In 2004, Chancellor Charles B. Reed initiated a series of meetings with leaders from the African American, Latino, Asian Pacific Islander and tribal communities that resulted in a number of non-traditional partnerships with community, faith-based and educational groups. Their purpose was to bring community, civic, business and education leaders together to develop ways to educate students and parents about early preparation for college and to get the message out that a college degree was the minimum entry for a good job and stable future. The following is a summary of these initiatives
Key leaders developed an action plan with several initiatives to reach African American students and their parents/guardians. As a result, the following activities have been implemented and are ongoing:
In March 2006, the CSU held a summit with leaders representing 40 tribes in California to focus on college eligibility and how to build a college-going culture. This summit led to further discussion and legislation and the development of the American Indian Education Oversight Committee.
Recommendations from the March 2006 summit included:
CSU campuses now hold regional meetings with tribal leaders from local districts. The CSU’s goal is to increase the percentage of Native Americans eligible for college, which is among the lowest of any underserved community. To stay engaged, the CSU participates every year at several conferences including:
The CSU is actively involved with the following Latino organizations:
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities is a national group with strong relationships in Washington, D.C. The CSU’s engagement with HACU has produced federal dollars for several of its universities designated as Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI). The CSU is by far the largest system in HACU with 12 HSI and 8 associate members.
The CSU participates at the annual conference in October and at the legislative conference in March (in Washington, D.C.). As a result of its presence five years ago, the CSU persuaded HACU to open a West Coast office in Sacramento. CSU Fullerton President Milton Gordon was named chair of the HACU Governing Board in October 2008.
The CSU has partnered with the Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE), an organization that teaches parents how to help their children prepare for college. This is a nine-week parental involvement program that is intended to help parents create a home learning environment, navigate the school system, collaborate with teachers, counselors and principals, encourage college attendance; and support a child's emotional and social development. The program culminates with a graduation ceremony for parents who complete the course. The PIQE program works in partnership with all 23 CSU campuses and reaches over 120 middle schools where the parent training classes are conducted.
The course content is customizable for each parent and includes curriculum such as home/school collaboration, motivation and self-esteem, communication and discipline, drugs and gang awareness, and college and career election.
CSU Dominguez Hills hosted Déjà Huella: Educate, coordinated by Univision and over 60 community partners, to reach out to Latino parents to inform them on how they can help their children learn. The program was conducted in Spanish and attracted almost 20,000 parents and students in 2009. The success of the Déjà Huella: Educate program will be replicated in October 2010 at CSU Dominguez Hills in hopes of attracting 30,000 attendees. The CSU is a major sponsor along with Univision, Chivas USA, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and most of the CSU’s Latino partners.
This is a three-year project conducted in collaboration with Univision that focuses on disseminating the message of academic preparation, high school graduation, and university education. The project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was developed after research and recommendations from a Univision Education Initiative Advisory Committee. The committee included a CSU representative and two Latino partners, PIQE and Alliance for a Better Community (ABC). The project will reach the Latino community via television, radio and social networks.
The American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education is in its third year and the CSU has been a partner since its inception. This organization is the largest meeting of Hispanic PhDs as they attract over 600 participants that include faculty, staff and administrators. CSU presidents, trustees and staff have historically attended.
This initiative brings the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) issue, as it relates to the underrepresented, to the engineering deans. This is accomplished by campus connections with underrepresented organizations including: