Institution/Organization: Portland Community College

State: Oregon

Issue Area: Access

Program Focus: College Prep, First Year Support

Year Started: 2022

Website: pcc.edu/college-access-latinx-initiative/

Overview: 
The College Access Latinx Initiative (CALI) provides targeted support for first-year success and academic achievement for their Latino/a/x and Indigenous (Mexican, Central, South American, and Caribbean) students. In their inaugural academic year (2022-2023), program participants attempted 625 credits and earned 464 credits. This supported a 74% completion rate while achieving a 100% first-year retention rate for the cohort of 30 students.

Institution/Organization: UCNJ Union College of Union County, NJ

State: New Jersey

Issue Area: Retention

Program Focus: Career/Workforce, Discipline/Subject

Year Started: 2021

Website: ucc.edu/administration/grants-office/

Overview: 
The ExCEL Program (Experiential Center for Education and Leadership) supports the retention, academic success, and career and transfer readiness of Latino and low-income students in the Education, Business, and Graphic Design programs at UCNJ by providing experiential learning opportunities, student support, and professional development. Fall-to-fall retention rates for ExCEL program participants have exceeded those of the overall college in the first two years of service: Cohort 1: 100% retained vs 67% in the overall college & Cohort 2: 83% retained vs 65% in the overall college.

Institution/Organization: California State University, San Bernardino

State: California

Issue Area: Retention

Program Focus: Undocumented/DACA Students

Year Started: 2022

Website: csusb.edu/undocumented-student-success-center/impact-internship

Overview: 
The Dream Internship is a paid, on-campus internship program for undocumented students at CSU San Bernardino with the goals of increasing financial support, fostering academic achievement, and expanding the student’s on-campus network. Upon matching with a mentor that aligns with the student’s interest and completing 300 hours at their internship, students will satisfy requirements needed to receive $4,500 in state funding through the California Dream Service Incentive Grant (DSIG) program. The Dream Internship program supported 78 students in the 2022-2023 academic year and these students achieved a 92% retention rate, completed 100% of program requirements, met 100% of DSIG requirements, and received more than $350,000 in direct aid.

Institution/Organization: Northern Illinois University

State: Illinois

Issue Area: Retention

Program Focus: First Year Support, Mentoring

Year Started: 2021

Website: niu.edu/housing/halls/communities/latinx/index.shtml

Overview: 
Northern Illinois University's Latinx Living Learning Community supports incoming students who identify as Latino/a/e/x and/or those that want to learn more about Latino and Latin American cultures and identities as they acclimate to university life. With an emphasis on cultural exploration and learning in an immersive Latinx-centered environment, students receive support and guidance from faculty and staff to build a sense of belonging. Housing and Residential Services assess that programming, mentorship, and experiences provided by staff enhanced student success. Students from this learning community achieved a 2.88 average GPA compared to a 2.69 GPA earned by non-learning community residents and were retained at 10% higher than the general college population (88% vs 78%).

Institution/Organization: University of California, Irvine

State: California

Issue Area: Support Services

Program Focus: Mentoring, Other (Fostering Latinx Community and Academic Network)

Year Started: 2020

Website: latinx.uci.edu

Overview: 
The Latinx Resource Center aims to broaden access, increase retention, and ensure a clear pathway to graduation for Latinx students through providing resources, programs, and a space where cultura, arte, and academia intersect. With the help of cross-campus collaboration, the Center has increased their programming to ensure students thrive academically and socially with 506 Latinx students engaging an average of 5 times in the 2022-2023 academic year, up from 164 Latinx students engaging an average of 2.7 times in the 2021-2022 school year.

Institution/Organization: Arizona State University

State: Arizona

Issue Area: Access

Program Focus: Adult Learners, Undergraduate Research

Year Started: 2022

Website: ours.thecollege.asu.edu/

Overview: 
The Online Undergraduate Research Scholars (OURS) program offers authentic group-based research experiences and scholarships to undergraduate students enrolled in online degree programs at Arizona State University. ASU Online serves a diverse student population who are often non-traditional adult learners. New online transfer students who participated in OURS were retained at a rate of 81% compared to 64.2% of non-program transfer students. From Spring 2022 to Spring 2023, OURS program participants received 126 degrees, 26 minors, and 12 certificates from ASU.

Institution/Organization: Texas State University

State: Texas

Issue Area: Academic Program

Program Focus: Faculty Development, STEM

Year Started: 2021

Website: cose.txst.edu/beyond-the-classroom/stem-communities.html

Overview: 
The Texas State University STEM Communities Learning Assistant Program is designed to provide support to faculty-student instructional teams in order to collaboratively redesign and teach gateway STEM courses using active learning strategies that increase success for all students. The LA Program is additionally focused on reducing failure rates in traditional “weed-out” STEM courses. The program has targeted redesign in Organismal Biology, Functional Biology, and General Chemistry I courses. For Hispanic students taking these redesigned, LA-supported courses, the DFW rate dropped from 43.1% on average from Fall 2017 to Fall 2019 to 38.9% on average from Fall 2021 to Fall 2023.

Institution/Organization: McMurry University

State: Texas

Issue Area: Support Services

Program Focus: Other (Integrated Academic Support with Advising, Career Preparation, and Tutoring for STEM Students)

Year Started: 2021

Website: sites.google.com/view/stem-student-resources/student-success-center

Overview: 
The STEM Student Success Center (S3C) has created an environment on campus that infuses support with resources to allow students in STEM courses to foster their sense of belonging and grow their future. Tutoring, supplemental instruction, proactive advising, and peer mentorship are combined with discovery trips, experiential learning, and career coaching to enhance academic performance and resilience. STEM majors utilizing S3C services outperformed non-participants in terms of retention and earning a GPA of 2.0 or higher for the last four semesters, with Latino students narrowing the gap in both areas. From Spring 2020 to Fall 2023, the disparity between Latino students and all students earning a 2.0 GPA or higher decreased from 20% to 3.8% while the gap in next semester retention reduced from -8.3% to -4.5%.

Institution/Organization: Loyola University Chicago

State: Illinois

Issue Area: Academic Program

Program Focus: Bilingual/ESL, Discipline/Subject

Year Started: 2018

Website: gpem.luc.edu/portal/program?name=socialworkmswonlinebilingual

Overview: 
The Online Bilingual Master of Social Work Program is an extended, accessible option from Loyola University Chicago’s School of Social Work that prepares students for leadership and service to others as professional and actively engaged social workers. Courses are taught in a Spanish/English bilingual format by bilingual and bicultural Latine instructors and include relevant linguistic, cultural, and migration-focused knowledge and skills. Since inception, the program has served 189 students and of those, 159 have been Hispanic. The School of Social Work has graduated 71 Bilingual MSW degrees as of Winter 2023.

Institution/Organization: Mount Saint Mary’s University

State: California

Issue Area: Support Services

Program Focus: Career/Workforce

Year Started: 2022

Website: N/A

Overview: 
The Preparing Hispanic Graduate Students for APPS (Academic, Professional, and Personal Success) program creates pathways for professional career and financial personal success by providing increased academic and career support, conducting financial literacy education programs, and facilitating internship experiences with cross-campus departmental collaboration. Students completing internships and financial literacy education has increased student success rates for program participants; the persistence rates for the last three terms for all students in the program is 100% compared to MSMU’s overall 77% retention rate.

Institution/Organization: El Centro Hispano

State: Arkansas

Issue Area: Support Services

Program Focus: College Prep, Mentoring

Year Started: 2016

Website: centrohispanoarkansas.com

Overview: 
The Hispanic Emerging Leaders Program (H.E.L.P.) is designed to guide low-income English-Language Learners to become successful members of their community through entering a professional field and/or upper level education. This program offers students one-on-one mentoring with a successful Hispanic professional or leader from their local community who is connected to their desired goals or career path. Mentors help students fill out scholarship applications, build resumes, and provide career guidance while helping to navigate academics from a culturally sensitive perspective. In the last academic year, 80% of students improved their communication skills and participation rates in class due to H.E.L.P.’s culturally competent and bilingual approach to college and career preparation. El Centro Hispano has graduated 188 students thus far.

Institution/Organization: Milwaukee Area Technical College and the Hispanic Collaborative

State: Wisconsin

Issue Area: Access

Program Focus: Career/Workforce

Year Started: 2022

Website: mkehc.org/p-v

Overview:
The Upscaling CNA in Milwaukee program aims to improve the household income held by Milwaukee’s Latino residents by transitioning them from lower-paying, low-skilled jobs to in-demand jobs with higher income projections. Heavy recruitment efforts and wrap-around support for an already-working population lead to cohorts of Latino students going through the same CNA training at Milwaukee Area Technical College. In the last three years, 120 students have completed CNA training (33 in 2022, 69 in 2023, and 18 as of Spring 2024) and 25% have passed their certification exams and are employed at a healthcare provider. An additional 10% who also completed their courses indicate plans to pursue a higher medical certification or degree.