Title
Recognizing the Community College of Philadelphia and its Office of Diversity and Equity for the Creation of the Diversity Certificate Program.
Body
WHEREAS, The Community College of Philadelphia is the largest public institution of higher education in the City of Philadelphia. Since 1965, the College has served more than 685,000 of the City’s residents; and
WHEREAS, Community College of Philadelphia provides academic accessibility to a population of students who come from neighborhoods that are systemically underserved. Over 72% of the student body has a diverse background. Research shows that students from diverse backgrounds are more likely to succeed when they are taught by faculty who reflect their background or are cultural competent; and
WHEREAS, The Community College of Philadelphia is responding to the research by reinforcing its commitment to expand and institutionalize culturally responsive teaching practices, inclusive hiring practices and restorative justice revisions of college policies. In 2017, the College created its own Diversity Certificate Program. The purpose of the Diversity Certificate Program is to offer quality workshops, dialogues and training on diversity issues relevant to the College, its students and teachers; and
WHEREAS, Attendees of the Program earn a Diversity Certificate after participating in four or more sessions during an academic year. The Certificate is intended to demonstrate a participant’s commitment to creating a campus climate that is safe, welcoming, and truly inclusive of all students, faculty, and staff. The Diversity Certificate is also used to support tenure or promotion applications; and
WHEREAS, The Program has received tremendous feedback from across the campus in its first year of operation. Focusing on issues related to racial and ethnic diversity due to the national climate and feedback from students, teachers and employees, the Diversity Certificate Program thus far has reached over 215 faculty, staff and student leaders, who have participated in over 50 sessions. More than 40 employees have earned a Diversity Certificate; and
WHEREAS, The Diversity Certificate Program has succeeded in creating a college-wide discussion about inclusive practices relating to faculty and staff interaction with students, classroom policies, curricular design, hiring practices, and teacher practices. Program participants have restructured institutional policies to make them more equitable, assessed existing power structures for bias and racial exclusion, created a racial justice caucus aimed at reducing underrepresentation of minority faculty, challenged departmental degree programs with a dearth of ethnic studies requirements and formed a racial climate committee aimed at designing a process to respond to racially insensitive behavior; and
WHEREAS, The success of the Diversity Certificate Program would not be possible without the tireless efforts of many individuals, including Director of the Office of Diversity and Equity Simon Brown and Diversity Certificate Program Co-Creators Faye Allard and Debonair Oates; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby recognize the Community College of Philadelphia and its Office of Diversity and Equity for the creation of the Diversity Certificate Program.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the Community College of Philadelphia’s Office of Diversity and Equity as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.
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