
African American Network
About AAN — Working Together for Our Students
The African American Network (AAN) at º£½ÇÉçÇø serves as a dedicated community of advocacy and support for students, faculty, and administrators of African descent. With a mission grounded in mentorship, leadership, community, love, advocacy, support, equity, and allyship, the AAN amplifies the Black perspective and builds bridges to student success, self-actualization, and institutional influence across the campus.
Our MissionOur mission is to foster a sustained presence of advocacy and belonging for students, faculty, and administrators of African descent at º£½ÇÉçÇø. By amplifying the collective Black perspective, we will build bridges for the educational success and self-actualization of Black students, while asserting an impactful voice of advisement for the Foothill-De Anza College Community. |
Our Values
We value community, love, advocacy, support, equity, and allyship. These principles guide our efforts to uplift and empower the African American community at Foothill College.
- Effectively build pathways to educational, professional, and personal growth.
- Act boldly in the service of inclusion and justice.
- Inspire and enable honesty, trust, and confidence through open communication and collective action.
- Act as a catalyst for success and achievement.
- Build community alliances based on respect, trust, and transparency.
- Engage students, staff and faculty using an Ubuntu (I am because we are) philosophy which is rooted in the interconnectedness of love, belonging, and compassion.
- Acknowledge that we are a relational people rooted in spirituality, creating an environment that cultivates and fosters wellness and appreciation of the whole being – mind, body, and spirit.
- Create community building events that inspire and educates the campus on Pan-African cultures, philosophy, history, and art, such as Harambee and Black Heritage month.
- Our collective presence on campus is to advocate for and advise in decision making as it pertains to black students and employees at º£½ÇÉçÇø.
- We will advocate for programming and institutional commitments that affirm black student empowerment and sustained Legacy of black influence in innovation on campus.
- We will participate in support of activities that align with the mission of the AAN.
- Our perspectives are rooted in the Black experience which is inclusive of the specificity of its historical presence and diasporic nature.
- Our advocacy is inclusive of black intersectionality including but not limited to LGBTQIA, gender expression, ability and disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration and economic status.
- Our efforts are local and specific to Black students at º£½ÇÉçÇø with an understanding of the interconnectedness to Global efforts for social justice.
- We embrace allyship with those whose identity, perspective and humanity has been decentered, marginalized, and oppressed.
- We recognize and support the efforts and commitment of the º£½ÇÉçÇø campus community toward equity.
- We support and celebrate tangible institutional changes that address the interrelated systemic elements and bias that create advantage and disadvantage that result in uneven outcomes for students given equal opportunity.