College students, community members, and several community programs came together at the Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility Awareness Month, or DEIA month kick off event at the Pacific Coast Campus.
DEIA Awareness month celebrates diversity, equity, and inclusion accessibility. The annual kickoff event was held at PCC for its 4th iteration.
Director of Student Equity Eric Becerra talked about the growth of the DEIA kickoff event since the first kickoff event.
“It (the DEIA kickoff event) has been getting bigger each year,” said Becerra.
Becerra credited the turnout to the many different community programs that came out to share resources and their programs at the event.
Some programs at the event included counseling and therapy, services for single parents, and different programs for the formerly incarcerated.
Stanley Thermidor is a policy and advocacy strategist for A New Way of Life Recovery Project. Thermidor said that they came to support this event because of the work that the LBCC’s Justice Program does.
“This is the perfect opportunity to connect with many different people,” Thermidor said.
Becerra also credits LBCC’s DEIA committee as well as Jose Ibarra, the Director of Phoenix Scholars.
Ibarra talked about the benefits of having this event on the Pacific Coast Campus. “It’s more accessible to students and people in the community at PCC,” Ibarra said.
During the kickoff event program, Ibarra opened up about why he thinks DEIA programs are important as the child of an immigrant, battling addiction, and his sexual identity.
Executive vice president of student services, Nohel Corral, was also one of the speakers at the kickoff event program.
He brought up how many different DEIA programs are in danger of being shut down in other states and ensured that LBCC would not be shutting down any of the DEIA projects any time soon.
“Embracing diversity makes an impact on our campus and our society,” Corral said.
More DEIA events will be held at the Liberal Arts campus throughout this month.