Moving Towards Equitable Liberation
To Our Dear Campus Compact Community:
As many of you know, four years ago Campus Compact shifted its mission to explicitly focus on racial justice. Suffice to say, the road to embodying true equity has been both the most challenging, and important work that our organization or staff could undertake. As a result of our work, Campus Compact has transitioned its leadership and is piloting a new governance structure. With this shift came a period of introspection, intention setting, and consideration of the organization’s identity. As a small community of BIPOC invested in doing racial justice work, we asked ourselves how we can genuinely do the work that we claim to do through our office.
As a group, we came to the conclusion that racial justice—the product of intersecting and actionable philosophies—is not just a word, or a singular act, but rather a commitment to the liberation of oneself and community. Campus Compact of Oregon, its staff, and its communities of interest came to this work out of a desire to address socially constructed hierarchies, systems, and norms that harm marginalized people every day and lessen their potential to be successful in the educational system. As many know, simply shifting language is not enough, equity is a complete re-envisioning of normalized systems that hinder the collaborative liberation of our community.
As an organization, we owe it to our partners and the communities that we collaborate with, to strive for the utmost integrity. With this, we must seek to dismantle harmful systems that perpetuate hate, xenophobia, and ignorance and center those most impacted by institutional, systemic, and interpersonal oppression: BIPOC, LGBTQAI2++ people, immigrants and refugees, low-income people, people with disabilities.
As part of this process, we received a Collins grant to support the collaborative development of an organizational culture that truly centers on racial equity. As we have developed Campus Compact’s Equity Roadmap, our organization chose a new governance structure that seeks greater accountability within the context of nonprofit leadership models. We hope that a co-director governance model will enable more accountability, more support, and greater transparency. Toward this end, our organization currently has two executive directors, one, the Director of Internal Equity, and the other, the Director of Community Engagement and Membership.
Our biggest priority is providing resources to our communities in the Portland Metro Area, and the rest of the state of Oregon. As we are transforming our organization, we seek to deepen our engagements as a member of this community. Education and the country itself are at a place of transition, as we continue to cultivate spaces in which learning communities are formed and cultivated, we will continue to provide you with critical support in the areas of racial equity, inclusive practices, social innovation, and institutional change. Toward this end, Campus Compact will continue to support educational institutions as they seek to support BIPOC students through the cultivation of inclusive educational environments that encourage students' success through self-actualization and belonging. Our partners know that the natural by-product of a culture of belonging promotes higher student retention and graduation rates, yes, but also self-actualization, and a personal sense of purpose. More than anything, we continue to strive towards justice for those harmed by institutional racism, and the success of all members of our community.
We are excited about this transition. Our current leadership has collectively worked for 68 years in education and the nonprofit sector. With this, a history of collaboration and organizing in communities of color. In order to move forward to become more racially just, we needed to reframe our work and reconsider the very structure of the organization. As an organization, we needed to re-center communities of color, particularly our staff. The fantastic staff of Campus Compact of Oregon shares our commitment to justice and social change. Our AmeriCorps leaders, integral to the work that we do, provide support and training to our AmeriCorps members, who continue to do critical work in Oregon's communities of color. Please visit our staff page so that you can get to know the people doing so much of the important work and heavy lifting at Campus Compact:
As many of you know, four years ago Campus Compact shifted its mission to explicitly focus on racial justice. Suffice to say, the road to embodying true equity has been both the most challenging, and important work that our organization or staff could undertake. As a result of our work, Campus Compact has transitioned its leadership and is piloting a new governance structure. With this shift came a period of introspection, intention setting, and consideration of the organization’s identity. As a small community of BIPOC invested in doing racial justice work, we asked ourselves how we can genuinely do the work that we claim to do through our office.
As a group, we came to the conclusion that racial justice—the product of intersecting and actionable philosophies—is not just a word, or a singular act, but rather a commitment to the liberation of oneself and community. Campus Compact of Oregon, its staff, and its communities of interest came to this work out of a desire to address socially constructed hierarchies, systems, and norms that harm marginalized people every day and lessen their potential to be successful in the educational system. As many know, simply shifting language is not enough, equity is a complete re-envisioning of normalized systems that hinder the collaborative liberation of our community.
As an organization, we owe it to our partners and the communities that we collaborate with, to strive for the utmost integrity. With this, we must seek to dismantle harmful systems that perpetuate hate, xenophobia, and ignorance and center those most impacted by institutional, systemic, and interpersonal oppression: BIPOC, LGBTQAI2++ people, immigrants and refugees, low-income people, people with disabilities.
As part of this process, we received a Collins grant to support the collaborative development of an organizational culture that truly centers on racial equity. As we have developed Campus Compact’s Equity Roadmap, our organization chose a new governance structure that seeks greater accountability within the context of nonprofit leadership models. We hope that a co-director governance model will enable more accountability, more support, and greater transparency. Toward this end, our organization currently has two executive directors, one, the Director of Internal Equity, and the other, the Director of Community Engagement and Membership.
Our biggest priority is providing resources to our communities in the Portland Metro Area, and the rest of the state of Oregon. As we are transforming our organization, we seek to deepen our engagements as a member of this community. Education and the country itself are at a place of transition, as we continue to cultivate spaces in which learning communities are formed and cultivated, we will continue to provide you with critical support in the areas of racial equity, inclusive practices, social innovation, and institutional change. Toward this end, Campus Compact will continue to support educational institutions as they seek to support BIPOC students through the cultivation of inclusive educational environments that encourage students' success through self-actualization and belonging. Our partners know that the natural by-product of a culture of belonging promotes higher student retention and graduation rates, yes, but also self-actualization, and a personal sense of purpose. More than anything, we continue to strive towards justice for those harmed by institutional racism, and the success of all members of our community.
We are excited about this transition. Our current leadership has collectively worked for 68 years in education and the nonprofit sector. With this, a history of collaboration and organizing in communities of color. In order to move forward to become more racially just, we needed to reframe our work and reconsider the very structure of the organization. As an organization, we needed to re-center communities of color, particularly our staff. The fantastic staff of Campus Compact of Oregon shares our commitment to justice and social change. Our AmeriCorps leaders, integral to the work that we do, provide support and training to our AmeriCorps members, who continue to do critical work in Oregon's communities of color. Please visit our staff page so that you can get to know the people doing so much of the important work and heavy lifting at Campus Compact:
Our Mission
Campus Compact of Oregon convenes and supports the work of educational institutions individually and collectively to improve their practice around institutional equity, collaborative learning, and community engagement to respond effectively to a racially diverse and changing Oregon.
Our Vision
Our members provide inclusive & equitable learning opportunities that strengthen communities & empower our students to be agents for positive change.
Our Equity Statement
As an organization, we owe it to ourselves and our partners and the communities that we collaborate with, to strive for the utmost integrity. With this, we must seek to dismantle harmful systems that perpetuate hate, xenophobia, and ignorance and work to center those most impacted by institutional, systemic, and interpersonal oppression: BIPOC, LGBTQAI2+ people, immigrants and refugees, low-income people, people with disabilities.
Our Context
Campus Compact was founded in 1986 by the presidents of Brown University, Georgetown University and Stanford University to advance the public purpose of colleges and universities. Campus Compact of Oregon was founded in 1996 by the presidents of Portland State University and Willamette University with a focused mission to support the development of service and civic engagement on college and university campuses in Oregon.
As the largest network of higher education in the state and the only nonprofit representing two-year, four-year, public and private colleges and universities, we continue our work to deepen community and civic engagement and collaborative learning both on and off campus. Now our focus also embraces addressing educational inequities and together building thriving communities in Oregon.
As the largest network of higher education in the state and the only nonprofit representing two-year, four-year, public and private colleges and universities, we continue our work to deepen community and civic engagement and collaborative learning both on and off campus. Now our focus also embraces addressing educational inequities and together building thriving communities in Oregon.
Our Core Themes
In order to create a thriving society that draws upon our common humanity and cultural wealth we embrace the following core themes:
Collaborative Learning (learning together differently)
Equity and Racial Justice (working together differently)
Partnership (creating a different impact, together)
Collaborative Learning (learning together differently)
Equity and Racial Justice (working together differently)
Partnership (creating a different impact, together)