Out of the Margins: Creating a More Supportive Environment at Reed for Students from Historically Marginalized Groups https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2017/out-of-the-margins-creating-a-more-supportive-environment-at-reed-for-students-from-historically-marginalized-groups https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

Out of the Margins: Creating a More Supportive Environment at Reed for Students from Historically Marginalized Groups

Additional Information
Used for	We request renewed support for the highly productive work that we initiated last year: additional Peer Mentor Program resources focused on the needs of entering students from historically underrepresented or marginalized groups; paid civic engagement and social justice research and education internships in collaboration with college offices; paid internships and career development opportunities for Reed students who identify as Black/African American and low socioeconomic status, with a focus on students who also identify as women, transgender, or gender non-conforming; and paid summer research projects with professors on topics related to power and privilege, equity, critical race theory, and social justice.
Benefits	This grant will help Reed continue its efforts to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment for students from historically marginalized groups, especially transgender and gender nonconforming students and students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. We seek not only to support these students as they navigate our current academic and social spaces, but also to give them opportunities to develop skills to transform Reed and other institutions through research, education, and civic engagement. Our ultimate goal is to provide transformational opportunities for students that help them become productive, effective agents of change and help Reed become an institution that consistently meets the needs of its increasingly diverse student body.
Proposal Description	During the past three semesters, Reedies Against Racism, a student activist group at Reed that formed in 2016, has continued to highlight the needs of students from historically marginalized groups, especially students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups and transgender and gender nonconforming students. Reed’s leadership recognizes that sustained cultural change will require consistent effort and thoughtful reflection on our operations and activities to identify ways in which we can better support students from historically marginalized groups. For this reason, we deeply appreciated the Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation’s increased grant of $40,000 last year and used these funds to 1) strengthen and enhance the Peer Mentor Program (PMP) in which entering students from historically marginalized groups are matched with returning students who share some of their life experiences; 2) support paid social justice research, education, and civic engagement internships supervised by college staff and faculty; and 3) fund paid, external internships for students who identify as Black/African American and low socioeconomic status, with a focus on students who also identify as women, transgender or gender non-conforming, and 4) fund summer research projects with professors on topics related to power and privilege, equity, critical race theory, and social justice. We experienced great success with all of these activities. First, we were able to hire twelve additional PMP mentors, provide more comprehensive training for mentors, hire an additional paid student PMP intern during the summer, and created an eight - member PMP alumni board and supported their travel to Reed for the first PMP student-alumni summit in January 2017. The summit focused on establishing relationships among current PMP students and alumni and helping students and young alumni to leverage their academic training, work experience, and social activism at Reed into productive career paths and opportunities. Dayspring Mattole, Assistant Dean for Inclusive Community and director of the PMP program, coordinated this work. Mattole noted that the expansion and summit both worked very well. Students and alumni engaged in meaningful conversation that have led to ongoing relationships and networking. We plan to host a 2nd annual summit in January 2018, and six PMP alumni have already committed to returning to campus for the 2018 event. With continued support in 2018, the Peer Mentor Program will support an expanded group of student mentors and continue to strengthen relationships between alumni and students from marginalized backgrounds through the 2018 Summit. We are also creating additional programming at Reed Reunions 2018 in recognition of the Multicultural Resource Center’s 25 year anniversary. Second, we created paid student internships supervised by Reed staff and faculty focused on increasing institutional support and inclusion of students from marginalized groups. For example, the SEEDS (Students for Education, Empowerment, and Direct Services) office created a Food Justice Internship and awarded it to Roselyn Tovar, a rising senior and biology major, to address food insecurity on campus and issues of food justice. Tovar worked with campus stakeholders to address the issues of 1) providing every student with access to affordable and healthy food and 2) reducing food waste on campus. Tara Miller, SEEDS program manager, directed the internship and noted that Tovar helped her to implement plans for a new food and supply pantry. Tovar met with the Food Security Working Group throughout the summer, and helped to design the pantry space, purchase furniture, coordinate food pick-up and purchasing, manage food repackaging, establish food safety protocol, create risk management and evaluation methodologies, and develop volunteer management and training systems. A total of 10 internships were awarded and co-ordinated by Reed’s Office for Institutional Diversity. Third, we offered paid internships and career development activities for students who identify as Black/African American and low socioeconomic status, with a focus on students who also identify as women, transgender or gender non-conforming. For example, Tessa Verbal, rising junior and political science major, received support for a summer internship with the King County Human Resources Department. Tessa's role was to assist human resources in introducing programming that promotes diversity and equity in the workplace such as crafting training materials for workshops and researching innovative ways to promote a more equitable workplace. This internship allowed Tessa to work in a government role while working on issues of equity and social justice. Fourth, we offered paid summer research internships with faculty on topics related to power and privilege, equity, critical race theory, and social justice. We currently have very limited resources for research projects focused on these topics. Research interns worked closely with a faculty member to become familiar with academic research while learning about topics that may not be covered by Reed’s course curriculum. For example, Daliyah Tang, a rising senior and an anthropology major, completed a 10-week research project on United States federal Indian policy on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana, where she is a tribal member. This research addressed questions about the limitations of tribal jurisdiction and sovereignty imposed by United States federal Indian policy regarding methamphetamine criminalization. During her time on the Northern Cheyenne reservation, Tang worked with and gained insight from the Tribal Board of Health, the legislative and executive branches of the tribal government, and other tribal departments. As a volunteer intern for the Tribal Board of Health, she assisted with the hosting of the "Methamphetamine Solution Symposium," and was put into contact with Montana's other 6 tribes and their health departments. Through interviews with tribal administrators and data collection of methamphetamine use on the reservation, she documented disconnects between federal Indian policy theory and lived realities of the Northern Cheyenne people. We propose to continue all four opportunities for students. As it did last year, the Office for Institutional Diversity will administer this grant. Continuation of the expanded support for the PMP program is estimated at approximately $10,000 and will be managed by the Office of Inclusive Community. The on-campus civic engagement and summer research internships with faculty will continue to be managed by the Office of Institutional Diversity. The external social justice career development internships will be continue to be managed by the Center for Life Beyond Reed. Spending among these three programs will depend on the capacity of staff and faculty to supervise well-crafted and meaningful internships and on the number of applications received for each program. We anticipate that we will be able to fully spend the $40,000 grant between January 1 and December 31, 2018. The Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation’s past grants have helped us respond to heightened student demand for career-related work experience and research opportunities with faculty members. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you to address another pressing challenge: enhanced support for students from historically marginalized groups in their quest to transform their Reed education in and outside the classroom into meaningful lives of service. Thank you for your consideration.