We believe that those of us in higher education have the responsibility to engage our students and communities in assembling the knowledge and skills to effectively enact change related to the complex issue of growing economic inequality.

In February 2014, The Democracy Commitment (TDC) joined with our State Colleges and University colleagues in AASCU’s American Democracy Project (ADP) and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich at San Francisco State University (Calif.) for a live webcast about his documentary film, Inequality for All. This event served as the inspiration for the first joint TDC/ADP national initiative, an effort centered on economic inequality and co-led by TDC’s Mount Wachusett Community College (Mass.) and ADP’s Keene State College (N.H.).

A cohort of two- and four-year ADP and TDC member institutions joined our lead institutions in a three-year initiative to understand the impact of economic inequality on our democracy. The goal of this initiative is to help students think about and take action to confront the complex causes of growing economic inequality.

We envision developing, implementing and documenting innovative, interactive curricula and experiential learning modules that can be adapted across our campuses and communities. Participating institutions will work together to study the relationship between public policy, economic inequality, economic opportunity and social mobility to prepare undergraduates for lives of informed civic engagement.

The full call for participation can be found  here, as well as the application to join the initiative.

See specifics of what some of these institutions are doing below:

• SUNY Cortland’s monthly free public lunchtime talks
• Stockton University’s Economic Inequality Initiative blog
• Weber State University’s purchase of property request for the establishment of a Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality

 

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New Economic Inequality Campus Mini-Grants for 2015-2016

We are excited to announce that we are able to offer campus mini-grants of up to $1,000 per ADP/TDC Economic Inequality participating campus for the purpose of advancing the work of this initiative on these campuses. Participating campuses interested in applying for the mini-grants must complete the two forms below:

• ADP/TDC EI campus grant application
• ADP/TDC EI campus reporting form

TDC Participating Campuses:

• Allegany College of Maryland
• Kirkwood Community College (Iowa)
• Lone Star College, Kingwood (Texas)
• Manchester Community College (Conn.)
• Monroe Community College (N.Y.)
• Moraine Valley Community College (Ill.)
• Mount Wachusetts Community College (Mass.)
• Santa Fe College (Fla.)
• Tarrant County College, Southeast Campus (Texas)