Dear Community,
Transform Mid-Atlantic (TMA) embraces its role in uniting higher education institutions to advance equity across the region. We are committed to addressing systemic racism, poverty, and discrimination in all forms, including those based on sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disabilities, language, and culture. TMA condemns all inequities, recognizing that bias and injustice harm us all and hinder the creation of just, equitable communities.
Why Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion?
As we continue to grow in our understanding of the realities that many in our communities face, we understand that our work in higher education plays an essential role in developing systemic change agents and overcoming oppressive systems.
Previously, the work of higher education in addressing racism, discrimination based on gender, sexual identity, disabilities, and other inequities, has been accomplished through institutions engaging Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work. As learning in the field changes, many institutions and organizations are looking for ways to deepen their work, not only on their campuses, but within surrounding communities.
While equity seeks to “guarantee the fair treatment, advancement, opportunity and access for all individuals,” through identifying and eliminating barriers that prevent access and participation, and improving overall quality of life (International City/County Management Association, 2020); what does this ultimately mean for communities that experience marginalization and inequity?
Creating healthy, holistic, and sustainable communities by centering the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our work is a form of justice. Transform Mid-Atlantic firmly believes that justice is not separate from our work in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, and encourages those within our network and beyond to consider this in how we collectively create meaningful positive change and address systemic oppression
Affirmations and Commitments
WE embrace our collective journey and lived experiences, as we celebrate our commonality while addressing the inequities between us.
WE strive to center voices experiencing marginalization, including Black, Indigenous, Latino, Latina, Latinx, and Asian American and Pacific Islander in our equity work.
WE strive to lead with intention, care, and empathy in creating justice and equity within our region.
WE strive to examine and challenge the historical ways we have defined knowledge and knowing.
WE strive to create a culture of accountability and considered feedback within leadership.
Equity Taskforce
Transform Mid-Atlantic launched an Equity Taskforce to further the efforts TMA undertakes to advance equity both within our organization and throughout the culture of our membership in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Taskforce identifies, examines, and recommends opportunities for TMA to become more anti-oppressive, equitable, and accountable in its own internal policies, procedures, and practices, as well as to support our member institutions in advancing equity in higher education and in communities throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.
Equity Taskforce Recommendations
The Equity Taskforce submits recommendations to Transform Mid-Atlantic’s Board that include action steps TMA can take in order to create a culture of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion across the region. The recommendations are at the bottom of the page, after the ETF Taskforce members.
Dr. Tracy Rone, TMA Equity Task Force Co-Chair - Assistant Dean, Research and Community Partnerships, School of Education & Urban Studies - Morgan State University
Tracy R. Rone, Ph.D. is Assistant Dean for Research and Community Partnerships, and Associate Professor in the Department of Advanced Studies, Leadership, and Policy in the School of Education and Urban Studies at Morgan State University.
She previously served as Research Associate Professor at the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University, where she also taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She is trained as a linguistic anthropologist. Her research aims to illuminate urban education issues in high-poverty, resource-challenged contexts through an anthropological lens. She is especially interested in how identity informs academic performance, the intersection of health and educational disparities, and how narrative can be used to illuminate lived experiences in urban communities.
She has served as Research Co-director for the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC), a partnership of Baltimore City Public Schools, Morgan State University, and Johns Hopkins University. Her publications explore issues in urban poverty, narrative, African American academic success, and strategies for creating civic and intellectual engagement in undergraduate classrooms.
She has published in College Teaching and Transforming Anthropology. She earned a B.A. from Goucher College, a M.A. from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Ms. Madeline Yates, Founder and Executive Director - Transform Mid-Atlantic
Madeline Yates is the founding director of Transform Mid-Atlantic with twenty-five years of experience in cross-cultural programming and service-learning, both K-12 and higher education.
She has traveled extensively, living, working, and volunteering for extended periods of time in Japan, Haiti, the Philippines, Nicaragua, and New Zealand. While teaching and working at the Maryland State Department of Education, she received several fellowships, including two Fulbrights to India and South Africa, and others to Kyrgyzstan and Ecuador. She has consulted domestically and internationally.
Her B.A. and M.A. are from Gettysburg and Hood College, respectively. For more about Madeline, see her full bio.
Pamela Mosley Gresham is currently the Associate Vice President Office of Human Resources at Delaware State University. She is responsible for conducting investigations of various complaints filed by faculty, staff and students relating to discrimination and harassment claims, and allegations of conduct violations.
She facilitates mediations and conflict resolution to assist with resolving complaints and disputes. She also interprets and provides guidance on HR policies and programs, interprets and adheres to collective bargaining agreements, responds to union grievances, and initiates and administers progressive discipline.
Gresham has been appointed as Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Council and has been appointed as an Administration Representative for Chapter-University. Gresham has a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice from the State University College at Buffalo, N.Y., and a Juris Doctor from the University of Buffalo, School of Law. She is admitted to practice in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, U.S. District Courts, Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, District of New Jersey, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Prior to her arrival at DSU, she was the Associate Director of Human Resources and Ethics and Compliance Officer for Kean University in Union, N.J.
She was previously employed with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office as a Deputy Attorney General and served as the Assistant Section Chief of the Employment Counseling Section, specializing in employment litigation. She also practiced labor and employment law as legal counsel for the City of Newark, N.J., and Essex County, N.J. Gresham moved to Delaware in 2015 with her husband, Anthony, and two children, Jonathan and Christopher.
Ms. Pamela Mosley Gresham, J.D., Associate Vice President Office of Human Resources - Delaware State University
Dr. Shawntay Stocks, Chief of Staff and Assistant Director - Transform Mid-Atlantic
Dr. Francine Edwards, Associate Vice President, Training and Development & Customer Service - Delaware State University
Dr. Francine Edwards serves as Associate Vice President, Training and Development & Customer Service at Delaware State University. She provides strategic and operational support to the Executive Vice President of the University. Responsibilities include oversight of key reporting units such as Human Resources, the Customer Service Center of Excellence, and the newly launched Professional Development and Leadership Academy (PDLA).
Dr. Edwards also assists in managing daily administrative operations across the university and collaborates closely with departments including Human Resources, Marketing, Health Services, and University Events and Ceremonies to ensure alignment with institutional goals.
Dr. Edwards serves as Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council and Editor of the eJournal Dynamic Self Matters, establishing and promoting practices that foster a culture of inclusion and respect among students and employees.
Professor Ingrid Sabio-McLaughlin, Associate Professor, History Program Coordinator, Women and Gender Studies, Eastside Service-Learning Coordinator, Events & Programming Coordinator, Community Book Connection (CBC), Co-Chair, President’s Advisory Council - Community College Baltimore County
Ingrid Sabio-McLaughlin, Associate Professor, Women’s Studies and History at Community College of Baltimore County, was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated from State University of New York: College at New Paltz with an undergraduate degree in Black/Africana Studies and Education of the Speech and Hearing Impaired. She also obtained a graduate degree from Morgan State University in African American History.
Ingrid began her career at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) in 1998. She has held several leadership positions at CCBC, among them Program Coordinator for the Women and Gender Studies program, East side Service-Learning Coordinator, Events and Programming Coordinator for the Community Book Connection, and Co-Chair for the President’s Advisory Council. She is also Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Justice (ISEJ) at CCBC.
Ingrid is committed to social justice, especially educational equity. Outside of her professional duties, Ingrid is involved in her community by serving on the Religious Education Board at New All Saints Catholic Church; she also serves as the Education Chair for the Randallstown NAACP branch #7032-B. Ingrid served on the Board of Trustees of her Sorority, Omega Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated from 2020-2023. Ingrid currently resides in Randallstown, Maryland with her husband and three children.
EQUITY TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE TMA BOARD
Guiding Questions:
- What does a high level of integration of CE and JEDI look like for community partnerships, students, and for faculty projects?
- How do we move from the what we say we do on paper, and the measurement in numbers, to how people experience JEDI--how people within communities and partnerships experience JEDI?
- How do we narrow and eliminate the gap between the official practice and the lived experience of students, faculty, all members of the campus-community (including contractual workers), and the larger community of which the campus is a part?
- How do we know, and how do we show that JEDI is embedded in the DNA of the culture of institutions’ civic and community engagement partnerships?
- How do we use JEDI as a framework for making decisions in our community partnerships and civic and community engagement initiatives?
Recommendations:
- Walk the Talk: TMA will continue its own internal equity audit, ongoing learning, and reflection.
- Use the term JEDI: Add “Justice” to DEI language, using “JEDI” moving forward, in TMA website, documents, plans. (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion)
- Provide Resources to Members: Gather, develop, and share (on the TMA website) resources about the intersection of civic engagement and JEDI work for students, faculty, institutions, community partnerships, including how to recognize, incentivize, and sustain it.
- Highlight Best Practices: Collect and highlight best practices where CE and JEDI are deeply integrated.
- Develop Guiding Questions: Create guiding questions that can assist institutions in reflecting on how they are integrating JEDI explicitly and intentionally in their civic and community engagement moving forward.
- Develop Institutionalization Rubric: Adapt the Furco rubric to show intersection with JEDI to support campuses as they institutionalize and sustain JEDI in their civic and community engagement efforts and culture. Link this institutionalization document with MSCHE Standards and Carnegie Community Engagement questions/standards.
- Provide Thought-Leadership: Host panels, COPs, and continuously raise awareness and interest to build JEDI skill and muscle.
- Develop Assessment Tools: Together with IR specialists, build out how we can assess progress in student learning, faculty development, institutionalization, and community partnerships.
- Develop and Administer Survey(s): To asset map institutions’ work, and what (resources, convenings, professional development, etc.) they need to move forward.
- Develop Training Tools for campuses, including those starting out on their journey and institutions focused on sustaining their efforts.
- Assess Collective Impact: Determine collectively how institutions can not only assess their own progress but assess our progress as a consortium and region toward this collectively embraced vision of integrating civic and community engagement with explicit JEDI outcomes. How will our combined higher education institutions demonstrate CE-JEDI progress for students, faculty, institutions, and communities?
- Continue the Conversation: Invite ETF members to continue this conversation and work. Include other leaders who are drawn to and committed to this work, especially including IR/assessment specialists.