Education is a key factor in social and economic mobility, but too many Latinx students, especially first generation, do not see themselves as college-bound. Traditional recruitment strategies at our community colleges are not always adapted to reach the Latinx community. As a systemic problem, ULV is starting to hold local colleges accountable to their DEI and Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) plans.
As the largest among Contra Costa’s community colleges, Diablo Valley College (DVC) has a lower Latinx enrollment rate than its sister campuses. In 2023-24, ULV began an innovative partnership with DVC to bring a culturally appropriate, whole family model to outreach and recruitment using these strategies:
- Increasing awareness of DVC programs for Latinx student success by using ULV promotoras with personal experience at DVC to conduct broad community outreach and education and scheduling monthly family focused presentations about the importance of higher education.
- Identifying emerging DVC Latinx student leaders to serve as role models for students at high schools they once attended. They participate in presentations at targeted high schools, sharing their experience of not seeing themselves as ‘college-bound,’ how they persevered to go to DVC, and their plans to transfer to a 4-year university.
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