Racial equity and inclusion is the focus of a new consortium of St. Petersburg-based higher education institutions. The participating institutions, which collectively serve 36,000 students in St. Petersburg, are the University of South Florida – St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg College, Eckerd College and Stetson University College of Law. The consortium will work on goals around:
- Narrative change
- Racial healing and relationship building
- Separation
- Law
- Economy
“When you look at enacting change, with working toward progress, you look at systems, and we have higher education as a system,” Caryn Nesmith, a coordinator of the consortium and special assistant to the USF St. Pete chancellor for strategic initiatives, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. The consortium, which grew out of a community task force initiative at USF St. Pete last year, is funded by a $50,000 Foundation for a Healthy St. Pete grant.
The Journal notes:
Each campus will bring a different focus to the group. Eckerd will have a writing program focused on truth-telling and environmental justice incorporation; Stetson will focus on legislative advocacy; SPC will focus on economic inclusion, and USF will look to provide social justice training and advocacy opportunities for students.
USF, Eckerd College, and St. Petersburg College are Investors in the EDC.
For the complete story, see “St. Pete-based universities, including USF, team up for racial equity consortium.”