MVCC recognizes that this institution was founded in a time and place in which racism was embedded into every aspect of society. MVCC was built on the traditional land of the Haudenosaunee people of the Oneida Nation. Enslaved people were not fully emancipated in New York until 1827, and the Utica-New Hartford school border remains one of the most segregated in the country. We acknowledge that while the intent of current MVCC employees is to provide “accessible, high-quality educational opportunities to meet the diverse needs of our students,” our nation's institutional structures, including our educational systems, are rooted in white privilege and have inherent systemic biases, in that they produce or sustain racial inequities, or situations where racial groups are not standing on equal footing.

With this understanding, and spurred by the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the work of the Black Lives Matter Movement as catalysts, this institution will prioritize time and resources toward 1) self-examination of implicit unconscious, institutional, and systemic biases to clarify areas in which there are inequitable policies, practices, and procedures, and 2) implementing strategies with the goal of eradicating these biases in our curriculum, classrooms, offices, policies, practices, procedures, and decision-making. These strategies will include, but are not limited to:

• Denouncing racism and inequity in all aspects of the College and the communities we serve.  
• Taking a strong public position against racism and inequity while working to build community systems for equity, inclusion, and racial justice. 
• Relentlessly pursuing and rooting out systemic biases, with the willingness to get uncomfortable and make mistakes during the process.
• Pushing ourselves to create environments and strategies that acknowledge opportunity gaps and increase completion rates for student success by offering inclusive and equitable experiences for students and implementing innovative and unconventional tactics that create systems of inclusivity and increase student success. 
• Delivering high quality academic and training experiences that include partnering with employers to build equitable hiring outcomes and income equity. 
• Ensuring that our college community policing practices are welcoming, bias-free, and serve to reduce racial stress for students and employees through continuous reflection, education, and improvement.   
• Recruiting faculty, staff, and administrators who reflect the racial composition of our community and hiring candidates that indicate a commitment to antiracism and racial justice with the aim of creating an environment that prepares students to live and work successfully in a diverse and inclusive world.
• Providing avenues for difficult conversations to occur that seek to bring about understanding and substantive change. 
• Tracking our successes and failure with disaggregated data based on race that drive curriculum improvement and institutional changes leading to equitable and inclusive outcomes.