We wanted to utilize the earliest opportunity possible to reach our newest employees and inform them of our values related to diversity and inclusion.

New Employee Orientation at St. Louis Community College is held once per month and is a full day introductory experience to St. Louis Community College for our recent hires.  We revised our programmatic schedule for New Employee Orientation to enhance our delivery of information related to diversity and inclusion.  It was important to us as an institution to clearly state our Core Values and provide some guiding principles that serve as a core support for those values.  It also allows us to reinforce various aspects of our Strategic Plan that relate to diversity and inclusion. 

For example, our STLCC Strategic Plan 2017-2020 has six Strategic Initiatives (SI).  Two of them deal directly with diversity and inclusion.  SI #3, Strengthening Community Awareness and Connections, Goal #2 Connect with external partners to address the needs of the diverse communities we serve.  I am proud to report that the college is currently engaged with a number of partnerships with leading community advocacy organizations.  Among these, we have established collaborative efforts with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Bosnian Chamber of Commerce, PrideSTL, The International Institute of St. Louis, The Urban League of St. Louis, Paraquad and the St. Louis Association of Community Organizations.  

Strategic Initiative #5, Promoting Accountability, Excellence, Innovation, Continuous Improvement, and Diversity and Inclusion, Goal #4 Create an environment that embraces diversity and inclusion.  To fulfill our mission of expanding minds and changing lives, we focus our efforts on creating accessible, dynamic learning environments that meet the needs of our diverse communities. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is at the center of this work.

Despite our strong track record of diversity, we recognize that the mission of creating an environment that embraces diversity and inclusion is ongoing. Therefore, we have taken deliberate steps like enhancing our New Employment Orientation to reaffirm our commitment and transform the way we engage in the business of diversity and inclusion.

The feedback received by way of evaluations indicates that the message is resonating and well received.  STLCC is introducing our Core Values to new employees upon their entry into our workforce.