What will our communities look like, feel like and be like when there is no longer a false belief in a hierarchy of human value? This is the visionary question and aspirational goal driving the work of the 71 higher education institutions partnering with the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) to host Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers.
In 2017, AAC&U joined the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s national TRHT effort as a sector partner to prepare the next generation of leaders to build just and equitable communities. AAC&U was charged with translating the five pillars of the TRHT Framework: narrative change, racial healing and relationship building, separation, law and economy into the practices and systems of higher education institutions and their local communities to eliminate conscious and unconscious biases and to broaden the understanding of diverse experiences among people.
This article is an excerpt from the new issue of Community College Journal, the bimonthly magazine of the American Association of Community Colleges.
Among the 71 institutions, AAC&U partners with 12 community colleges, as part of this national effort:
- Austin Community College (Texas)
- Big Sandy Community and Technical College (Kentucky)
- Central Piedmont Community College (North Carolina)
- Alamo Colleges District (Texas)
- Montgomery College (Maryland)
- Prince George’s Community College (Maryland)
- Northern Virginia Community College
- Mercer County Community College (New Jersey)
- Middlesex Community College (Massachusetts)
- Queensborough Community College (New York)
- Portland Community College (Oregon)
- North Hennepin Community College (Minnesota)
Each campus has attended AAC&U’s annual Institute for TRHT Campus Centers and has developed action plans to align with their institution’s strategic priorities for diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging. Also, as part of the Institute, each campus has collaborated with AAC&U’s national evaluator, TriWest Group, to develop assessment and evaluation plans based on the TRHT goals and their respective action items for change.
