CHC Leading from the Middle Project Will Focus on Social Justice and Equity Reform

Publish Date: Feb. 15, 2022

Leading from the Middle (LFM), a project of The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (The RP Group), has been a successful venture for Crafton Hills College, having participated in LFM activities in 2013-15, 2017-18, 2020, and now in 2022.

LFM provides a structured program where faculty, administrators, classified professionals, and researchers from each participating college apply strategies to address institutional inequities and racial injustice and to explore issues through the lens of diversity and inclusion.

The LFM team selected to work on this year’s initiative includes Breanna Andrews, ASL instructor and chair of the academic senate chairs council; Dan Word, Dean of Career Education and Human Development; Gwen DiPonio, English instructor and co-chair of the curriculum committee; Diana Vaichis, research analyst; and Josh Robles, math instructor and Guided Pathways faculty lead.

Between February and December 2022, this cohort will engage in action planning based on the disproportionate impact experienced by Crafton students. Using student equity data to determine their specific focus, the group will create ways to close achievement gaps for students who are less likely to accomplish educational progress and milestones.

The College has made equity and inclusion a major focus over the past year with 60 faculty, staff, and administrators attending the USC Race and Equity Center trainings. The LFM group will work with the curriculum committee, the academic senate, professional development, and faculty on ways to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion into syllabi, reading materials, lectures, and the curriculum and develop others means of promoting success for students in underperforming groups.

In addition to the work being done by other groups on campus to promote equity, this LFM project will expand on those efforts to promote social justice and equity reform.