College for Creative Studies (CCS)

CASE STUDY IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR
Detroit, MI

Opportunity: The College for Creative Studies (CCS) is a nonprofit, private college located in the heart of Detroit. The College provides students with the tools needed for successful careers in the dynamic and growing creative industries by granting bachelor's and master's degrees.

CCS had a unique opportunity to advance its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts with the recent hire of its first Chief Diversity Officer (CDO).

In partnership with their CDO, Harriet Speaks created a six-month program with the following objectives:

1) Developed a guide on "Race & Racism" that would provide tools for faculty and staff to begin a journey on reflecting their biases and views on various aspects of diversity and inclusion

2) Conducted 1:1 coaching for all administrative and department heads that would identify opportunities for the college and their respective departments to be more inclusive and identify opportunities to influence teaching culture

3) Performed an audit of the course catalog (inclusive of all 12 majors) to identify opportunities to enhance community opportunities for students to learn about diverse topics

Impact: In addition to completing a course audit that led to the identification of how diversity and inclusion could be incorporated into existing classes, Harriet Speaks successfully developed a resource for each department to further its work in diversity and inclusion entitled "The Harriet Speaks Reflection Journal and Workbook on Race, Diversity, and Inclusion: College for Creative Studies." A series of customized videos was also developed to facilitate discussion of the topics in the reflection journal and workbook. Finally, Harriet Speaks worked with one of the academic departments to create a tool titled "Shared Commitments for Classroom Inclusion." This resource will be used by faculty and students to facilitate better dialogue and to help both parties understand their responsibilities for an inclusive learning environment.