Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (CSTCC) received a BT2P Campus Dialogue grant in 2016 in support of efforts to grow a more inclusive and safe community. The grant proposal highlighted regional disturbances, particularly racist and ethnophobic incidents on nearby campuses.
The grant-supported project centered on faculty and staff perceptions of inclusion and safety on campus. Its goal was to use counter-storytelling as a framework for unearthing truths about organizational culture that have systematically and historically been overlooked. Led by Chantae Recasner, CSTCC hosted five critical dialogue sessions aimed at inspiring action steps toward a diversity and inclusion strategic plan. Participants included faculty members (adjunct and full time), key administrators, and transfer partners, representing a healthy cross section of perspectives and institutional power.
The dialogue project helped to call attention to the need for uncomfortable conversations to confront the reality in-group/out-group politics on campus and the need to strengthen empathy, intentional engagement with “the other,” and an understanding of intersectionality.
Learn more: