Message from the Chairs

To Current and Potential Underrepresented Harper College Personnel,

We welcome you to Harper College and to the DREAM (Diverse Relationships Engaged in Affirming Multi-culturalism) Association.

It is our pleasure to provide you with a brief description of DREAM.  We began our journey in the Fall of 2002 when the former Assistant Vice President for Diversity and Organizational Development began having meetings with ethnically diverse employees.

The desired outcome was to provide us with opportunities to connect with each other as many of us worked in isolation. As a result of these meetings DREAM was created to help with recruitment, retention and to build community among people of color on campus. We are committed to helping Harper College achieve these goals through the creation or enhancement of support programs and by promoting a sense of unity among people of color on campus. Please read Our History for further details.

As the number of students of color continues to grow on our campus (over 37%) we feel an imminent need and a great responsibility to become role models, mentors and leaders. As DREAM members we realize that we must be the driving force to advance the recruitment and retention of professionals of color at Harper College. We believe that ethnically diverse employees need to be mentored and that we must build community through a variety of networking and professional development opportunities.

On behalf of the Executive Committee of DREAM we welcome you to our community and encourage you to help us achieve our goals by attending meetings, participating in professional and networking events and by embracing leadership on campus. Please join us in making Harper College a better place for ALL!

Sincerely,