Postsecondary Equity Network institutional administrators and practitioners are invited to a one-day leadership institute with Dr. Kaye Monk-Morgan, President and CEO of the Kansas Leadership Center. The session will focus on “Your Leadership Edge.” Participation is by invitation only. For more information, contact Trent Ball.
postsecondary equity network
Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation
MOCAN is implementing a framework aimed at dismantling the false belief of a hierarchy of human value.
In 2022, MOCAN was honored to become an organization participating in the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). TRHT is a framework developed by the Kellogg Foundation and adopted by AAC&U to support the dismantling of a hierarchy of human value within higher education.
Our work aligns directly with the TRHT framework and provides support and resources to the MOCAN partner institutions, organizations, and associations that address equity in education for BILPOC (Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and people of color) students and students from low-income communities across the educational systems in Missouri.
TRHT aims to jettison the false belief in a hierarchy of human value and replace that archaic notion with a reverence and appreciation for the equal and interconnected nature of the human family.”
Dr. Gail Christopher, Racial Healing Circles: Empathy and Liberal Education.
MOCAN’s TRHT goals focus on:
- Creating a positive narrative about race in the community (an inclusive and accurate narrative).
- Promoting racial healing activities on campus and in the community (address the systemic actions and false beliefs in racial hierarchies).
- Erasing institutional barriers to equal treatment (creating actionable and resourced equity plans).
- Preparing the next generation of leaders to build just and equitable communities (increasing the number of diverse administrators and decision makers across K-12 and higher education).
A key component is the Community within the Network, a structure supporting the next generation of leaders in the educational equity arena by bringing together college access and higher education professionals to support their professional trajectories.
This summer MOCAN’s Community within the Network approach will be featured in the forthcoming book “Strengthening Campus Communities Through the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Framework” edited by Dr. Tia McNair.
MOCAN’s Response: Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action in Higher Education
Today’s Supreme Court decision eliminating race as a factor in college admissions does not end diversity on our college campuses. Thousands of Black and brown students are already enrolled in Missouri colleges and universities. In fact, the work of Postsecondary Equity Network institutions to become inclusive campuses where BILPOC students are welcomed, celebrated, and supported to graduation remains as critical as ever.
What cannot happen as a result of this decision, is the abandonment of efforts to connect Black and brown young adults to postsecondary education and the economic stability and social mobility that comes with a college degree. Colleges, universities, and community-based organizations must work together to ensure BILPOC students are nurtured as scholars, and have opportunities to enroll in and complete a college program that meets their career aspirations.
Our commitment to equity is not derailed. It is reaffirmed.
Advancing Racial Healing Through MOCAN’s TRHT Campus Center
This summer, a second MOCAN Team will participate in the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center Institute. The Institute convenes equity-minded colleges and universities. It is held each summer by the American Association of Colleges & Universities.
The Institute is designed to help Center teams identify evidence-based strategies that support their vision of what their communities will look, feel, and be like when the false belief in a hierarchy of human value no longer exists.
In fall 2022, MOCAN became the first statewide organization to be designated a TRHT Campus Center. A team of colleagues from MOCAN’s Postsecondary Equity Network attended the 2022 Institute and submitted an action plan to develop a center with our partner institutions in Missouri.
This year MOCAN is represented by PEN Co-Chairs, Dr. D’Andre Braddix, Executive Director, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at St. Louis Community College, and Dr. Lover Chancler, Director of the Center of Multiculturalism and Inclusivity and Associate Professor at the University of Central Missouri; Cherelle Washington, MOCAN’s Director of College Access and Career Readiness; Wendell Stapleton, Student Success Coach at Maryville University; and Trent Ball, MOCAN’s Senior Director for Postsecondary Equity and Attainment.
At this year’s Institute, the MOCAN team will be refining and expanding the plan developed last year to address the challenges and changes occurring in higher education and our educational communities.
