Portland Community College
PA-6: Support for Underrepresented Groups

The College prohibits unlawful discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, disability, veteran status, age, sexual orientation, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law in any area, activity or operation of the College. The College also prohibits retaliation against an individual for engaging in activity protected under this policy, and interfering with rights or privileges granted under anti-discrimination laws.In addition, the College complies with applicable provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended), related Executive Orders 11246 and 11375, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (as amended), Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act ("USERRA"), and all local and state civil rights laws. Under this policy, equal opportunity for employment, admission, and participation in the College’s programs, services, and activities will be extended to all persons, and the College will promote equal opportunity and treatment through application of this policy and other College efforts designed for that purpose. http://www.pcc.edu/about/equity-inclusion/eeo-statement.html

Concerns about discrimination and/or harassment are handled by the College's Office of Equity& Inclusion. The Office of Equity & Inclusion has both an informal and formal method for resolving the complaints of an individual who believes that he or she has been discriminated against or harassed. http://www.pcc.edu/about/equity-inclusion/nonharassment/ Additionally, confidential support can be found through PCC's Queer Resource Centers, Women's Centers, Student Counseling and Employee Assistance Program. http://www.pcc.edu/about/equity-inclusion/title-ix/documents/brochure.pdf

Recruitment of Diverse Students:
PCC ensures that communities who have been historically excluded from accessing higher education are made welcome and given real opportunities to succeed. Future Connect is a scholarship program which focuses on eliminating barriers to attending college, and provides on-going support throughout a student's time at PCC. It is open to high school student within Multnomah County, the Hillsboro School District, or the Beaverton School District who identify as first generation or low-income. Low income and first generation students are actively through outreach programing.
https://www.pcc.edu/resources/future-connect/

Through Project Independence, women who are transitioning out of incarceration, in recovery from addiction, or are survivors of domestic violence get support in college readiness. Project Independence is a tuition free college credit program. The program helps students with college readiness while examining educational and career goals. Project Independence provides an opportunity for women to explore career and life options and gain self-confidence with a cohort of women in an educational setting. Female students in recovery, incarcerated, in DV shelters are actively recruited through outreach programing.
https://www.pcc.edu/resources/women/cascade/project-independence.html

Recruitment of diverse staff and faculty:
PCC's Diversity Recruiter is charged with diversity recruitment of prospective faculty, administrators and staff. It’s an important role for the college. PCC’s student body has a 32-percent minority representation while the percentage of college employees is significantly lower. HR’s has an Inclusion Advocacy Program, which was a mandate by the college. The initiative places trained advocates on hiring committees to ensure members are not unwittingly engaged in biased discussions about candidates, and steer them toward more equitable conversations. The program is designed to recognize the value of inclusion and replaces the longstanding practice of having a designated diversity committee member, which led to tokenism. The following links lead to an article about PCC's Diversity Recruiter and Training Materials for the Inclusion Advocacy Program.
https://news.pcc.edu/2017/08/gregory-dockery/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwyoKvLkkd66ZWkwS0dXcnFsYVk/view

Support for students from underrepresented groups:
Mentoring programs exist at the Cascade, Rock Creek, Southeast and Sylvania campuses geared toward returning women, men of color, Latino students, high school youth of color an African American women students.

Programs include:
Multicultural Center's Men of Color Mentoring Program; Women's Resource Center's Transitions Program, Oregon Leadership Institute, ROOTS Student Support Services Peer Mentors, Illumination Project Student Educators, S.A.F.E. Peer Educators, Career Center Peer Advisers, The Passage to Higher Education African American Women's Mentoring Program, Middle College and Future Connect Programs, Student Leadership Programs: Diversity Clubs and Activities and the Multicultural Awareness Council.

Support for underrepresented staff and faculty:
The Listening Intervention Team for Equity (LITE) is a college-recognized resource for PCC students, faculty, and staff who have experienced inequity or who are in need of guidance to successfully navigate challenging dynamics at the college across cultures, races, ethnicities, gender identity or expression, sexual orientations, ability, faiths and other aspects of individual and group identity.
https://www.pcc.edu/about/equity-inclusion/listening-intervention-team-for-equity.html

The District Leaders of Diversity Council (DLDC) is a district-wide diversity council that includes representatives from various departments/campuses at PCC. The Council's purpose is to serve as advocates/allies, raise awareness of diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) issues, design and implement new DEI initiatives for PCC in partnership with other PCC stakeholders. The foundation of the DLDC's work is shaped through the theory of Social Justice. The DLDC uses Critical Race Theory to analyze our own practices and advocate for its use as a lens for analysis in our learning/working environments. The DLDC supports programs that promote equity and inclusion for staff, faculty and students at PCC.
https://www.pcc.edu/about/equity-inclusion/district-leaders-of-diversity-council.html

Diversity Councils
The charge of the campus diversity councils are to: establish annual and long-term diversity goals for the campus; promote diversity through events on campus; review the campus climate; and hold the PCC as an institution accountable for making continued progress towards diversity.
https://www.pcc.edu/about/diversity/councils.html

Critical Race Theory Toolkit
Portland Community College aspires to become an institution of higher education that operates with the theory of social justice as part of its foundation, mission and values. We are taking intentional steps as an institution, to make PCC a more inclusive, welcoming learning and working environment.
https://www.pcc.edu/about/equity-inclusion/critical-race-theory-toolkit.html

The Office of Equity and Inclusion provides a program called the Faculty Diversity Internship Program to support the recruitment of diverse faculty to PCC.

Portland Teachers Program
PTP is a partnership effort among Portland Public Schools (PPS), Portland Community College (PCC), Portland State University (PSU) and Beaverton School District (BSD). It is designed to recruit and help prepare culturally competent teachers, with a special focus on historically underrepresented groups in the teaching profession. As a retention/scholarship program, it assists selected students in completing teacher education through the regular coursework at PCC and PSU.
https://www.pcc.edu/resources/portland-teachers/

We do not have any campus housing.