Caring Campus

Folsom Lake College Caring Campus Team

Caring Campus is a student-centered initiative that recognizes that all Folsom Lake College employees are educators.

Caring Campus-Staff is a proven method for engaging with classified staff that ensures the deep involvement of staff in student success.

Classified staff are often the first contact a student has with our campus, and these staff members can have a great impact on students’ feelings of connectedness to the college.

Caring Campus provides FLC with an integrated, equity-minded approach to our Vision for Success, Guided Pathways, and Student Equity efforts to continue to raise the bar in serving our students.

Folsom Lake College has nurtured a culture of support for each other and students since the very beginning and this culture of care has continued as the college has grown.

In an effort to foster and institutionalize the “Falcon Family” culture, FLC decided to implement the Institute for Evidence-Based Change (IEBC) Caring Campus-Staff program. Caring Campus is designed to create a positive, supportive campus culture and to increase students’ sense of connectedness to the college through the development of student-centered behaviors and activities among faculty and staff. Coaches train employees on ways to increase student connectedness to the college by changing how they interact with students and developing strategies that help students feel at home in college.

IEBC has a proven method for creating a Caring Campus that ensures all students feel connected to their college.Research has shown that  direct impact on increasing the likelihood that students will learn and persist. FLC’s Caring Campus team shared three simple campus commitments that were implemented during the 2022-2023 academic year.

FLC’s Caring Campus Behavioral Commitments

• First week greetings: Create a welcoming environment to ensure students have a successful start of their journey
• Warm handoffs and referrals: Walk the student to their next step, help them join a zoom drop in, call ahead or include the next step in the email correspondence. And follow up to make sure all of the students' questions were answered.
• Cross departmental awareness: Know the college and its resources to better serve students and the community.

History

During the Summer of 2022, Folsom Lake College executive leadership, administrative team and classified professionals from FLC’s main campus and its centers in Rancho Cordova and Placerville came together to implement the Caring Campus Initiative. The initiative is intended to develop action-based behavioral commitments to improve students’ experiences, connection to the college and persistence. The level of engagement and enthusiasm from the Classified Professionals who were selected was inspirational.

As part of the Caring Campus professional development, the classified staff identified behavioral commitments and activities to implement and share with colleagues across campus that would foster a culture of care for staff and students. Hopefully, many of you are already aware of the amazing work that has been developed through Caring Campus.