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Abstract or Description

Community colleges and vocational schools serve as critical access points to higher education and upward mobility, yet historically marginalized neurodiverse students—particularly men of color—continue to face inequitable outcomes in retention, completion, and career readiness. Despite rising enrollment in career and technical education programs and increasing workforce demand, institutional practices often rely on fragmented supports that overlook the interplay of physiology, environment, culture, trauma, and instructional design. Closing these equity gaps requires a holistic, embodied approach informed by neuroscience, trauma studies, and culturally responsive pedagogy. Elliott’s Embodied Inclusion 360 (EI 360) Framework offers such a model, integrating five interdependent domains—physiological, relational, environmental, instructional, and transcendental—to address the full spectrum of learners’ needs. Through application of EI 360 within the I C.A.N. (Increasing Career Access through Neurodiversity) initiative, community colleges and vocational programs can transform into engines of inclusion, cultivating belonging, reducing structural barriers, and leveraging neurodiverse strengths as drivers of innovation, persistence, and workforce opportunity.

Publication Date

12-19-2025

Keywords

Neurodiversity, community colleges, vocational education, embodied equity, workforce developmen

Building an Inclusive Workforce: Closing Equity Gaps in Community Colleges and Vocational Schools With Elliott’s Embodied Inclusion 360 Framework

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