SLI 2022

2022 virtual conference Justice-centered Theory, Practice, and Praxis in Higher Education

Thank you For Attending!

A note from Dr. Jeremiah J. Sims--

At Rooted in Love, we consider ourselves force multipliers. The force that we are seeking to multiply is radical love. Thank you for building community with us. Our hope is that each and every one of you received a taste of and, concomitantly, developed a taste for radical love during SLI this year. While it is certainly up to all of us to create and curate liberatory educational atmospheres, this heart-work starts with self-love. We appreciate each and every one of you. The road ahead is arduous; but, you are not alone. We got this!

I want to leave y’all (at least for the moment” with this quote from revolutionary love warrior, Mahatma Gandhi:

“You yourself as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”

In Solidarity,

Jeremiah J. Sims

CONFERENCE RESOURCES

Slides: Getting a Lay of the Land Opening Talk (pgs 1-63). White Educators’ Guide to Justice Introduction (pgs. 64-77).

Book/Article Recommendations:

Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion
by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, et al.

"Let's talk about the slavery that still exists in U.S. cotton 'prison farms'"
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-03-29/Slavery-is-alive-and-kicking-in-U-S-cotton-prison-farms--Z0vs8rr87m/index.html

"The Curb-Cut Effect"
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_curb_cut_effect

The Radical King (King Legacy) Paperback – Illustrated, January 12, 2016
by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Slavery's Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development
By Sven Beckert Seth Rockman

Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own
By Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

Other:
Depicting the Ecosystems of Support and Financial Sustainability for Five College Promise Populations (2020) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ets2.12299

Expanding Promise: Depicting the Ecosystems of Support and Financial Sustainability for Five College Promise Populations (2022)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ets2.12350

Conference Materials

REFLECTION WORKSHEET

IMPACT TOOLKIT

CONFERENCE RECORDINGS
Are Up!

Schedule

Day 1
Wednesday June, 29

8:45am: Conference Opens

9:00am: Welcome (60 mins)
Dr. Jeremiah J. Sims - Getting a lay of the land.

10:00am: Activity (30 mins)

10:30 am: (Break)

10:40am: Session "White Educator’s Guide to Equity" (60 mins - Book Talk)
With Dr. Jeremiah J. Sims and Jeramy Wallace, M.A.

Jeramy Wallace and Jeremiah J. Sims, authors of the forthcoming book, The white educators’ guide to equity: Teaching for justice in community colleges, will discuss the principles covered in this important book. Book Synopsis: In the United States, community colleges are some of the most racially diverse institutions of higher education. And, as such, as we argued in Minding the Obligation Gap…(Sims, et al., 2020), they are uniquely positioned to function as disruptive technologies, i.e., spaces that disrupt institutionalized educational inequity. Pedagogy and curriculum must be liberatory if we hope to engender educational equity precisely because Nationwide, the majority of community college students are students of color and the majority of African American and Latinx college students start their journeys at a community college. The community college professoriate is the inverse, as three-quarters of all college professors are white. These demographics create a cultural schism that is preventing students of color and other minoritized groups from reaching their full intellectual and creative potential. This book fills a gap in the academic literature on how community college educators can more effectively serve their diverse students, from interrogating their own white racial identity, to overhauling their curricula and pedagogy, and later by committing to radical love as praxis. While this book's title explicitly calls on white educators, ultimately, it is for any educator who seeks to dismantle classroom power structures and who strives to create nurturing, justice-advancing curricula.

11:40am: Session 1 Breakouts (35 mins)
Discussion and reflections questions from Session 1. Refer to SLI Worksheet. (link)

12:15pm: Lunch Break (45 mins)

1:00pm: Session 2 "A Bay Area Equity Pilot Program for Community College Leadership"
with Dr. O’Kenzoe Selassie-Okpe and Diva Ward, M.A.

The IDEAL Collaboration to make Institutional Change will detail the sojourn of the IDEAL Program and how the professional development program has worked to create a collaboration with our district Equity Institute. Together, these professional development programs have created a seamless plan to provide equity and social justice focused training to both our internal district community as well as our higher education colleagues and partners in the work. Some attention will be given to the impact of equity focused professional development. We hope that you will join us for a look at what we have been able to accomplish this past year as well as discuss our plans for the future.

2:00pm: Session 2 Breakouts (30mins)
Discussion and reflections questions from Session 1. Refer to SLI Worksheet. (link)

2:30pm: Break (10 mins)

2:40pm: IMPACT Toolkit Intro (35 mins)
A brief overview of the IMPACT Toolkit -- Refer to the IMPACT Toolkit folder link above.

3:15pm Community Reflection (45 mins)
Antiracist Growth Mindset Self-Assessment. Refer to SLI Worksheet

4:00pm: End of Day 1

Day 2
Thursday, June 30

8:45am: Conference Opens

9:00am: Opening (60 mins)

9:20am: Session "Until They’re All Free" (60 mins - Book Talk)
with Dr. Tabitha Conaway, Dr. Roam Romagnoli, and Dr. Lauren Ford

During this session Dr. Conaway, Dr. Ford, and Dr. Romagnoli will discuss the purpose and highlights of the forthcoming book, Until They Are Free: Transformative Community College Praxis- Supporting Institutional Efforts for System Impacted Students (Working title). This book seeks to be a central source for practitioners interested in servicing system impacted youth, a point of reference for practitioners to come back to as a guide to support practitioners who want to help these students.

10:20am: Session 1 Breakouts (30mins)

What initiatives for either former foster youth or previously incarcerated students does your college already have in place to address support efforts and how can their efforts be coordinated to the development of a equity focused comprehensive plan for the campus?
How does your institution intentionally work to mitigate the racist practices and policies that are inherent within the Child Welfare system and Juvenile Justice System? In what areas does your institution struggle or continue to mirror a value system that is at odds with truly supporting system-impacted students?
What can you do within your sphere of influence to remove barriers for system impacted students and encourage their academic success?
What policies, programs, and practices on your campus could be (or already are) part of a careweb?
What are the most punitive/punishing spaces on your campus? During what part(s) of their academic journey are systems impacted students most likely to face push-out on your campus?

10:50am: Break (10 mins)

11:00am: Session 2: IDEAL Program (75 mins)
with Rachel Sims, M.A., Dr. Jeremiah J. Sims, and IDEAL Students

A partnership between Rooted in Love and the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, the Guided Pathways Initiative for Diversity, Equity, Antiracism and Leadership (IDEAL) Fellowship is for community college student leaders to further advocate for justice in the classroom and at the college policy level. Selected from hundreds applicants, an IDEAL cohort works to identify and research campus policies that are disproportionately negatively impacting marginalized student groups, then present evidence and recommend changes for improved outcomes and transformative campus culture. The IDEAL fellowship runs for approximately one semester and three cohorts have completed the fellowship to date-- cohort 4 is slated for Fall 2022. Hear from the Sims and IDEAL alumni about their transformative experience, the secret sauce of the program, and what has happened in their lives since IDEAL. Community College Research Initiatives (CCRI), University of Washington | IDEAL Evaluation Report, 2022

12:15pm: Lunch Break (40mins)

12:55pm: Welcome back (5mins)

1:00pm: IMPACT Practicum (55 mins)
Practice using the IMPACT Equity Scorecard.

2:00pm: Keynote Address "Fight, Flight, or Freeze: Institutionalizing Equity in Our Colleges" with Lasana Hotep
(Slides for this presentation will not be shared but SLI will be recorded and shared with attendees.)

3:05pm: Break (10 mins)

3:15pm Special Teams Session (45 mins)
*For groups that registered as a team of 4 or more.

4:00pm: End of Day 2