Spring 2025 Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion - Civic & Community Engagement (JEDI-CCE) Institute

Overview:

Over the last five years, it is clear that universities and colleges have been under attack from some state legislatures for their work in the area of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI). Even at the federal level, with the major challenges to the use of affirmative action in admissions decisions, universities and colleges have become hesitant to truly lead with these values at the center of their work. Advancements in the field of civic and community engagement (CCE) have created new opportunities to make progress on JEDI issues. The body of evidence suggests that JEDI efforts boost student retention, and the CCE work helps institutions of higher education to create positive reciprocal relationships with community partners. More universities and colleges see this as a moment to link CCE and JEDI, given how complementary they are for each other, but they need guidance from experts in the field and from their peers.

Over the last several years, TMA has hosted Institutes that brought together teams from various higher education institutions across the DC metropolitan area to strategize ways to link civic/community engagement (CCE) with justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI). The TMA Equity Task Force (ETF) created a rubric for universities looking to institutionalize their commitment to linking both CCE and JEDI efforts. The rubric is based off the work done by Dr. Andy Furco that examines how to institutionalize community engagement across a campus. The rubric was modified to align with the MSCHE's Standards for Accreditation and the components of the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement.

Objectives:

• Gain perspective from higher education colleagues about how their institutions are connecting CCE and JEDI work;
• Develop proactive strategies for promoting JEDI within a changing political and cultural landscape;
• Receive supportive and critical feedback about proposed institutional strategies to link JEDI and CCE;
• Align JEDI & CCE work with MSCHE standards and the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement;
• Engage with our diverse membership which includes public, private, 2- and 4-year colleges and universities, including many HBCUs and minority-serving institutions, with both urban and rural representation; and
• Evaluate, based on the experience and perspective of fellow community engagement practitioners and other university administrators, the effectiveness of strategies meant to link CCE and JEDI

Special Guest Speaker & Facilitator:
Dr. Nyeema Watson, Senior Vice Chancellor for Strategy, Diversity and Community Engagement, Rutgers University-Camden

Suggested team members:

• Civic and Community Engagement Director/team Members
• Campus DEI Representative(s)
• Senior Advisory Group for Engagement (SAGE) member
• Faculty Development Representative
• Community Partner Representative
• Institutional Research Representative

Other positions to consider including:

• MSCHE Accreditation Liaison
• President
• Student Representative
• Senior Staff/Cabinet Representative (VPSA, Provost, VP of Communications, Advancement, etc.)

Registration Process:
A point-of-contact from each campus team will register their institution and all members of their campus team. This point-of-contact will pay the Institute fee and add the names and contact information of all members of their team. Please note that you will have the option to add between 4-8 team members on the registration form. If you do not include 8 guests from your campus in your registration, simply skip over the remaining number of guest registrations requested. To make the registration process easier, we suggest you collect the names, position/titles, email addresses, phone numbers (you may use the same phone number for all team members), and any food allergies / dietary restrictions of all team members before starting the process.

The registration deadline will be Friday, January 10 by 5pm. If you have questions about the registration form or the Institute, please contact Assistant Director Gavin Luter at luter@transformmidatlantic.org.

Institute Cost (per team):
Campus Team (member rate) - $400/institution (for a team of 4-8 people) **PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU SHOULD PURCHASE JUST 1 TICKET AT THE TIME OF REGISTRATION TO REGISTER A CAMPUS TEAM**
Campus Team (non-member rate) - $800/institution (for a team 4-8 people) **PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU SHOULD PURCHASE JUST 1 TICKET AT THE TIME OF REGISTRATION TO REGISTER A CAMPUS TEAM**
Individual (without a team or adding additional team members if more than 8 people) - $85/individual

INCLEMENT WEATHER DATE: If travel is prohibited because of inclement weather on the original date, we have an alternate date of Thursday, January 30. TMA will send an email notification should this be the case.

Please e-mail Gavin Luter, luter@transformmidatlantic.org, for more information.