Community Share and Tell
Guillermo Espinosa, Director of Student Success, Diversity and Equity (now Associate Dean of K-12 Partnerships and Outreach)
*Discussion about the CID at Building 6 (Center for Inclusion & Diversity). Key highlights and takeaways include discussion of the difference between equity and equality--and common situations in which those two terms are misunderstood or misused. Discussion of common barriers faced by our students, why efforts surrounding DEI should actually be refocused on EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, with equity in the first position), and the significance of a print by artist Jake Prendez called Churro Know My Life.
Wendy Jones, Manager of Workforce Transitions. Follow-up discussion in part 2 includes Workforce Transitions team members Mark Ramos and Joe Witmer. Discussion about funding support for students and connecting students to resources both on campus and throughout the greater community. Emphasis on giving students a "hand up" rather than a handout, emergency funding options, students facing food and housing insecurities, students supporting families, students facing homelessness. Shout-out to the Spokane County Resource Center at https://spokaneresourcecenter.org/ Links to an external site.and discussion of the tremendous number of support services they are happy to offer our students.
Workforce Transitions 2
Hannah Reidy, Family Services Coordinator at SCC Bigfoot Childcare Center. Discussion about family needs such as child care, affordable and safe housing, food, clothing, diapers, household needs. Recommendations for families seeking licensed and safe childcare centers is Childcare Aware of Washington at childcareawarewa.org. Other discussion points include Headstart and Early Headstart Programs as well as ECEAP, Catholic Charities, and Spokane Resource Center. Discussion of grant assistance programs that are offering parents significant discounts on childcare expenses—40-80% discount or in some cases up to 100% coverage for childcare payments. Hannah also offers "Conscious Discipline" parenting classes to support parents facing challenging behavioral situations with children of all ages.
SCC Fluid Power with lead instructors John Norman and George Hollwedel. Topic focus on interactive and kinesthetic teaching practices, as well as connecting students to resources to meet their basic needs and "building the student" as a person (developing and empowering growth mindset).
SCC Math with Ben King and Nicole Duvernay, topic focus on Math Pathways.
SCC APLED, Technical Education Division with Michelle Grover, topic focus on serving students in the trades and Holistic Student Supports Welty Grant phases
SCC Library Support with Janine Odlevak and Melissa Parker, topic focus on library supports that go beyond information literacy--and even the cool virtual reality headset that is available for use. :)