Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

We know that students are more likely to be successful when they feel a senses of belonging, have access to the resources they need and are otherwise seen and supported based on their unique needs. We strive to put EDI issues at the center of our student support work and have developed the materials on this page to hold us accountable to our values.

EDI Statements

• Our Vision

  (That) The Stevenson Center is a place where every student feels dignified, listened to, supported, and celebrated for who they are and in the work they accomplish here.

• Our Mission

  To act as stewards of this program and advocates of our students, promoting inclusion, justice, and equity and challenging practices that maintain the status quo and benefit the advantaged and privileged.

• Our Strategies

  We strive to actively recruit, admit, hire, and inclusively support students, faculty, and staff that display diverse backgrounds and exemplify care for inclusivity and a socially just mindset; deliberately design and offer curricula that is generated by diverse scholars and practitioners and displays diversity of thought while accurately representing the experience of diverse communities; regularly review our policies, procedures, and practices to ensure that they are in line with our mission; and provide space for students to share their perspective and live their authentic truths.

• Our Philosophy

  As an organization engaged in Community and Economic Development and in training professionals to work in diverse communities, we believe that promoting social justice and combating social injustice is inherently part of our work. Similarly, we believe that the purposeful and positive unfolding of community requires people learning from each other and working collaboratively to find solutions to locally-defined problems. We value equity and justice as the means to proliferating fairly derived community development outcomes. The interdisciplinary nature of our program also exemplifies our belief that diversity of perspective and thought is valuable and prompts stronger outcomes. We recognize that educational institutions have historically been exclusive in nature and have purposefully and systematically marginalized and oppressed members of our community. We acknowledge we are doing this work on land brutally stolen from native peoples. We understand the limitations of doing this work in that context and seek to make progress within the confines of these truths and systems. We advocate for people marginalized by experiences shaped by, but not limited to: race, ethnicity, color, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, class and economic status, spirituality and religion, disability, neurodivergence, age, military status, marital status, visa and citizenship status, geographic location, language/linguistic ability, and the intersectionality thereof. As an organization, knowing we are not perfect and will not do this work perfectly, we seek constant growth and improvement by remaining open and taking the opportunity to learn from every misstep we may take.