California Council of Cultural Centers in Higher Education

HISTORY

In August 1994, a group of professionals gathered in the Cross-Cultural Center at the University of California, Irvine to discuss issues and exchange information important to multicultural/cross-cultural centers on college campuses. For the next three years, meetings were held on a quarterly basis and hosted by different centers and campuses throughout California. We discussed and deliberated, analyzed, argued, and embraced. We were brought together by the common purpose and shared vision of reaffirming the work of centers, programs, and individuals committed to the strength and value of diversity.

We represent a unique intersegmental collaboration. Today, we are pleased to introduce the California Council of Cultural Centers in Higher Education (CaCCCHE).

MISSION

We, the California Council of Cultural Centers in Higher Education (CaCCCHE), fully embrace the diverse nature of our campuses, which includes, but is not limited to, race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, disabilities, sexual orientation, immigrant status, and socioeconomic class. We confirm the essential and critical role that cultural centers play in addressing the unique challenges and opportunities presented by diversity.

We do so by extending advocacy that affirms ongoing efforts by existing centers; providing leadership for the establishment of new initiatives; creating opportunities for networking and personal growth in the field; and promoting a philosophy that recognizes the tensile strength that diversity in all its manifestations brings to our campuses, communities, lives, and society.

GOALS

The goals of CaCCCHE are to provide:

1. ADVOCACY

advocating on behalf of diversity initiatives
serving as a resource which consolidates and distributes information, data, models, and other materials relevant to centers
serving as organization consultants to clarify and articulate issues of diversity

2. NETWORKING & SUPPORT

sponsoring professional development activities which foster growth and learning
supporting a leadership pipeline of new professionals, students, and others interested in the field of multicultural education

3. DEVELOPMENT

forming partnerships with foundations, institutions, and other agencies which support the organization's mission
procuring program fees
establishing membership categories and fees that will sustain the organization

VISION

We stand staring into the changing face
of America's future.

California will be the first to decide -
Decide whether to communicate
across the cultural divide, effectively managing our differences, or
steer the nation into a state of collision.

Our complexion in California
is more multi-ethnic -
yes, "multi-ethnic" -
But not "multicultural"

Because, despite our demographics of diversity
We are staying strangers
Lost together in one place
Without common caring
Or common commitment

But we need not despair
Rather - we need repair.

California will be the first to decide -
To decide to create partnerships
that crisscross cultural differences.

Decide to dismiss denials of conflict -
Learning, instead, to conciliate pain
where 'conflict' can be constructive.

Deciding now to truly
Disarm our divisions -
Taking off our masks
seeking so-called "harmony among the races,"

But admitting, honestly, to ourselves and
to each other
the need to be active listeners and to respond with personal risk
and vulnerability.

Replacing the unforgiving past with a compassionate present
that leads to freedom of the future.

By mediating and managing tension that is real and permanent
By conciliating opposition without annulling it
By asserting the multiple Dream of Diversity
With Vision and Re-vision

The California Council of Cultural Centers in Higher Education
will be conduit
for effectively communicating, mediating,
and facilitating our communities
across America's cultural divide.