Transformational Change

SIUE is highly engaged in the educational and communal work of equity, and racial and social justice, as demonstrated in our curriculum, co-curricular programming, and civic and community partnerships with the greater Metro-east community. 

Mission

Through the Southwestern Illinois Justice and Workforce Development Campus in Belleville, Illinois, the University will continue to advance its educational mission to solve pressing social problems and prepare students to be change-makers in the community.

SIUE’s Institute for Community Justice and Racial Equity (ICJRE) strives to achieve positive transformational change for southwestern Illinois’ historically marginalized communities through a focus on educational equity. The opportunity to earn a college degree transforms lives and has the power to positively change an entire family tree. With a firm belief in the potential of every individual, the ICJRE will offer programming to amplify access to higher education and empower the next generation of strategic leaders and critical thinkers to dismantle the belief in the hierarchy of human value.

Guiding Framework

In January 2020, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) named SIUE a host location for a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center. TRHT Campus Centers seek to prepare the next generation of leaders to confront racism and dismantle the belief in a hierarchy of human value. The work of the Institute is organized around the five pillars of the TRHT framework—narrative change, racial healing and relationship building, separation, law, and the economy and in support of this mission.