The Equity Project

Each year, The Equity Project (TEP) offers faculty and staff ongoing opportunities to engage in social justice education and work towards advancing equity at Whatcom Community College. Each year a topic is selected and TEP offers programming centered on a theme. Activities include keynote speakers, workshops, campus discussions, films, and more. Please check the WCC web calendar for upcoming programming and events.

The Equity Project Core Vision: To challenge systemic norms to eradicate equity gaps at Whatcom Community College. The crucial conversations The Equity Project (TEP) facilitates encourage our individual and collective hearts by recognizing the experiential knowledge of systemically minoritized communities as legitimate and acknowledging the harms caused by systemic oppression. We aim to create a sense of belonging that starts with a language of ongoing regard that is sincere, authentic, and communicates appreciation for personal experiences. Practically, we aim to:

Increase student success
Create opportunities for our institution to consistently commit to racial and social justice
Develop tools to recognize, expose and replace harmful practices

2023-2024 Theme
Building Retention: Cultivating Culturally Responsive Communities

"Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world." - bell hooks

Motivation and Guiding Questions:

How do we create and maintain a sense of belonging for everyone here?
How can we cultivate culturally responsive communities?
How can we help each student and employee feel seen, heard, and valued?

TEP Scaffold for the year:

Fall Quarter:

Form pods
Explore multimodal texts and activity options based on pod interests
Develop a central question for your pod around “Belonging” (e.g. how do we cultivate belonging for ourselves and students?)
Grapple with chosen question
Think about possibilities of how to develop an answer/response

Winter:

Develop a plan for some action or intervention in response to your question to implement in the Spring (and beyond!)
Share and workshop your plan with TEP support people at a series of design clinics/workshops
Implement plan (pods will make at least one demonstrable move to create more belonging in their campus area)

Early Spring:

Prepare an artifact to share your plan, process, and results in a college-wide “Belonging Showcase”