Peralta Community College District
Student Services Sub-committee on
Latino Student enrollment and retention District Wide
Present: Trustee Guillén, Heyman, Duenos, Dong, Bielanski, Hector Cordova, Bill
Clark, Marty Zelke, Sophia Ramirez, Marco Menendez, Michael Torres, Arturo ,
Elizabeth Bankhort.
Purpose in the McIntyre report shows the population growth, and strategic plan ensures
we have equity in the different ethnic groups. Latinos are underserved. Past efforts are
not sustained. It hasn’t been given a consistent level of attention. Guillen perceptions of
dealing with institutions were inaccessible. The military was seen as an only option as a
path to enter college. Him getting a scholarship to Cal changed his life. He wants others
to benefit from this institution, and wants consistent outreach. What are the best ways we
can address some of the access and retention issues here? Focus needs to be more at the
District level and districtwide. He ran the La Raza retention center at Cal. Often it’s just
having people available to explain the resources, having staff available as mentors, and
necessary information. When people dropped out, it was mostly due to financial reasons
or family, competing issues. He’d like to think about some recommendations for the
Chancellor to say what the group has discussed and a game plan. He gets teased by his
colleagues at Chabot/Las Positas that it’s more friendly to latinos there. Not just AB 540
students, but also those that don’t have access to the college.
Duenos was told that there was a Latino initiative. Merritt wanted to have goal to have
25% Hispanics. Hector – Bobby applied for a grant. Problem in the past to identify to
what we might recruit people to, and if it’s offered at a convenient time and place.
We’ve been offering ESL, but it needs to transition to other classes. High schools don’t
want a mixture of students there. There is no location for weekend classes. Jeff – it’s
hard to market something vague. They have a Spanish language brochure. They need
something to market. We advertise on Hispanic radio. A core program or issue or
product needs to be decided to market. Joseph – what did Quinata college do to become
an Hispanic college?
Works with the Merritt college PUENTE project at the counseling level. Problem is
access. Promt is a barrier because they don’t speak, write in English or have a computer.
RWD was going to research if the program could be in Spanish. Retention is good from
class to class, but not to transfer them. Basic skills are the main issues, and they are
lacking in writing skills. They go out to high schools for outreach. They want to offer
other courses other than ESL. UMOJA has built a cohort for Latinos to move up in their
studies. Of all students who access college, 50% are in community colleges. A lot of
students don’t have social security number, and they do not return if that’s the first
question the potential student is asked. Bi-lingual counter assistants are needed.
Counselor at 4 different colleges. Literature that easy to read is helpful. They have an
AB 540 flyer. All of their materials are bi-lingual. MADEF provides resources for
undocumented workers. The Center of Latino could be a possible program of distinction.
Bi-lingual counselors are important. Adjunct, part-time counselors are bi-lingual, but
that’s a problem that there are not more full-timers. Laney also has a wood technology
program which has been hugely successful. Laney has been trying to fill in the gaps of
what Merritt can’t provide. We have to have multiple levels of attack, going to nursery
schools as well as nursing homes, so they are trying to build on elementary school
relationships and to build relationships in the community. There seems to be a void in
West Oakland. East Bay Career advancement academy program was explained. It is
possible to plan within this for year 3 or summer. The program started from faculty
initiation. Coordination across the board for all of Peralta should be a priority. An
assessment of community needs, including transfer students, to contact businesses with
employees needing classes to know what they want and when.
Spanish legal interpretation program will have courses in the Fall, which is a special
niche for us. The demographics are needed to document, which is 29%, and we serve
about 16%. 55-60% of Latinos don’t speak Spanish, also.
So there is a list of programs we offer that could be packaged. Theatre arts have no
income to apply to this. If there’s funding, he has actors to bring in to do workshops on
theatre. He could get a comedy troop here for the right price. Latino film festival/Fiesta
is a possible idea, leading them to the college. Community theatre would be fun to get
interest, too. It would be nice for each college to have a Latino center. We need student
ambassadors to send representatives to schools and religious centers. Sports programs
should be better advertised. Independence day celebrations, Cinco de Mayo, and Los
Dias de los muertas need to be highlighted. There should be a coordinator for each
aspect, such as access and retention. TRIO grant was explained. She advocates a search
on best practices. Those applying for a Title 3 grant can’t also be awarded a Title 5 grant.
All 4 schools should be a member of HAKU to build our Hispanic membership, and they
will share the best practices. Co-op grant can be in an agreement with any other school.
The money could then be divided between the school, as it’s hard to find partners. West
Hills Los Pedanos has been successful. Next Spring or Summer would be the deadline
for this. Latino day was 2 years ago. It would be nice to have a party around registration
time around September. One office and zero budget at Merritt that is general funded in
the transfer center. Idea of a campus-wide recruiter was discussed. Every campus has an
outreach coordinator already, but that person needs more support, along with having a
latino center/campus. We don’t have a centralized place to send people, as we need
infrastructure to support this, with Spanish applications and website. There needs to be a
place for them to go to the Latino centers. Gateway to College program was also
explained. Bi-lingual tutors are also needed. A Latino summit idea was presented to
bring students to the college after they’ve received college acceptance letters.
Workshops could occur, music, food, speaker, college tour. It would be better to have
one Latino, African American, and Asian American recruiter. Bill suggests we go after
students that we want, even before students get acceptance letters. The equity plan spells
out the desired needs, which is a better framework from which to work. We need to
continue building a presence in the community. Counselors in other schools need to be
spoken to. Student ambassadors help a lot. Colleges all need more counselors. BSI is
also a whole pool of fund towards tutorial services. President and Chancellor
discretionary funds should be solicited. Hybrid and online course also need to be
developed. It’s suggested to see what’s here district wide, listen to faculty and students,
before we get to list that we recommend. It’s suggested that we pay someone to do focus
groups to do this for a small fee. That document will be needed before we go out for
larger funding. Goal to have equity within 4-5 years relative to the service area. Jeanette
needs to know what is needed so that she can spend down money when the time is right.
This group could report back to each campus group if there is a Latino recruitment
committee. We want to make the pie bigger for everyone, and not have people compete
for the same funds. Career Ladders could be a good resource for this group.