America's Economic Future Increasingly Depends on Graduating More Latinos from College
INDIANAPOLIS, IND -- Latinos are the fastest-growing student population in America and a new effort is now focused on leveraging the critical connection between their educational attainment and the future of our national economy. Today, Lumina Foundation launches a collaborative partnership designed to strengthen ventures in key metropolitan areas that show promise in improving the postsecondary attainment of Latino students.
Under the project, Lumina will provide a total of $7.2 million over a four-year period to 12 partnerships in 10 states with significant and growing Latino populations. The partnerships will leverage community leaders across key policy, education, business and nonprofit sectors to build, implement and sustain successful "place-based efforts" that capitalize on their local talents and ingenuity.
"The Latino success project is the culmination of nearly two years of planning and engagement with many foundations and national leaders in the Latino community," said Lumina President and CEO Jamie Merisotis. "Through these partnerships, we aim to build bridges among leadership groups already working to improve Latino college student success."
Grant support through the Latino program will provide an array of services to Latino students and families, including training in financial literacy, help with K12-to-college transfer and transition issues, and improved developmental courses designed to move students more efficiently toward credit-bearing courses. After extensive consultation with national, regional and local experts in philanthropy, Latino education, higher education and community engagement, Lumina Foundation has invited the grantees to focus on:
-- Better data to drive decisions
-- Connecting to the community
-- Working in partnership
-- Measuring all of these efforts
Lumina Foundation, through a national Goal 2025 movement, aims to increase the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025. Lumina is keenly aware that Latinos are key to achieving this goal -- and to the nation's economic future.
At more than 50 million, Latinos represent the largest and fastest-growing population group in the United States. By 2025, half of the nation's workers will be of Latino descent. At that time, 63 percent of all jobs in the United States will require some form of postsecondary education or training, according to labor economist Anthony Carnevale of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
"Latinos are emblematic of today's 21st century student," said Merisotis. "They are largely first-generation college students -- many of whom are working adults, with family responsibilities who oftentimes begin their postsecondary education in community colleges. Increasing the access and degree attainment rates of Latinos is critical and our hope is that Latino Student Success will provide catalytic support that can have a positive impact on making all 21st century students more successful."
"Lumina Foundation has set a high bar in fostering innovation and collaboration through much needed private-public partnerships to boost college completion among Hispanic students. We know that in order to ensure that Latino students are prepared for the high skilled jobs that exist now and the industries of the future, they need the real solutions that come from on the ground leadership in the very communities' students and their families live, study and work," said Jose Rico, deputy director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. "We applaud Lumina's vision and dedication and look forward to the results of their work that will help reach President Obama's goal to have our country once again, lead the world in college graduates."
"A country's most precious resource is its human resource. The Latino Student Success partnerships and their supporters will help build the country's capacity to effectively meet the educational needs of the U.S. Latino community, and thus strengthen America's bright future," said Sarita Brown, president of Excelencia in Education. "We look forward to learning from their progress and to helping advance their promising practices."
Here is the list of institutions that will become Latino partners with Lumina, along with a brief explanation of the strategies each will employ. Each of the organizations listed will receive $600,000 during the four-year period:
Arizona
Phoenix College, flagship member of the Maricopa County Community College District, will lead the Degree Phoenix partnership with the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Union High School District to strengthen educational attainment for Latino students in the greater Phoenix area. The goal is to strengthen pathways from high school to college and college to workforce by: 1) creating single point-of-contact resources for students and their families; 2) giving students more academic options via Arizona's primary articulation pathways (Arizona General Education Curriculum and Maricopa to ASU Pathways Program); 3) targeting Workforce Investment Act (WIA)-eligible young people who are interested in earning a certificate and/or credential while enrolled in GED programs; and 4) employing the use of common data systems to better track education and career success.
Projected outcome: A 20 percent increase in the number of students earning a postsecondary credential during a six-year period.
California
Long Beach City College (LBCC) will partner with 31 local and state organizations to significantly increase college completions for Latino students though community-wide engagement in the cities of Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill and Avalon. LBCC will focus its student success efforts on the Long Beach College Promise, a seamless education initiative with the Long Beach Unified School District and California State University, Long Beach, which aligns high school and college coursework and guarantees placement into courses that will provide pathways to completion for more local students. As part of the Promise, thousands of students will receive a free first semester at Long Beach City College. In addition, LBCC will develop the new Promise Pathways initiative which guarantees enrollment for students in core math and English courses and provides specialized academic advising so students can transfer or complete their certificate or degree faster.
Projected outcome: Increase in student college access and success; increase in transparent collaboration among the partners; and improvement in college knowledge for multiple audiences within the Latino community.
Santa Ana College (SAC) will create a guaranteed admission pathway from Santa Ana to California State University-Fullerton (CSUF) and the University of California-Irvine (UC Irvine). SAC's Adelante! program serves the 79 percent Hispanic population by employing strategies that include: 1) required completion of SAC admissions and financial aid/scholarship applications by all seniors in the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD); 2) specialized transfer planning with transfer application support workshops, individualized case management and peer mentoring; 3) guaranteed funding assistance to all students with unmet need who complete financial aid applications; and 4) bridging activities once SAC students advance to universities, including direct linkages for academic and financial support.
Projected outcome: Santa Ana expects an 80 percent overall college-going rate among SAUSD graduates, 80 percent of Adelante! Students completing an associate's degree within three years, and 85 percent of Adelante! Students who transfer to CSUF or UC Irvine will earn a bachelor's degree within three academic years of transferring.
Florida
Miami Dade College (MDC), with the largest Latino enrollment of any campus-based college or university in the United States, will collaborate with 11 community-based partners to close the achievement gap for Latinos in Miami-Dade County (65 percent Latino population). MDC will expand its efforts to design and implement a model pathway to college completion by: 1) providing financial literacy resources and services to secondary and post-secondary students and their families; 2) designing professional development programs for Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) counselors and ensuring completion of college applications for MDCPS students; 3) aligning MDCPS curriculum with MDC's accelerated developmental education program with customized academic interventions; 4) aligning MDC's curriculum with public four-year institutions in Florida and leveraging employer resources for scholarship and job opportunities (Transfer 2 + 2 + Work); and 5) developing a comprehensive public information campaign in support of Latino Student Success.
Projected outcome: MDC expects to make significant strides in providing students access into college and will work toward an 85 percent retention rate.
Georgia
Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah will partner with Savannah State University and Savannah Technical College, and the following community partners: Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, Junior Achievement, YMCA of Coastal Georgia, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Coastal Empire, Live Oak Migrant Education Agency and Wells Fargo Bank. They will execute CAMINO (College Access Mentoring Information and Outreach) to provide: 1) a pre-college pipeline program that serves students in the 9th--12th grades; 2) a parent engagement program for Latino parents of first-generation college students; 3) enhanced college support services for Latino students attending the three participating colleges and universities; and 4) a targeted marketing, recruitment and admissions counseling efforts to reach older Latino students who have earned some college credit but lack a degree.
Projected outcome: These efforts will double the percentage of Latino students graduating from the three participating higher education institutions in Southeast Georgia.
Kentucky
Bluegrass Community and Technical College (BCTC) will partner with many educational, business, and community leaders including the Council on Postsecondary Education to expand current programs and create new initiatives to increase Latino student college completion. The project will strengthen existing programs and create pipelines to postsecondary education for traditional and adult learners through the creation of the Kentucky Latino Education Alliance (K'LEA). Strategies of the K'LEA project include: 1) specialized outreach efforts; 2) student and family support through Latino outreach coordinators; 3) financial aid application support and financial literacy training; 4) career counseling and employment support; 5) peer mentoring; 6) two-year to four-year transfer and articulation support; and (7) "Latino Student Success" trainings for educators, community leaders, and student mentors.
Projected outcome: These efforts will assist Kentucky Latinos in overcoming the barriers that hinder postsecondary participation and success and set Kentucky on track to meet Lumina's 60 percent college attainment goal by 2025. The aim is to help 78,000 Latinos in Kentucky attain a high-quality degree or credential by 2025.
New Mexico
University of New Mexico (UNM) will partner with Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), Albuquerque Public Schools, various community organizations, and policy leaders to enhance Latino student success by making systemic institutional changes. The Unidos Project focuses on creating a seamless transition in and through the educational pipeline and access to services for students and families. The educational institutions will expand a one-stop shop model (linking services to school goals and student/family needs). Building on a "no wrong door" philosophy, strategies for the Unidos Project include: 1) developing a community-school model with two middle schools and two high schools and; 2) creating seamless transitions from APS, CNM to UNM and into the workforce by implementing complementary support services. Central to the Unidos Project is the creation of an "Unidos Council" that will provide overall leadership and sustainability of the infrastructure.
Projected outcome: By providing easier access to services coupled with an improved path through the pipeline, UNM expects graduation rates to increase at the high school and post-secondary level by 10 percent per year.
New York
The Hispanic Federation will partner with City University of New York (CUNY), NYC Latino social services agencies, the NYC Department of Education, Citibank and selected high schools to increase the number of New York City Latino college students who graduate with high-quality degrees. The CREAR Futuros project, which means "To create futures," will build a "Community of Care" in which Latino students are encouraged to develop strong relationships with individuals vested in their achievement.
Projected outcome: Forty percent of participants of CREAR Futuros are expected to graduate.
North Carolina
Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) will partner with the Adelante Education Coalition in a three-pronged approach targeting students, parents and educators to decrease high school dropout rates and increase postsecondary access and success for Latinos. Focusing on the increasing number of Latinos in North Carolina's Research Triangle, strategies of HIP's Triangle for Latino Student Success project include: 1) developing a coordinated system to provide year-round after-school college preparation and leadership development to high school students, one-on-one mentorship to college students, and support for first-year college students; 2) creating a shared system and corresponding metrics to monitor student and family interventions; and 3) continued advocacy for state and local policies that promote Latino student success.
Projected outcome: These efforts will allow HIP to align strategies and leverage resources resulting in direct services to more than 2,000 Latino students and families as well as educators.
Tennessee
The Tennessee Higher Education Commission will partner with the City of Memphis Mayor's Office, Memphis Talent Dividend, Southwest Tennessee Community College, Latino Memphis, Kingsbury High School and the Greater Memphis Chamber to increase the high school graduation and postsecondary enrollment, transfer and completion of Latino students in Memphis. Strategies for this project include: 1) an intensive mentoring program designed to facilitate the transition between high school and community college, and community college and four-year institutions; 2) support to ensure maximization of student financial aid opportunities; and 3) a bilingual marketing and information campaign designed to expand college access in the Latino community.
Projected outcome: Memphis has the largest and most rapidly growing Latino population in Tennessee. To achieve the goal of increasing the number and percentage of Latino students with high quality credentials and degrees, this project will build sustainable programs and community partnerships focused on Latino student college access and success.
Texas
The San Antonio Education Partnership (SAEP) will partner with four leading school districts, the community college district, the major public university, the business community, and significant community-based and grassroots organizations. This grant integrates existing programs and partnerships into a deliberate and systemic approach centered on: 1) city-wide data gathering and shared metrics, 2) increasing the number of students who complete financial aid applications, 3) implementing student development and remediation efforts in high school, 4) coordinating counseling and mentoring services, and 4) increasing student transfer rates.
Projected outcome: These components will narrow the college success gap for Latino students and increase the proportion of Latino students in San Antonio who complete college degrees to 30 percent by the summer of 2015.
Southwest Texas Junior College (SWTJC) in Uvalde will partner with regional, state and national organizations to develop a four-stage pathway program (Introduction to College, Progression to Degree Attainment, Transfer and Graduation, and Career Success) to improve the graduation and transfer rate of Latino students in southwestern Texas. Strategies of its Increasing Latino Student Success (ILSS) project include: 1) intrusive student advising upon enrollment with specific, individual guidance in the creation of a degree plan; 2) increased focus on Core Completer Certificates that indicate a student has completed all core requirements for their field of study; 3) revisions to articulation agreements with partnering institutions; and 4) expansion of support services geared toward degree attainment and career readiness. The organizations that will engage in collective impact through action to increase Latino Student Success are: Sul Ross University, Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), The University of Texas at Austin and The Workforce Solutions Middle Rio Grande.
Projected outcome: These components will allow SWTJC to provide affordable, accessible educational opportunities and to create a culture of success resulting in a 15 percent increase in graduation and transfer rates throughout the course of the grant period.
About Lumina Foundation: Lumina Foundation, an Indianapolis-based private foundation, is committed to enrolling and graduating more students from college--especially 21st century students: low-income students, students of color, first-generation students and adult learners. Lumina's goal is to increase the percentage of Americans who hold high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by 2025. Lumina pursues Goal 2025 in three ways: by identifying and supporting effective practice, through public policy advocacy, and by using our communications and convening power to build public will for change. For more information, log on to www.luminafoundation.org .
View our video "Latino student success - Lumina's leadership and investment." ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vardeWy5OxA )
SOURCE: Lumina Foundation
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