- College foundation launches wildfire emergency fund
- Winners of ED’s Postsecondary Success Recognition Program
- Tennessee’s Navigate Reconnect helps older students
College foundation launches wildfire emergency fund
The Foundation for the Los Angeles Community Colleges announced on Wednesday the launch of an emergency relief fund to help students and employees of the Los Angeles Community College District who are facing severe hardships due to the ongoing wildfires.
The LA Strong: Disaster Response Fund will support individuals affected by the fires to help them continue their education and work. The financial assistance will help with housing, transportation, childcare, lost academic supplies and other basic needs. The foundation is accepting donations.
“These catastrophic events not only endanger lives but also severely disrupt education, housing, and access to necessities,” Kelly King, the foundation’s executive director, said in a release. “The consequences extend far beyond immediate danger, affecting academic progress, livelihoods and long-term stability.”
Winners of ED’s Postsecondary Success Recognition Program
New York’s Hostos Community College and Florida’s Miami Dade College (MDC) are among the winners of the U.S. Education Department’s inaugural Postsecondary Success Recognition Program, which highlights exemplary efforts at higher education institutions to enroll underserved student populations, foster successful student transfers and completions, and equip graduates for careers that lead to economic mobility.
The two colleges were among the three winners in the category of predominantly associate-degree or certificate-granting institutions. Hostos was noted for its transfer efforts and MDC for its career focus.
“As a community college in the South Bronx, the poorest congressional district in the United States, our mission is to provide social mobility through education and to create lifelong learners who will uplift their communities for generations to come,” Hostos Community College President Daisy Cocco De Filippis said in a release. “We understand that for our students, the stakes are high, and the challenges can seem insurmountable. That is why we dedicate ourselves to relentlessly supporting our students and helping them get their degrees with a manos a la obra (all hands-on deck) ethos that informs everything we do.”
Miami Dade College President Madeline Pumariega said the recognition “underscores our dedication to advancing student success through innovative educational pathways that drive economic mobility and strengthen our role as the workforce engine of our community.”
The Education Department noted that the winners went through a rigorous process that started with using publicly available data to measure institution performance on key indicators related to equitable access, success and post-college outcomes. The department then invited 200 institutions – half of which were predominantly associate-degree or certificate-granting institutions – that performed well on those indicators to apply. More than 120 institutions applied and provided more information, which a peer review panel used to help select the winners.
Tennessee’s Navigate Reconnect helps older students
The Tennessee Higher Education Commission last week announced the findings of an inaugural report on Navigate Reconnect, Tennessee’s primary college coaching and advising program for adults over 25.
The study found that students who worked with a Navigate Reconnect coach stayed in school or completed a technical certificate or degree 11 percentage points higher than those who did not work with a Navigator. The program helps adult students examine college options and navigate the application process. Free services include academic coaching, financial aid assistance and access to local resources, such as childcare and affordable transportation.
Among participating adult students who enrolled in Tennessee institutions, 87% chose community colleges, 6% enrolled in Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology and 7% enrolled in four-year universities.
