Berkshire Community College is opening a space on its Pittsfield, Massachusetts campus aimed at supporting students who hail from historically marginalized groups. The new Multicultural Affairs, Diversity and Engagement Center will be housed in BCC’s Susan B. Anthony Building. It’s funded through the state’s Supporting Urgent Community College Equity through Student Services, or SUCCESS, program. George Ambriz is Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Director of BCC’s SUCCESS program. He tells WAMC that the project’s goal is to supply resources to the students who need them most.
AMBRIZ: So students are thinking, I didn't know I had the services available to me, I didn't know I would be able to embark on these wonderful opportunities because there are government programs that are centered around students and providing services to them. However, some of them have requirements that don't allow certain populations to be assisted in the program. So we are very inclusive in this program, so if a student falls into one of those categories, we are able to assist them. So what we're trying to do with this MADE Center- It's an acronym that stands for Multicultural Affairs, Diversity and Engagement. This center is going to be able to provide programming to all students who are part of SUCCESS, and to those greater students in the community as well for BCC. Because right now, we don't know if a student is undocumented, we don't know if a student is part of the LGBTQIA community. So we want them to have a safe space that they can go and receive services to make sure that we're being very deliberate in how we can provide them services to get them from point A to point B. And point B may be graduation of a certificate or an associate's degree. Or it may be, point B may be getting a job in the workforce. So we want to be able to assist these students, engage with them to see what their level of success is, and provide those services for these students.
WAMC: Now, let's say I'm a student walking into the MADE Center- What am I going to see, what am I going to experience? Break it down for me.
Sure. So, we're going to be very fortunate in that we're going to create a physical space and a virtual space. So students who are still not ready to come to campus, they will be able to visit us virtually and maybe see some recorded sessions of previous workshops, previous speaker series. And if they were to come into the MADE Center, they're going to have access to laptops, a printer, a safe space for them to do work. Also, some books, maybe that are related to their social inequality, maybe to social justice. We're also looking to have some books that are dedicated to their courses. We're looking to purchase through this grant some books that are relational to their program and their classes. So, as you know, or as you may not know, we're going to be able to provide a book for the classes in the MADE Center. And this is going to be an opportunity for them to come and engage with our staff. If they’re looking to ask questions about, Hey, I need to get tutoring, we can connect them to tutoring. If they have questions about maybe securing some Disability Resource Center, we'll be able to connect them there immediately.
Is there anything about the MADE Center I haven't thought to ask you that you think is important for folks to know and understand?
Yeah, I just want everybody to know that there's going to be a physical space for the affinity groups to meet. You’re going to have your clubs and organizations. We want you to have that space on campus that you can come and be yourself with, having the access to the resources to promote social justice, the anti-racism, and the equity for all. And we want to make sure that students come to us with ideas for workshops and programming addressing academic success for those historically underserved student populations. And we just want those students to be safe and feel good about being themselves in this place. So I think when we developed this MADE Center, we've been very focused on the student-centered approach to building community within BCC, and we want to embrace all identities on campus, and just come and be yourself.
