New CCHALES Report
“SEPI, The Reason I’m Still In This Position”
Written by lead author, Dr. Ángel de Jesus González, this report highlights the influence and impact of the “Student Equity Planning Institute” (SEPI) on equity leaders across nine California Community Colleges. Dr. González captures the experiences of colleagues advancing racial equity in California and the ways that SEPI has served as a space to learn, grow, experiment, struggle, and succeed.
Over the last decade, the California legislature has (re)invested and prioritized the Student Equity and Achievement (SEA) program calling on all community colleges to improve equitable outcomes for students, especially racially minoritized groups. In this report, we underscore the key lessons learned from individual equity leaders participating in a comprehensive three-year Critical Race-Research-Practice Partnerships (CR-RPP) between the Community College HigherEd Access Leadership Equity Scholarship (CCHALES) Research Collective at San Diego State University (SDSU) and 17 participating California Community College campuses. Our colleagues shed light on SEPI as a 1) collective space for freedom dreaming of radical policy possibilities, 2) a resource hub for race-conscious approaches to advance equity strategies, and 3) expanding self-efficacy, agency, and the capacity to lead institutional transformation.
Highlights from the Report
SEPI and [COACH NAME] are the reason that I’m still actually in this position, like honestly, because I felt so alone, so isolated, and overwhelmed…So not only did they provide a sounding board to help me because I was feeling like I was almost being gaslighted or something by the whole institution, “Like am I going crazy? How could they possibly think that this is okay?” . . . and so having them [COACHES AND SEPI LEAD], to be able to feel comfortable and safe enough to call them or email them. They gave me some solutions, but I think most importantly that they gave me the confidence. The support by which I felt okay, I am armored to be able to bring this up on my own.
-Lai, Student Equity Lead
I believe tools are one of the most important things. Tools that can easily be used to help make the case at our institutions are crucial . . . they were key in getting the plan approved and planning for where we are headed as a college in terms of equity work.
-Pepe, Dean of Student Equity
I would definitely say that coaching and just providing a lot of emotional support especially throughout the whole last year, because I was new to [Campus]. And I was tasked to write this plan and I just [had] so much anxiety and stress about it being new and feeling completely out of sync and not knowing what I was doing. And they [coaches] just kind of gave me more grounding. Yeah, so that’s been awesome. . . . But just the existence of SEPI is so comforting.
-Lola, Director of Student Equity
Oh, my gosh! the [tool] that maps out the varying student populations, the data on students experiencing disproportionate impact mapped out by guided pathways for example, that tool is extremely helpful and helps us bridge some of our thinking with some of our plans and what we actually need to do!
-Javier, Director of Student Equity
