Austin Community College’s new Truth, Racial Healing, Transformation Campus Center is on track to launch next spring, according to the program's director, Khayree Williams. Williams, who joined the district earlier this year, said the district has already begun offering programs to provide the tools and skills students, staff and community members need to navigate conversations about race and equity.

“I think that it is a challenging time for our community, our country, the world,” Williams said at an ACC board meeting June 22. “[I’m] just encouraged by the fact that ACC has been investing in this work for many years now and that we’ll be opening our center in the beginning of the spring term.”

The goal for ACC is to teach skills that not only allow students to be “the best and brightest in their fields,” but that also allow them to “thrive and succeed” in diverse environments, Williams said.

“[We’re] looking at different ways that we can enrich student learning around equity and inclusion so they can really thrive,” he said. “These are competencies needed for students to succeed in higher education and the workforce beyond and skills staff and faculty need to teach and lead effectively.”

Even though the center has not officially opened, Williams has reached over 500 students individually, has collaboratively worked with staff and faculty for trainings, and has held “racial healing circles” for staff, according to Molly Beth Malcolm, ACC’s vice president of operations and public affairs.

The efforts of the Truth, Racial Healing, Transformation Campus Center will also be monitored by Larry M. Davis, who the district hired as its chief equity, diversity and inclusion officer earlier this month. Davis is set to begin working at ACC on July 6.