Area Report for Board of Trustees

The Equity, Diversity, and Transformation (EDT) Division is charged with embedding equity in everything we do at Highline College. Below are updates of the ongoing work.

Core Theme 1: ACCESS, Reduce Barriers and close equity gaps to access for all community members

• The Benefits Hub presented to the Summer Bridge program students on access to crucial on campus services that have been proven to increase student retention for high barrier students.

Core Theme 2: STUDENT LEARNING, Increase educational success, collaborate to improve

Summer Bridge 2025

This year’s Summer Bridge was hosted through a collaborative effort by the Unity Bridge Collective, a partnership that includes Umoja, Promise, Juntos, TRiO, MESA, and Outreach & Recruitment. Together, we welcomed incoming students with workshops, campus tours, and community-building activities designed to ease their transition into college. By combining resources and expertise across programs, the Unity Bridge Collective ensured that students received a holistic introduction to Highline College and felt a strong sense of belonging before the start of fall quarter.

Core Theme 3: COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS, Create a more inclusive working environment and a more valued, visible relationship with communities we serve

• The Emergency Feeding program is the Highline Community Pantry’s primary food partner. They recently lost 80% of their staff and conducted a site visit with their new ED. The site visit was successful and our partnership remains strong in service to our students.
• The Public Safety Office partnered with the Community Pantry and conducted a cooking demo featuring grilling methods including meat, seafood, vegan, and veggie options.
• On behalf of the Horizon Partnership, two representatives from EDT attended the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) conference in New Orleans, LA. The event convened leaders and practitioners in postsecondary access and student success to share best practices, research, and strategies for improving college attainment rates nationwide.
  

Core Theme 4: CULTURE & CAPACITY, Create capacity for meaningful strategic planning and institutional transformation through intentional development of employees, facilities, and systems that support student success and close equity gaps

• IR was invited to lead a data informed decision-making and process improvement workshop as part of Enrollment Services’ departmental retreat on August 13. In a highly interactive “design sprint” process, Admissions and Registration/Records teammates identified student and staff “pain points” and came up with creative solutions to use towards their annual Institutional Effectiveness goals.
• IR also developed a Canvas module (now in beta testing) focused on data-informed decision making, to support faculty and staff learning how to apply a data lens to their roles.
• IR collaborated with SBCTC Policy Research department to develop queries for federal Gainful Employment reporting that could be used to streamline processes for all of the WA CTCs.

Report submitted by Vice President of Equity, Diversity and Transformation, Dra. Maribel Jimenéz