies/organizations that are serving underrepresented and unsupported students.

• Increase percentage of contracts from minority and women owned business enterprise.
• Identify student’s use of services/resources within a centralized tool, like a CRM.
• Interconnect technology between campus resources and services.

Student

Measures

• Demographic data disparities based on (race, age, sexuality, gender, veteran, disability, religion, 1^st generation, and international)
• Retention (year to year) demographics debt (gap)
• Transfer demographic debt (gap)
• Student satisfaction debt (gap)
• Student course completion debt (gap)
• Student completion of educational goal (transfer/degree completion/employment/personal enrichment/etc.)
• Completion of English/Math within first 45 credits, if pursuing an associate’s or bachelor’s degree

Strategy Details

1. Use resources to support the entry of underrepresented and unsupported identities.

• Double outreach services by hiring another outreach specialist.
• Develop a communication plan to transition prospective, students identified interest, to admitted students.
• Implementation of programs to engage family support of marginalized/stigmatized students.
• Provide technical support for literacy, ESL, and immigrant students to facilitate online application and registration processes.
• Review demographics within intake processes in which students are recruited, oriented, and admitted.
• Unbiased marketing that contradicts stereotypes within representation of materials.
• Create a student brand so that prospective students can learn about our culture and decide to attend and learn careers and educational opportunities.
• Provide marketing materials within multiple languages.

2. Address barriers that impact the registration of underrepresented and unsupported identities from year to year.

• Develop communication for new applicants, returning applicants, and pause out students that provide messaging for deadlines and dates for registration, financial aid deadlines, and completion of next steps to become registered students.
• Review applicants and create targeted communication within CRM to nudge prospective students into registered students.

3. Identify student intent/goal.

• Create a first year seminar that will identify student’s goal/intent while assisting with supporting, welcoming, celebrating, and transitioning students into college.
• Improve communication functions through a Customer Relations Management (CRM) Tool. For example, the system lets students express interest in services/resources and receive timely communications for enrollment, financial aid application, holidays, and identify students that are eligible for support services and resources. 
• High academic performers will be celebrated for their achievement through communication recognitions.

4. Measure Progress towards student intent/progress.

• Identify student’s interests in CRM, provide timely resources/services that relate to interest, indicators for program participation for proactive engagement. 
• Develop an Early Alert system that will alert a communication of resources or services based on academic/social/behavioral performance.
• Develop an academic appreciation communication system for positive achievements.
• Develop a student portal with critical college information and timely warnings/services that show progress (like a progress meter).
• Conduct graduation survey to get the company, income, and geographic information.  Use the data to recruit and develop/strengthen pipeline to careers.

5. Create articulations/partnerships between colleges and programs.

• Improve college articulations between colleges and universities to accept more credits or degrees within their programs/admissions.
• Develop onboarding strategies that favorably shape student experiences. Consider communicating what students should do and what assistance is available to them and allow for flexibility.
• Partner with community groups which are working to address poverty issues within the community, which ultimately have an impact on Bellevue College.

Employee

Measures

• Data compared between demographics: race, age, sexuality, gender, veteran, disability, religion, and international.
• life cycle of employees reviewed (Applicant, screening, hiring, exit interviews, etc.)
• Diversity numbers across employee group types (Administrative, faculty, staff, exempt, classified, etc.)
• Diversity numbers across employee life cycles (applicants, interviewed, finalists, and hired)

Strategic Details

1. Increase representation and participation of students within course content. 

• Audit course catalog descriptions and images using a diversity, equity, and inclusion framework.
• Inventory existing diversity, equity, and inclusion faculty practices.
• Develop rubrics to review syllabus language and use rubric to review existing policies and processes.
• Revise templates for syllabi and forms used by employees.

2. Increase underrepresented and unsupported identities in applicant and finalist pools (Classified/Exempt/Faculty/Administrators/Etc.) over previous fiscal year. 

• Have equivalent experience be the default when discussing degree attainment within job posting.
• Ensure the deans and vice presidents take the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion advocate training by working with Human Resources and share the understanding of the issues, visions of the desired community, and the target goals for the college.
• Diversify the publication sources of job postings by utilizing predominantly diverse serving contact list serves, websites, and organizations.
• Host an open house and invite organizations that are majority operated by and/or owned by minorities.
• Publish testimonials from minority and women employees from all levels of the college. 
• Include diverse images of people in nontraditional roles for greater representation within career page, website, pamphlets, and social media.
• Certify all hiring committee members, hiring chairs, and hiring managers through updated bias and legal training.
• Incorporate a department open forum or meet and greet within the hiring process for stakeholder feedback about finalists.

3. Increase underrepresented and unsupported identities of hires (Classified/Exempt/Faculty/Administrators/Etc.) over previous fiscal year. 

• Establish DEI Advocates checkpoints within job posting, screening, and onboarding processes. At these checkpoints, hiring officials must inform their supervisor and HR that the pool lacks sufficient diversity.
• Improve accessibility of recruiting and hiring functions through HR technology. For example, the system lets candidates apply for jobs online and takes new hires through a paperless onboarding process.
• Establish onboarding expectations for new employees (employee experience).
• Work with affinity groups to establish racial/ethnic/religious/sexuality based employee resource groups within onboarding. 

4. Provide a comprehensive and continuous educational opportunities to assist employees in working effectively in a diverse community.

• Create an Equity Education Review Committee
• Develop a mandatory online training.
• Design a registration and tracking system for learning and professional development opportunities.
• Publish a calendar of educational opportunities throughout the year.

Privilege is a higher value of worth is placed on a person or group and has a protective quality, while oppression is a decreased value of worth placed on a person or group and increases risk. A common social example of a privileged group is the receipt of more resources and services, while an oppressed group will have less resources, limited access and fewer opportunities.

This often leads to a disparity in performance and outcomes. It also becomes problematic when current disparities are used to enforces the idea that the privilege group is inherently better than members of an oppressed. It also creates a false sense of permission to treat members of the oppressed group as deserving of their oppression, also known as victim blaming.