Faculty Equity & Diversity

Faculty Equity and Diversity Awards

CCA is proud to have initiated its Faculty Equity and Diversity Awards for outstanding service on behalf of community college faculty. The LGBTQ+ Award, in honor of David Sanchez, CTA’s first openly gay president, recognizes faculty who have supported, promoted and educated our community college family regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues. The Ethnic Minority Award, in honor of Mary Ann Pacheco, a Hispanic professor at Rio Hondo College, is given to faculty who promote equal access and treatment for minorities on campus. The Part-time Faculty Award in honor of David Milroy, another longtime faculty activist, is awarded to faculty who have worked to improve working conditions for part-time faculty.
Award winners are honored during CCA’s annual Spring Conference. Nominations may be by self-nomination, chapter nomination, or any member may nominate another member. The nominee must agree to be nominated.  FEDC Award Nomination Form

CTA Equity Team for Higher Education

Every year, CTA establishes an Equity Team for Higher Education. In CTA, Higher education is made up of CCA, SCTA (Student CTA for college students going into teaching) and ICCUFA (the association for private colleges and universities). The Equity Team meets in July following the Presidents Conference to brainstorm on its action plan for the year. The objective is to look at equity across Higher Education and think of ways we can encourage equity and greater diversity.
Equity Planning Form

Racism Defined:

Racism describes a system of power and oppression/advantage and disadvantage based on race. Structural racism is a system, or series of systems, in which institutional practices, laws, policies, social- cultural standards, and socio-political decisions establish and reinforce norms that perpetuate racial group inequities (Lawrence, Keleher, 2004). According to this definition, two elements are required in order for racism to exist: racial prejudice, and social power to codify and enforce this prejudice into an entire society (Bidol, 1970). Racism = Prejudice + Power Within the context of the United State of America, and other nations, structural racism takes the form of white supremacy; the preferential treatment, privilege, power, access, networks, and access to opportunities available to white people, which often designate communities of color to chronic adverse outcomes (Lawrence, Keleher, 2004). Individual racism refers to a person’s racist assumptions, beliefs, or behaviors. Individual racism stems from conscious and unconscious bias and is reinforced by structural racism. Examples include prejudice, xenophobia, internalized oppression and privilege, and beliefs about race influenced by the dominant culture (Lawrence, Keleher, 2004).

Our Work Toward Anti-racism

In response to deadly racist acts and incidents of police brutality, followed by multiple protests across the country, CCA President, Eric Kaljumagi, issued the following statement (read statement).

CTA also issued the following statement on social media… read more

Time to come together to end the institutional racism that perpetuates centuries of paralyzing inequity

SACRAMENTO — California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd issued the following statement amidst grief and outrage calling on Americans to come together to stop the hateful racism that breathes life into our institutions and structures… read more

Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship

In 1968, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., CTA and Student CTA (SCTA) established a living memorial in the form of a scholarship fund to aide members of ethnic minorities in preparing for teaching-related careers in public education. The CTA Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund is an important component to help recruit more ethnic minority teachers into our profession. The scholarship fund is supported by voluntary contributions, and the drive to raise funds is on NOW! Both individuals and chapters have an opportunity to contribute at a variety of levels.The application is available online in October each year. Click here for more info and to apply.

César E. Chávez and Dolores Huerta Education Award Program

The César E. Chávez Memorial Education Awards Program provides recognition for students and their teachers who demonstrate an understanding of the vision and guiding principles by which César E. Chávez lived his life. The Awards Program honors the memory of this great man and ensures that the spirit of his work continues in the classrooms of California.  ¡Si se puede! Click here to view the César E. Chávez Memorial Education Awards page.

LGBTQ+ Safety in Schools Grant & Scholarship Program in Honor of Guy DeRosa

The grant program will support projects and presentations that promote understanding of and respect for LGBTQ+ persons.
The scholarship program will support self-identified LGBTQ+ members enrolled in a teacher/counseling credential or graduate program who are pursuing a career in public education and who understand the importance of LGBTQ+ educators as role models in our public schools. Application and information can be found here.

LGBTQ+ Youth at Risk

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) teens are far more likely to experience violence and bullying, and attempt suicide, than their heterosexual peers, according to new national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data show just how deeply stigma and discrimination affect LGBTQ+ youth, how urgently they need their communities’ support and affirmation, and how far we have to go in protecting them. Read more from the Human Rights Campaign.

Transgender on Campus

As part of a series on transgender students in the Chronicle of Higher Education, multimedia producer Julia Schmalz interviewed more than a dozen students to find out what keeps them from thriving in college. Read the reports, Diversity in Academe: Transgender on Campus
and watch her video.