College of DuPage gets state grant to support equity initiative

Thanks to funding from a statewide racial healing grant, the College of DuPage is launching COD Equity Connection, a project to promote dialogue on timely civic topics in order to advance equity within the COD community.

An initiative of the Illinois Department of Human Services, in partnership with Chicago Community Trust, the Healing Illinois program distributed $4.5 million grants to community-based organizations across the state to help create community-centric, inclusive spaces to talk, learn and grow. The college received $42,000 and is one of 86 recipients in the state-awarded funding.

"COD is committed to building cultural awareness to create a deeper understanding of ourselves as faculty and staff and our interactions with others," said College of DuPage President Dr. Caputo. "Through supportive, meaningful dialogue, we can continue to build a more inclusive community to ensure every student succeeds."

The project is in support of COD's Chaps Unite Against Racism, a collegewide effort to actively examine the ways that inequities exist in today's society and how COD and the surrounding community are working together to create a better world.

"I am thrilled that this grant enables us to support our campuswide initiative and the college's mission to educate, reflect and act on issues of equity and inclusion," said COD Interim Dean of Students Nathania Montes. "We can continue to impact our community and help dismantle disparities."

COD faculty members and staff departments will receive copies of Laura Rendón's book "Sentipensante Pedagogy: Education for Wholeness, Social Justice and Liberation" to begin an important dialogue on how to transform teaching and learning to promote equity on campus.

Rendón is nationally recognized as an education theorist, activist and researcher who specializes in college preparation, persistence and graduation of low-income, first-generation students. She is credited with developing the theory of validation, which colleges and researchers have employed as a framework for working with and affirming low-income students.

To further explore the concepts discussed in her book, Rendón virtually will present during the college's January faculty in-service followed by an interactive question and answer session.