SABES Program Support Professional Development Center: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Through the SABES Program Support Professional Development Center’s (PSPDC) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative, we use our resources to forward the values of DEI, and importantly, to offer concrete and actionable strategies that help adult education (AE) programs become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning places for all staff and learners.

As adult educators, we face our work positioned in a world where those with opportunity and privilege benefit from barriers to opportunity that are erected for others. Within the PSPDC,  we examine our own roles, identities, and biases to ensure that our professional development (PD) supports adult educators in making programs more equitable through authentic collaboration, bold leadership, and a commitment to change. Because change happens at the individual and programmatic level, our PD supports teachers, advisors, directors, and programs as a whole in examining their own identities and potential biases. To promote meaningful and enduring change, we recognize and support the role of leadership in enacting cultural shifts at the program level.

In support of equitable access, we also offer Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) resources and training on topics such as the definition of disability, disability rights, ADA compliance, accessibility in online learning, reasonable accommodations, disability etiquette, and auxiliary aids and services.

The PSPDC’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion project is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to support the 1,100 teachers, advisors, and program directors in the Massachusetts AE system. Each year, these educators work with 18,000 adult learners, particularly those with barriers to employment, to identify and achieve their family, civic, education, and career goals.