Santa Rosa Junior College launches Latino student success effort

Responding to a growing number of Latino students, Santa Rosa Junior College has launched a $2.6 million initiative aimed at boosting the number of them receiving associate’s degrees, transferring to a four-year university or doing both.

The initiative calls for intensive academic counseling and tutoring, supportive programs that make sure students enroll in transferable classes and the creation of a multicultural center equipped with the technology and resources necessary to succeed.

“Getting them in school is not enough,” said Juan Arias, project director for the Multicultural Education Transfer Acceleration program, known as META4. “The journey through college, completing a degree, is very difficult.”

The initiative’s first program, the Summer Bridge Program, began in mid-June and attempts to prepare about 60 high school students for college-level English classes. The program also provides an introduction to college and is the first step toward creating a close-knit community of college-bound kids, officials said.

The program is funded by a $2.65 million grant the school was awarded last October, six months after the school was designated a Hispanic Serving Institute, or HSI, by the U.S. Department of Education.

SRJC President Frank Chong said that when he came to the school four years ago, he immediately noticed the need to address a growing Latino student body. Chong, who was familiar with the HSI designation from his previous work in the Department of Education, directed college staff to seek the competitive funds available for such schools.

He said “it didn’t take rocket science” to see where the school was headed and to see that success rates for Latino students were typically half of what they were for white students.

“To ensure their success, there’s a lot of support services and resources that you need to invest in these students,” he said.

The number of Latino students at SRJC has increased to more than 9,000, an increase of 9.25 percent over four years, the school said in May. Latinos now make up 32 percent of the school population.

The META4 program is aimed at helping Latino students succeed, but the program is open to all low-income students regardless of race or ethnicity.

Once the federal money was awarded, a team of faculty and staff set out to forge a multi-pronged program that would improve retention and graduation rates, Chong said. Among those who championed the program were Ricardo Navarrette, SRJC’s vice president of student services.

The other programs in the initiative include:

Connections, a new “learning community” for the fall and spring. Summer Bridge students go on to become Connections students and commit to either graduating in three years or less with an associate’s degree or transferring to a four-year university.

Accelerated English Pathway, or AEP, which seeks to increase the number of English learners who enroll in transfer-level courses. One goal of the program is to decrease the number of semesters students take before they transfer.

The Multicultural Innovation Center for Academic Success and Achievement, or Mi Casa, described as a key part of the new initiative, a dedicated “welcoming space” where students can drop in and receive academic assistance and resources, such as tutoring or use of computers and printers.

A key goal, Arias said, is to create a “learning community” of students who start and finish their college tenure together with the goal of earning an associate’s degree, transferring or both.

“This is a guided pathway, an academic pathway,” he said. “We encourage them to stay focused, stay on track, with counseling, tutoring, support services like psychological services, medical services, financial assistance.”

Arias said such an approach creates a positive experience “so students stay in college and continue their academic journey. It’s kind of like a family.”

Chong said he is sometimes asked why the school is giving Latinos special services and resources. He tells people that recent studies show that in order for California to succeed economically in the future, the state’s Latino workforce needs to be educated and trained.

“I tell them it’s an investment,” he said. “I tell them, ‘Imagine if I dropped you off in China and you’re put into a Chinese school and you have to learn Chinese. Are you going to be as successful as native Chinese students?’ ”

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@renofish.