I went to Amarillo College in May for the Culture of Caring Poverty Summit. Anyone who has read any of my articles knows this was a huge deal for me, and I was so excited to be in the space of like- minded folks and find ways to gain momentum in my own work. I've read just about every piece of literature I could find on Amarillo over the last two years, and one of the things I admire about their work is the commitment to a clear Theory of Change. While this seems simple, I don't think it is at all. Taking the very complex work of a large institution and boiling down what you are doing to three principles is actually brilliant. Decision making becomes simpler as you have a north star to navigate through the shifting landscapes of your work. My team was challenged to bring a theory of change to the summit, and we struggled with it. I took a stab at what it would look like to me personally, and I ended up with the following: "Removing barriers identified in partnership with students creates a sense of belonging and self-efficacy. When belonging and self-efficacy are paired with just-in-time support at key points, the economic reality of students, their families, and their communities will be changed for the better." Like so much of what I do, it probably had too many words, but it helped me start. I evolved to something else, but I'd love feedback on my theory and how I lead toward achieving it. Let me explain a few influences along the way.
So often, I see something from Dr. Donna Beegle, and it hits me right where I live. She has a knack for making complex things simple and the tweet pictured here is one of those times. I have been in higher education long enough to know that we have a knack for making relatively routine things look impossible. This is the sort of thing my friends at Amarillo refer to as "Higher Ed(ing)" things too much. This is completely true for how we serve students in poverty. We make a lot of assumptions about what they need, when in reality, we could just ask them. Who is more of an expert on what is preventing success than the people being prevented? That's why my original theory of change included the language about identifying barriers in partnership with students. In our quest to be "data-driven" I'm afraid we sometimes lose the basics. Our students can tell us what they need. Sometimes we just want to complicate it, or we don't really like the answer. One of our poverty informed projects I want to execute at MSC Southeast is to have students and faculty identify barriers to success, and we will simply make a list, and we will knock down the ones we can. I am a bit of a broken record, but more and more I'm convinced this stuff isn't complicated, it's just hard. Keeping a Theory of Change simple seems important.
Not everyone loves social media, but I've come to appreciate it in lots of ways. Working in a small city in the Midwest can make you feel isolated and forget you have partners across the country (and the world really). Just last week, I was fortunate to come across an article from my Chair Academy Instructor, Dr. Lane Glenn, the president of Northern Essex Community College in Massachusetts. I haven't seen Dr. Glenn in a couple of years, but I'm connected to him on social media (he's a great LinkedIn follow by the way). The article is linked here, (Lane's article) and it's good, but what struck me most as he looked at inequities in higher ed financing was this quote: "The students who need the least, get the most; and the students who need the most, get the least." In my quest for simplicity, this summed it up perfectly. This is the reality those of us fighting poverty in community and technical colleges face every day. When creating my theory of change, I knew I wanted it to have something to do with leveling the playing field. I wish I had thought of Dr. Glenn's phrase before he did, but I'll use it liberally, with credit of course.
The last inspiration came just a few short days ago. I always read Matt Reed's blog, where he goes by the moniker Dean Dad. He's thoughtful, we have similar jobs, and I just find him thought-provoking. So, this week when he wrote about addressing students' basic needs (Undiscovered talent) as part of an academic master plan, I was thrilled. As a Chief Academic Officer, I'm always concerned about being pigeonholed as only concerned about courses and curriculum. I think that would be incredibly shortsighted. If we want better outcomes for students, we need to address them as humans first (thank you Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab), which means "academics" better look at a broader picture. If Brookdale Community College can put basic needs as part of their plan, we certainly can too. It's becoming a bit of a cliche in my social media bubble, but if we don't do Maslow stuff before we do Bloom stuff, we know how that story ends. So, I was flattered when they interviewed me for my new role at my new college (read here), and the interviewer said I seemed concerned for the whole student. I can't imagine any other way to do this.
So, back to my Theory of Change. I knew I wanted to be simple and direct. I knew I wanted to talk about leveling the playing field within our power to do so, and I knew I wanted to acknowledge the full humanity of students including their rich, full, complicated lives. I landed on the following: "Success achieved with help is success, so every barrier that can be removed should be removed." Maybe it's a mission statement more than a theory of change, but it speaks to me. It says we know there are barriers preventing students from completing their goals. It says we should have the students help identify the barriers, and then we should work relentlessly to remove them. I like this statement because it acknowledges that help is natural and normal, and honestly the help is built in for so many people, but just isn't for students in poverty. My theory of change is deliberately a little vague because I do not want to pre-determine barriers to success. I want to partner with our students and staff to find them. I also like this statement because it acknowledges our limitations by using the words "can be." Some things are currently out of our scope of influence, but rather than fixate on them and do nothing, I'm challenging myself to remove barriers that can be removed. At least ten people have sent me the great article in The Atlantic that says we can't solve income inequality with better schools (read here), and that is 100% true. Inequality is a larger systemic issue and beyond my control currently. However, better schools can still help people improve their outcomes in this system. Better schools can give hope and social mobility. So we can fight on behalf of people in the crisis of poverty by fearlessly identifying and removing barriers to their success, and that is exactly what I plan to do. Success achieved with help is success, so every barrier that can be removed should be removed.
It is my core belief that our community and technical colleges are key to providing social mobility in our country. All students can benefit, but students from poverty can especially benefit. When I made the move to Minnesota State College Southeast, it was with the intention of spreading the idea of poverty-informed practice to a new place from a new position of influence. In the spirit of being willing to be uncomfortable, it seemed appropriate to try to do this work in a place where I didn't have nearly two decades of experience and relationships to draw from, but rather had to start from day one making the case for the wisdom of better serving people in poverty. I had to hope to find kindred souls, and I certainly have! When I interviewed this summer, you could feel a level of concern and caring for students that was palpable. I'm glad to report the feeling has proven true every day since I arrived. Let me tell you more.
Regular readers know my guiding light for poverty informed work has been Amarillo College in Amarillo, Texas. Amarillo talks regularly about their Culture of Caring and the value of choosing to love the students you have. I could feel that energy immediately at MSC Southeast. There is a deep culture of helping and caring here, and it makes the possibilities of what we can do for our students and communities incredibly exciting. Poverty informed practice starts with caring. Poverty informed practice also requires learning and growing to understand our students' needs and points of view of view, but it absolutely begins with caring. I was asked to speak off campus this week on the value of poverty informed practice in higher education, and one of the audience members approached me afterward and told me that my 90 minute speech boiled down to treating people the right way and not being a jerk (his words not mine). I'm not sure I would say it exactly that way, but the sentiment is correct. So, I want to highlight the things we are doing already at MSC Southeast and the things we will do going into the future. You can find these stories across the web by looking for this hashtag #MSCSoutheastCares. Caring is an amazing place to start and let me tell you a few things I've seen already.
I spent the first day of classes on our Winona campus. The picture is breakfast provided by our Student Senate and there was breakfast in Red Wing as well. Students at Southeast already know the dangers of food insecurity and the fact it can prevent college completion, so they made sure there was breakfast for anyone who wanted it for the first week of classes. There were no rules, no one shows an ID, there is just food for people who need it. That is a culture of help and caring. Of course, hunger is an issue that can extend beyond the first week of classes, so I was so pleased to see the students have established food pantries on each campus as well. The Senate President in Winona told me it is also take what you need, which is amazing and very poverty informed. People who are treated with understanding and respect will tend to treat you with understanding and respect. It's not complicated, it's just hard.
Being poverty informed means understanding the value of relationships (see how this stuff is kind of universal) and demonstrating care for others is a great way to build relationships. I have seen so many acts of caring in my short time on both campuses, but one today stood out in particular. I saw a young mother come in and work on getting admitted and registered for school. Like many students, she needed to bring her children with her, and the children were young also. Watching your mom get set up for school isn't the most engaging thing, so when I walked through our Student Services area, I saw the picture to the left. That's Rita, who is the welcoming face you often see when you enter the Winona campus, and she is making sure all four children are having a positive experience at our college. Not only are they set up with art supplies and a place to color, what you can't see is the Kleenex in Rita's hand as she takes care of the runny nose of our youngest guest. I'm sure that doesn't appear in her job description. We will never know if this small action today gave their mom the time and space to build the future she is dreaming of, but what if it did? What if a culture of helping and caring made that difference? My vision of poverty informed means we remove barriers to student success when we can. What if the barrier was just knowing your children were happy and cared for while you took care of business? I told Rita how impressed I was, and she very humbly told me I had a pretty low bar for being impressed. I would say all the acts of caring I've seen in two weeks might make all the difference for someone without us even knowing it.
So, I could not be more thrilled to have found my new home at Minnesota State College Southeast. We are primed to do amazing things for our students, their families, and our communities. As I have for some time, I want to tell the honest and authentic story of moving toward being a truly poverty-informed college that uses the things we learn from students with the greatest barriers to improve our college for all students. There is work to be done, but a culture of caring is a wonderful place to start. So, you can look for stories about our growth at #MSCSoutheastCares. Let's change the world together!
