Dear Staff and Faculty:

The Advancing Leadership Association (ALA) stands with our Black students, staff, faculty and community members, as well as our entire SBCC community, in denouncing any and all actions of racial injustice.  Racism is real and the harm it causes is real.  Racism exists in our institutional practices and in our individual interactions and we, as leaders at SBCC, are committed to ending such injustices.  

The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other Black adults and children, repeated acts of violence against the Black community, and the undeniable presence of systemic racism are leading us through processes of self-reflection.  We must acknowledge that, as an institution, while we have taken action to increase our awareness of individual and institutional racism, we have not adequately responded quickly or appropriately to incidents of racial injustice on our own campus.  All of our actions start with us as individuals, and secondly as a leadership team.  We recognize the necessity of first reflecting on and making amends for past mistakes and the harm caused before we can begin affecting positive and lasting change. 

The California Community College System reports a disproportionate impact to our Black students, and we can not casually accept this for our staff, students, nor for our community. SBCC conducted a staff survey on Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity during the 2018-2019 school year, which reinforced that we have major work to do in eliminating the racism that many experience daily. 

The ALA’s mission states, “As a team, we support our College community to create and uphold a welcoming learning environment through collaboration and high expectations for the success of our diverse student population.”  Our first, and immediate, step is to reconvene our ALA Climate Survey workgroup that was established in November 2019, to identify measurable goals that we can take as managers. This work will include addressing the concerns that were expressed in the survey to meet the California Community College’s CALL TO ACTION. This work will be in collaboration with our Black Faculty, Staff and Students. We will also work together with our ASG, CSEA, Academic Senate, and Administration. To you, our staff and faculty, we commit to working to develop our capacity to take meaningful action to eliminate  institutional racism, to continue learning and listening, to hold individuals and our institution accountable, and to leverage our institutional resources in the community. 

In solidarity,

Advancing Leadership Association