Massachusetts Connecting Activities

 


Equity

How can Connecting Activities promote diversity, equity and inclusion in our own programs and in the talent pipeline for our regional workforce?

The practice of building diversity, equity and inclusion is fundamental to our work, which emphasizes opening doors to career opportunities for all students in our schools and communities. 

  • Sometimes the work of building equity is explicitly highlighted in a project, such as in programs that promote STEM careers for girls and women or in programs promoting non-traditional career paths in CVTE program selection.  
  • Sometimes this work is implicitly reflected in the goals of the employer partners who provide career development and work-based learning opportunities.  From a nonprofit community leadership program to a local police department to the office of a corporate headquarters, many of our employer partners are interested in helping to build an inclusive and diverse talent pipeline for their career fields.   
  • Sometimes this work is a natural outgrowth of our system-building work, as we provide career days, workshops, career-related field trips, guest speaker series, internship opportunities, summer jobs, capstone and service learning and other career development opportunities for all of the students in each school. 
  • Sometimes the work of building equity and fostering inclusion is in the background, as we carefully consider the program design of each program, making sure that any barriers to participation are addressed. 
  • Some of this work is built into professional development and in our sharing of resources and best practices, as we work together to look thoughtfully at all aspects of program design, outreach, marketing, workshop curriculum and more. 

On this "equity" page we will link resources and PD materials in support of the goal of promoting equity in our work.

Background:  In the RFP for Connecting Activities funding, each region has outlined strategies for building equity and access. The topic is addressed through the RFP question shown below. This RFP section was originally written witih a focus on dropout prevention, and is now more broadly framed as equity and access.


[7.] Equity and Access.  CA funds can be strategically deployed to address issues of equity and access, by targeting under-represented student subpopulations for participation, in collaboration with partner school (especially ELs and students with disabilities due to persistent achievement gaps in graduation and dropout rates).  Describe below any specific student subpopulations that you, in collaboration with any partner school, will target for CA supports, and how you will do so, especially relating to dropout prevention.    (Maximum 10 points)   

(Read more at http://massconnecting.org/default.asp?entity_id=89)