Executive Summary
Executive Summary July 2009 (pdf)
Updated July 2009
Tom deWit, Co-chair
English Professor
Chabot College
tdewit@chabotcollege.edu
Dr. Donna Colondres, Co-chair
Professor/ Counselor
Chaffey College
donna.colondres@chaffey.edu
UMOJA COMMUNITY
Mission Statement
Umoja, (a Kiswahili word meaning unity) is a community and critical resource dedicated to enhancing the cultural and educational experiences of African American and other students. We believe that when the voices and histories of students are deliberately and intentionally recognized, the opportunity for self-efficacy emerges and a foundation is formed for academic success. Umoja actively serves and promotes student success for all students through a curriculum and pedagogy responsive to the legacy of the African and African American Diasporas.
Organizing Principles
Our community:
1. shares a name with a core set of pedagogies and promising practices;
2. supports the academic success of all students
3. supports the persistence and retention of all students toward defined educational goals: transfer, certificate, associate degree;
4. integrates both instructional and student services;
5. integrates direct instruction of information and technology literacy;
6. integrates sound assessment strategies and a set of core benchmark measures;
7. includes recruitment and regular training of students, staff and faculty through seminars, conferences, and other professional development;
8. facilitates the sharing of resources: financial, curriculum, methodologies, pedagogies, materials, and contacts;
9. commits to collaborating with campuses at a local level so that there is integration of the core Umoja community with the particular college mission, goals, strategic plan and student equity efforts.
Educational Philosophy
Umoja is a community of educators and learners committed to the academic success, personal growth and self-actualization of African American and other students. The Umoja Community seeks to educate the whole student–body, mind and spirit. Informed by an ethic of love and its vital power, the Umoja Community will deliberately engage students as full participants in the construction of knowledge and critical thought. The Umoja Community seeks to help students experience themselves as valuable and worthy of an education.
The Umoja Community gains meaning through its connection to the African Diaspora. African and African American intellectual, cultural, and spiritual gifts inform Umoja Community values and practices. The Umoja Community seeks to nurture knowledge of and pride in these treasures. The learning experience within the Umoja Community will provide each individual the opportunity to add their voice and their story to the collective voices and stories of the African Diaspora.
African American students are inextricably connected to global struggles for liberation throughout the African Diaspora. In light of this, the Umoja Community views education as a liberatory act designed to empower all students to critique, engage, and transform deleterious social and institutional practices locally and globally. The Umoja Community will practice and foster civic engagement so that all its participants integrate learning and service. Likewise, the Umoja Community will instill in our students the knowledge and skills necessary to enable them to make positive differences in their lives and the lives of others.
Background
The Umoja Community movement began at the Umoja I conference at Diablo Valley College in October of 2006. At that time there were fifteen identifiable programs in the California Community Colleges system using culturally relevant African American student success practices. Some of these programs are longstanding and some very new. A Steering Committee of twenty-three faculty, administrators and classified volunteers came together and began to intensively collect, research and organize information from eleven of these colleges in order to develop a statewide model program. A leadership team of five of the program coordinators was also formed to further the development of a statewide program. The Steering Committee also had as their goal to become an expansive curriculum/professional development resource for community colleges wishing to better serve underachieving African American students. To date the leadership team and the Steering Committee members of the Umoja Community have logged thousands of hours working together, largely on a volunteer basis, working with partners and working across the state to research, develop, pilot and gain recognition for a statewide core program and resource focused on culturally responsive curriculum and practices effective for African American students.
After developing the core program model and the process for implementing new programs through pilot colleges, the Steering Committee announced that it was accepting applications for additional colleges that were interested in developing pilot programs. Twenty colleges filled out lengthy applications to work with the Steering Committee as pilot colleges. After scoring the applications based on institutional readiness to start a program in Fall 2007, the Committee chose four pilot colleges—San Diego City College, San Bernardino Valley College, West Los Angeles College and Long Beach City College. Each of these colleges signed MOUs, completed extensive self assessments and shared all their college planning documents. Each college was visited twice by an Umoja Community team, who met with the president, program administrators and staff, and students to collect information, ask questions related to program feasibility, rationale and sustainability, establish short term and long term goals, and establish working relationships with the college Umoja team. Between site visits the Umoja leadership teams maintained regular communication with the local college teams. The Umoja Community team also submitted very detailed site visit reports to the college that included critical recommendations on program design and implementation. All of the pilot colleges attended the Summer Learning Institute and will continue into a second pilot year with the program.
In addition to the four pilot colleges, the Steering Committee invited four other colleges to come to the Summer Learning Institute. These four were colleges with which the Committee developed close working relationships during the year and that demonstrated a high level of institutional readiness to launch an Umoja Community program in Fall 2008. These colleges included De Anza College, Los Medanos College, Sierra College and Napa Valley College. Each of these colleges will be first year pilot colleges in the 2008-09 academic year, will also have an Umoja team assigned, and will enter into an MOU. The weeklong Summer Learning Institute, attended by eight college teams, was the most substantial and profound training experience to date. The Steering Committee developed a wide array of training sessions on pedagogy, finances, learning community design, and team building.
The Steering Committee has also been working to strategically cultivate name recognition and partnerships by presenting at the annual conferences of various statewide CCC associations and/or committees including: the Community College League, the Chief Instructional Officers and Chief Student Services Officers Joint Conference, the Basic Skills Initiative (BSI) Professional Development committee, the College Board, the Equity and Diversity Taskforce, the Statewide CCC Academic Senate, and the Tillery Institute. These presentations have ranged from simple overviews of the Umoja community program model to discussions of effective pedagogy with high-risk students, to inquiries into equity in the community college system, and to strategies for integrating student services and instruction. Each presentation has lead to more colleges wanting to join the Umoja Community movement.
On January 14, 2008 the Umoja Community was officially recognized by the Board of Governors as a legitimate statewide student success program. The leadership team was asked to return for a follow up presentation in July 2008 to give a status report on progress of the Umoja Community. At this meeting the BOG prompted the Steering Committee to work with the System Office to write a Budget Change Proposal to request minimal State funding to sustain the work of the Steering Committee and ultimately to build Umoja into a statewide program. That proposal has since been adopted by the Board of Governors as a component of the System’s budget request for the 2009-10 fiscal year. Unfortunately, given the current economic status of the State, the chances that it will actually receive funding in that year are negligible.
The Steering Committee has also developed some key partnerships with community-based organizations and other CCC programs. California Tomorrow (CT) has supported the Committee’s work since nearly the beginning, providing a facilitator for a summer retreat where twenty-three faculty, staff and administrators developed the initial Umoja documents and core program. California Tomorrow has provided planning and assessment tools, a mailing address and ongoing professional consultation on program direction and evolution, and has attended Umoja’s 2008 Summer Learning Institute. The California African American Alliance of Educators (CAAAE) has hosted Umoja presentations at its conferences, provided key contacts with the K-12 system, and advised the Steering Committee on funding strategies. The Digital Bridge Academy (DBA) has also acted as a partner in serving at-risk non college bound students by attending Umoja regional symposia, hosting some of the Umoja leadership at its Summer Training sessions, collaborating on two joint publications concerning model student success programs, sharing curriculum and strategizing on program scalability.
The Steering Committee has cultivated a partnership with Leadership Excellence, Incorporated, (LE, Inc), a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, CA, that has historically worked with at-risk youth in Oakland and is currently branching out to the community colleges. Leadership Excellence facilitated the first day of the Umoja Summer Learning Institute by providing a simulated experience of the Middle Passage (African Holocaust). The Umoja Community has also participated in the California Community College system Basic Skills Initiative Professional Development Regional Workshops and one of the Steering Committee leaders, Dr. Donna Colondres of Chaffey College, served as one the statewide Student Services Project Coordinators. Finally, the System Office for the California Community Colleges has offered its support in the form of strategic guidance, staff time to edit funding proposals and advocacy from the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor of Student Services and Special Programs Division in supporting the program among various organizations.
Statement of Problem
California Community Colleges (CCC) are the main gateway to higher education, and CCC students make up 64% of all undergraduates in the state (California Tomorrow, 2008). Since CCCs are the most affordable option for higher education in California, they also serve the neediest students with the greatest socio-economic disadvantage. The system has the highest proportion of students from the lowest income group in the nation. Seventy-five percent of all first-time Latino, African American and Native American college students get their start in California community colleges. Sixty-five percent of students are students of color in the CCC system, the highest proportion in the country (California Tomorrow, 2008). These students come to the CCC the least academically prepared. In Closing the Achievement Gap, the California P-16 Council and Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell’s (2008) office state that “the 2006 Academic Performance Index (API) of African American, American Indian, Hispanic/Latino, and Pacific Islander students is significantly lower than the API for white and Asian students at every level: elementary, middle, and high school.” A closer examination of this data finds that African American students are at the bottom across all grade levels for any ethnic group and income level.
All Latino, African American and Native American students are on par with white and Asian students when it comes to gaining access to the community college system. However once African American students are in the system, their outlook for academic success is dismal. African American college students consistently earn lower grade point averages; have lower rates of success in their courses, and persistence from term to term as compared to other ethnic groups. Shulock and Moore (2007) highlight these challenges concluding that African American students have a 52% retention rate to the following term and only a 39% retention rate to the second year as compared to their white counterparts at 62% and 50% respectively. They further observe that black students’ course completion rate is 49% as compared to 64% for white students. Furthermore, according to the Chancellor’s Office Datamart, as a whole, African American students have earned a consistently decreasing grade point average (GPA) over the past 10 years and in 2005-06 African American male students had the lowest annual average GPA of any group at 2.09.
African American student success rates in basic skills courses mimic the same trends as other academic success indicators for this population. Although African American students comprise 7.49% of the total unduplicated headcount for the California Community College system they make up 17.47% of the total enrollment in Credit and Non-credit Basic Skills courses (Board of Governors, California Community Colleges, 2008). In 2005-06, the course success rate for African American students completing basic skills English, one course below college level, was only 53% and for Elementary Algebra was only 37% as compared to at 67% for the same English course and 52% for Algebra for white students and 70% for English and 57% for Algebra for their Asian counterparts (Board of Governors, California Community Colleges, 2008).
Researchers have identified several factors that contribute to the lack of academic success of African American students within the United States. Much of the research points to specific issues within the academic institution that remain largely unexamined and unaddressed by college administrators and faculty. Low teacher expectations, negative teacher perceptions, and minority stereotyping lead directly to feelings of alienation and abandonment in the classroom for African American students (Lee, 2004; Steele, 1999). Other research points to the lack of an early intervention program within the first few weeks of the semester as a factor of underachievement (Fenske, et. al. 1997).
Evidence of Success
Several longstanding local programs have demonstrated their usefulness in improving the retention and success of African American students. Below are four of these programs representing nearly fifty years of experience, improving success for these students, ninety five percent of which are in need of basic skills remediation. Each of these programs played a significant role in the design of the statewide model Umoja Community program. The Umoja Community leadership team has faculty from each of the programs below and each program has also contributed greatly to the components of the statewide model: curriculum, program design, pedagogy, effective practices, community building, and transfer readiness strategies.
• The Daraja Project at Chabot College, founded in 1987, effectively addresses persistence, progress toward transfer readiness and low performance in English courses. Daraja is open to all students, including those assessing at the lowest level of basic skills English. Daraja is a linked course learning community that also provides counseling and mentoring. Between 1994-2004, Daraja students (age 21 or under) successfully completed the Basic Skills to Freshman Composition sequence at a rate 19% higher than other African American students (age 21 or under) not in Daraja. Furthermore, between 1995-2005, Daraja students (age 21 or under) successfully completed the second semester critical thinking course which follows freshman composition at a rate 11% higher than African American students (age 21 or under) not in Daraja. This critical thinking course is not part of the Daraja learning community and the higher success rate in it over this ten year period underscores the quality of academic preparation students receive in the Daraja Project.
• Project Success at El Camino College, founded in 1987, addresses retention and persistence issues by providing counseling, early registration, mentoring and supportive instructors who teach in learning communities. Institutional data indicates that Project Success students have, over the last eighteen years, consistently achieved persistence rates at 96% and earned Associate Degrees twice that of comparable African American students not in Project Success.
• Diop Scholars at Cosumnes River College, founded in 2006, found that students participating in the program in 2007 performed much better than other African American students on campus and better than all students in several short-term indicators of success. CRC’s program has only been in existence for 2 years. In terms of course success rates, program participants for Spring and Fall 2007 had higher course success rates compared to their peers. In Fall 2007, the program students had a 51.2% course success rate compared to 48.7% for other African American students at the college; although these rates were lower than the overall college course success rate of 63.3%. The average course success rates for program students for Spring 2007 however, were 61.7%. In terms of average units completed, program students completed 9.02 college units during the Fall semester compared to 4.5 units for other African American students at the college and an average of 5.9 units completed college-wide. In terms of semester-to-semester persistence rates (persistence rate is defined as the percentage of students enrolling in a particular semester who enroll in courses the subsequent semester), 78.6% of the program students who were at the college during Spring 2007 persisted to enroll in classes in Fall 2007 compared to other African American students who had a 53.5% persistence rate and compared to the overall college-wide persistence rate of 59.2%. In terms of average GPA, the program students in Spring 2007 had an average cumulative GPA of 2.27, which is higher than their peer group of 2.09 for other African American students; however, it was lower than the college-wide average of 2.55.
• AMAN/AWOMAN at Chaffey College, founded in 2006, has grown from initially serving twelve students in Spring 2006 to 174 students in Spring 2008. Among these students 107 have enrolled in a Chaffey College AMAN/AWOMAN guidance course (GUID-3). Examining performance outcomes in the GUID-3 course, African American and Hispanic students exhibit statistically significantly higher success rates and mean GPAs in AMAN/AWOMAN sections than in non-AMAN/AWOMAN sections.
REFERENCES
Allen, B. A., & Boykin, A. W. (1992). African American children and the educational process: Alleviating cultural discontinuity through prescriptive pedagogy. School Psychology Review, 21(4), 586-596.
Board of Governors, California Community Colleges. (2008). Report on the System’s Current Programs in English as a Second Language (ESL) and Basic Skills. Sacramento, CA: Chancellor’s Office, California Community Colleges.
California Tomorrow (April, 2008). Access & Equity Factsheet. Oakland, CA: California Tomorrow.
Engstrom, C. and Tinto, V. (2007). Pathways to student success: The impact of learning communities on the success of academically under-prepared college students. New York: Syracuse University.
Fenske, Robert, Gerianos, Christine, Keller Jonathan, & Moore, David. (1997). Early intervention programs: Opening the door to higher education. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No 6. Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development. ED 412 863.
Gay, G. (2000). Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: Teachers College Press.
Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2), 106-116.
Gollnick, D. M., & Chinn, P. C. (2002). Multicultural education in a pluralistic society (6th ed.). New York: Merrill.
Jenkins, D. (2006). What community college management practices are effective in promoting student success? A study of high- and low-impact institutions. New York: Community College Research Center Teachers College, Columbia University. http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/DefaultFiles/SendFileToPublic.asp?ft=pdf&FilePath=c:\Websites\ccrc_tc_columbia_edu_documents\332_419.pdf&fid=332_419&aid=47&RID=419&pf=Publication.asp?UID=419
Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Lee, S.J. (2004) Up against whiteness: Students of color in our schools. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 35(1), 121-125.
Shulock, N. and Moore, C. (2007) Beyond the open door. Sacramento, CA: California State University, Sacramento
Steele, C.M. (1999). Thin ice: “Stereotype threat” and black college students. The Atlantic Monthly, 284(2), 44-54.
Superintendent Jack O’Connell’s California P-16 Council. (2008). Closing the achievement gap. Sacramento, CA: California State Department of Education.
Thompson, G. (2007). Through ebony eyes: What teachers need to know but are afraid to ask about African American students, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Umoja Community Design
Umoja Village
The Umoja Village is a component of the Umoja Community, a dedicated space welcoming all students, a space designed by students and staff, a space that nurtures academic success. The Umoja Village will provide opportunities to increase exposure to historical and cultural experiences from the African Diaspora. The Umoja Village will be a place for the expression and celebration of our students’ voices. The Umoja Village will intentionally cultivate relationships within the broader institution to help support students.
Minimum requirements to be a member of the Umoja community:
o Complete application/intake form
o Complete mandatory orientation
o Enroll in Guidance/Counseling courses
o Complete comprehensive Student Educational Plan
o Meet with counselor twice per semester
o Participate in core Umoja-sponsored program activities
o Complete Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and Board of Governors Fee Waiver (BOGW) Form
Academic Component
Beyond the minimum requirements, colleges interested in adopting the Umoja Community model will strive to implement a Learning Community and/or Cohort of students. The Umoja Community model is intentionally flexible both in order to accommodate variations at the local level and to allow colleges to grow their own expression of the Umoja Community over time.
Learning Community Model
(Umoja students taking two or more linked classes)
o Guidance/Counseling Courses (1st & 2nd semester)
o English Course
o Math Course
o Library Information Literacy Course
o Other course with African American Emphasis
Cohort Model
(Umoja students enrolled in classes within the general population)
o Guidance/Counseling Courses (1st & 2nd semester)
o Other identified course(s) with African American emphasis
Other Program Options
o Mentoring Program (staff/community mentors)
o Peer Mentoring
o Tutoring / Supplemental Instruction
o Service Learning
Note: Students are required to participate in the Guidance courses and will be encouraged to participate in other courses as determined by their local college program. There will be continued service to a student who meets the minimum requirements until that student reaches their educational goal.
Umoja Community Basic Components
The following list of components reflects all the areas currently drafted. Each of these components includes a full complement of documents: descriptions, definitions, samples, timelines, duties, activities, models, spreadsheets, strategies, promising practices, and other practical information to assist local colleges in implementing the Umoja Community model. These components make up a comprehensive program and statewide resource that will be accountable and sustainable over time. The Umoja Community steering committee intentionally designed these components to enable our community to grow, learn and develop as we move forward.
Instructional Component
o College Guidance Courses
o English Reading and Writing Courses
o Mathematics Courses
o Library Information Literacy Courses
o African\African American-Centered Courses
Support Services Component
o Matriculation
o Financial Aid/Scholarships
o Academic Support
o Cultural Activities
o Mentoring
o Tutoring
o Counseling Services
o Workshops
o Field Trips
o Incentives
o Student Club/Organization
Organizational Component
o Pedagogical Practices
o Outreach/Recruitment Strategies
o Mentor Guidelines
o Training—Annual cycle
o Funding Strategies
o Steering Committee (Council of Elders) (statewide and local)
o Advisory Board (statewide and local)
o Mentor Council (statewide and local)
o Transfer Agreements with Historically Black Colleges and Universities
o Umoja Day – Student Leadership Conference
Administrative Component
o Budget (based on formulas)
o Cost per Full Time Equivalent Student (FTES)
o Staffing (based on formulas)
o Coordination Duties
o Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
o Research
o Student Learning Outcomes (SLO’s) and Assessment
Umoja Community’s Links to Basic Skills Initiative
Currently, African American students are disproportionately represented in basic skills courses when compared to white students. The Umoja Community addresses most, if not all, of the effective practices highlighted in the 2007 Basic Skills as a Foundation for Students Success in the California Community Colleges. The Umoja Community program components that link directly to effective practices outlined in the report are as follows:
o Umoja is based on a clearly articulated mission and purpose which includes overarching values and beliefs. (A.2)
o Umoja is highly centralized and coordinated. (A.5)
o Umoja facilitates and supports student completion of coursework as early as possible within the educational sequence. (A.4)
o Umoja includes a comprehensive system of support services with a high degree of integration among academic and support services. (A.5)
o Umoja consists of faculty and advisors who are both knowledgeable and enthusiastic about developmental education and the academic success of African American students. (A.6)
o Umoja includes a mandatory orientation, assessment, and course placement. (B.1)
o Umoja includes regular program evaluations and the use of data as mechanisms to improve practices.(B.2)
o Umoja provides counseling support which is substantial, accessible, and highly integrated into academic courses. (B.3)
o Umoja disseminates financial aid information to support all of their students. (B.4)
o Umoja encourages and supports faculty development. The improvement of teaching and learning is connected to the program goals. (C.1-5)
o Umoja instructional practices are intentionally designed to address the holistic development of all aspects of their students. (D.3)
o Umoja is fundamentally based on culturally responsive teaching. (D.4)
o Umoja includes a high degree of structure within the educational courses. (D.5)
o Umoja employs a variety of instructional methods to meet the needs of African American students. (D.6)
o Umoja aligns student entry skill level and course content to college-level performance requirements. (D.7)
o Umoja involves instructional strategies that are shared between participating faculty. (D.8)
o Umoja faculty and advisors closely monitor student performance and student progress. (D.9)
o Umoja has in place comprehensive academic support mechanisms that include: trained tutoring, counseling, academic success workshops, and learning style assessments. (D.10)
Umoja Consortium Members*
*as of June 2009
Bakersfield College
Chabot – Las Positas Community College District
Chaffey College
Citrus College
College of Alameda
Cosumnes River College
Contra Costa College
De Anza College
Diablo Valley College
El Camino College
Evergreen Valley College
Fresno City College
Long Beach City College
Los Medanos College
Los Angeles Community College District
Mt. San Antonio College
Napa Valley College
North Orange County Community College District
Ohlone College
Pasadena City College
Riverside Community College District
San Bernardino Valley College
San Diego City College
San Jose City College
Sierra College
Skyline College
Solano Community College
Umoja Governing Board Members
Dr. Teresa Aldredge, Cosumnes River College
Debbie Anthony, Monterey Peninsula College
Erin Charlens, San Diego City College
Dr. Donna Colondres, Chaffey College
Tom deWit, Chabot College
Dr. Judy Mays, American River College
Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza, San Bernardino Valley College
A’kilah Moore, Los Medanos College
Elaine Moore, El Camino College
Clyde Phillips, Orange Coast College
Dr. Matthew Powell, Diablo Valley College
Umoja Community Founding Steering Committee
Dr. Teresa Aldredge (Cosumnes River College)
Caritha Anderson (Evergreen Valley College)
Debbie Anthony (Monterey Peninsula College)
Keith Aytch (Evergreen Valley College)
Brenda Bias (College of Alameda)
Jackie Boboye (Chaffey College)
Dr. Edward Bush (Riverside Community College)
Kendra Cabrera (Monterey Peninsula College)
Dr. Donna Colondres (Chaffey College)
Tom deWit, Chabot College
Terence Elliott (Contra Costa College)
Lisa Fitch (Los Angeles City College)
kyzyl fenno-smith (CSU East Bay)
Dr. Wanda Fulbright-Dennis (Mt San Antonio College)
Debbie Green (College of Alameda)
Jeri Marshall (American River College)
Denise Marshall-Mills (Cosumnes River College)
Dr. Judy Mays (American River College)
Elaine Moore (El Camino College)
kim morrison (Chabot College)
Clyde Phillips (Orange Coast College)
Dr. Matthew Powell (Diablo Valley College)
Gerri Scott (Sacramento City College)
Antoine Thomas (Mt. San Antonio College)
Dr. Cindy Vyskocil (Fullerton College)
Barbara Worthington (Chabot College)
Umoja Community Founding Consortium Leaders
Dr. Helen Benjamin, Chancellor, Contra Costa Community College District
Dr. Susan Cota, Chancellor emeritus, Chabot-Las Positas Community College District
Dr. Jerome Hunter, Chancellor, North Orange Community College District
Dr. Joel Kinnamon, Chancellor, Chabot-Las Positas Community College District
Joining the Consortium
Chancellors and presidents from across California Community Colleges act as a consortium to actively advise the Umoja Governing Board on program implementation and provide critical feedback and support in promoting Umoja, and generate ideas for securing additional program funding.
If your campus is interested in joining the Umoja Community, please send a check for $1000 made payable to the Foundation for California Community Colleges. The Foundation for California Community Colleges, a California nonprofit corporation, tax exempt under Internal Revenue Code Section 501c (3) has supported the efforts of the Umoja Community from its inception. For more information on joining the consortium contact:
Simon Lee, Senior Accountant Foundation for California Community Colleges
1102 Q Street, Suite 3500 . Sacramento, CA 95811 . 916.325.0119
APPENDICES
40th FALL SESSION
ADOPTED RESOLUTIONS
Academic Senate for
California Community Colleges
3.01 Support for the Efforts of the Umoja Community
Beth Smith, Grossmont College, Equity and Diversity Action Committee Equity and Diversity
Fall 2008
Topic: Equity and Diversity
Whereas, Umoja (a Kiswahili word meaning “unity”) is a community and critical resource that serves as an umbrella for several efforts and groups dedicated to enhancing the cultural and educational experiences of African-American and other students as well as to increasing student retention, persistence, and success;
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges in Resolution 13.03 S07 called for an investigation into “successful statewide and national models which include both instructional and student services designed to encourage the persistence and retention of African-American and other underrepresented students;” and
Whereas, The Umoja Community is one of many culturally responsive instructional approaches to learning, with faculty who are both knowledgeable and enthusiastic in addressing the academic support needs of all students;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges recognize the Umoja Community as an established organization and successful model for enhancing student success and include Umoja along with the other programs the ASCCC supports such as Puente; Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA); Extended Opportunity Program and Services (EOPS); and Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSPS).
Disposition: Board of Governors, Consultation Council, Chancellor’s Office, Local Senates
Assigned to: President
———————–
Fall 2008 Adopted Resolutions
7.0 EQUITY AND DIVERSITY
7.01 F08 Umoja Community
Marlene Hurd, Laney College
Whereas, The Umoja Community for Student Success needs the voice of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges to further the progress in developing and expanding statewide efforts to improve success and retention of African American, basic skills, and other at-risk students;
Whereas, The Umoja Community’s work is essential to addressing the equity strand contained in the current Basic Skills Initiative Professional Development Grant;
Whereas, At the January 14-15, 2008, Board of Governors meeting, the Board expressed its unanimous support for Umoja and encouraged the Umoja Community to seek funding through the system’s budget request process;
Whereas, The Student Senate for California Community Colleges committed to addressing equity and diversity issues, and the defining of terms and principles at the Fall 2007 General Assembly resolutions in 3.01 F07;
Resolved, That the Student Senate for California Community Colleges work with the Umoja Community to share project information with the local senates across the state;
Resolved, That the Student Senate for California Community Colleges offer its assistance to the leadership of the Umoja Community to support its work; and
Resolved, That the Student Senate for California Community Colleges work with groups such as the Umoja leadership, the Black Caucus, local senates, and other constituencies to communicate information about Umoja, including its effectiveness for African American, basic skills, and all other at-risk students.
MSC Disposition: Board of Governors, Chancellor’s Office, Local Senates, Umoja Leadership
Assigned: President, Equity and Diversity Committee working with the Governmental Relations Committee