Mosaic Center for Students of Color
Updated 6/23/21
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Required talking points
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Events & Programs
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Summer Enrichment Scholars Program: A summer bridge (supplemental orientation) program that seeks to increase the retention of incoming first-year students of color on campus by providing holistic support of their academic achievement, personal growth, identity formation, and cultural development.
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Womxn of Color Leadership Retreat (12th annual!): Seeks to build a community with womxn of Color where there is freedom from fear to be yourself, to express your mind, multiple intelligences and identities through discovering leadership.
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Racial Aikido: Seeks to prepare students of color with the knowledge and skills to understand their racial identities and learn various ways to combat racial microaggressions.
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Friday Breakfasts: Friday Breakfast is a weekly program in which the whole UVM community can come together for a free home-cooked breakfast made by a UVM department.
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Please note - may not be offering Friday Breakfasts for a bit as a result of Covid so please leave this out of your spiel.
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Collaboration with affiliated ethnic identity organizations: Black Student Union, Alianza Latinx, Asian Student Union, African Student Association, Muslim Student Association, Women of Color Coalition, People of Color Outdoors, QTPOC, Mixed Cats, and Transracial Adoptee Group
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Additional optional talking points
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What the physical space is like: We have a full center that serves as a home away from home for our students. Our spaces include a large living room with comfy couches and TV for relaxing or studying, computer lab with discounted printing, DREAM Zone for undocumented students, meditation/prayer room, in-house CAPS counselors, a fully stocked kitchen with a food pantry, ablution station for Muslim students to ritually wash before prayers, large classroom for meetings, classes and programming, and a leadership room which provides office spaces and a meeting room for our affiliated clubs and organizations.
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1-1 Student Support: We provide direct 1:1 holistic student services to BIPOC students at UVM. A student can come to us with any issue they are facing, and we will support them through the process. We have liaisons in almost every office at the university. We will provide direct referrals to campus resources and advocate for student’s needs.
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Other Signature Events:
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​Welcome Back family Reunion: The purpose of the Welcome Back Family Reunion is to celebrate the incoming class and a new academic year. We provide this opportunity to build community, share MCSC resources, and come together with your peers.
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Spring Awards Banquet: The MCSC Spring Awards Banquet is a celebration of the leadership and achievements of students of color and their allies at the end of every academic year. There is 100% participation with each college or school
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Affinity programs such as Sisterhood Circle, Brotherhood, and Siblinghood.
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How students can get involved in MCSC: At the beginning of every school year, we will add all new BIPOC students to our listserv. This is a way for all students in our community to be aware of what’s going on at the MCSC. We have a bi-weekly newsletter (The MCSC Scoop) that we send out over the listserv. For student support, all a student needs to do is send an MCSC staff member an email, message on Teams, set up an appointment on Navigate, give us a call, or simply drop by the center and we will take it from there. We also have many students who use our center to study, hang out with friends, or take a nap. Another way to get involved is to attend a program hosted by the MCSC. We are an approachable student-centered office and are happy to meet with any student for any reason.
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The MCSC offered a two-part financial literacy series geared towards graduating students
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The national context of the BLM movement is a large part of the Center's work right now, regarding on- and off-campus activities
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AdvoCat Stories
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I usually talk about my experiences as an executive officer for an identity based club and how the mosaic center and their staff is always available and willing to lend support to our club. At the start of each year the Mosaic Center organizes a weekend retreat for all of the E-board members of the identity based clubs affiliated with the Mosaic Center. This is a great time to get to know each other, talk about leadership schedules, discuss collaborations, and think about healthy ways to sustain each other and prevent burning out. The main space in the MCSC is welcoming and comfortable. There's usually always food available and you always pass a friendly face. ~Mariah
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The MCSC mainspace is a great place to build connections with people all over. I've met some of my closest friends just by sitting there. Specifically there was this one night after a BSU meeting when I decided to sit in the space and finish some homework. That's when this group of people came in playing literally one of my favorite Drake songs. From there we started talking and spent hours talking and getting to know each other. It was a highlight of my college experience because it was that night I gained some of my closest friends. -Zyakkiriah Rhoden