# **Asian American and Native American**

**Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions Program, Part A**

**FY 2020 Project Abstract**

**Hunter College, The City University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY**

**Title:**Hunter College AANAPISI Project (HCAP) Success Initiative

**Purpose:**Despite attention to minority student development, a sizable sub-group of AAPI

students at Hunter College face barriers to achievement in higher education due to them

backgrounds as first-generation collegegoers and as immigrants or children of immigrants.

Although HCAP has leveraged its existing AANAPISI Part F grant (2016-2021) to make strides

in addressing AAPI student challenges, further work is required to institutionalize and embed

HCAP’s promising programs across Hunter’s student services and academic programs. HCAP,

thus, aims to mitigate barriers to educational achievement through services that address three key

goals:

1) Enhance student services to increase AAPI student belonging, promote use of campus

resources, and increase financial literacy;

2) Develop and improve academic programs and research opportunities for AAPI students;

3) Increase faculty cultural competency and capacity to serve AAPI students.

Outcomes of these services will include measurable increases in the GPAs, persistence, and

graduation rates of AAPI students at Hunter College as well as enhanced knowledge and

visibility of AAPI student psychosocial development and backgrounds throughout the

institution’s curriculum and services.

**Institution’s Distinguishing Features:**Founded in 1870, Hunter College is one of 11 four-year

senior colleges of CUNY, one of the nation’s largest and oldest public universities. Hunter

College and the 25 colleges of the CUNY system have a have a long tradition of expanding

opportunities for women and minority students in New York City through a rigorous yet

accessible education. With 5,384 AAPI students at Hunter College (33% of total enrollment) and

the highest rate of first-generation college attendance among all racial groups (44% of AAPI

students), the proposed projects are strategically positioned to serve AAPI university students at

Hunter College and throughout New York City.

**Competitive Preference Priority:**The proposed project directly addresses Competitive

Preference Priority 1. Hunter College does not offer any financial literacy programming for

students. AAPI and other students from immigrant families struggle when talking to their parents

about financial issues and are unfamiliar with available options for paying for college. Working

in partnership with Hunter’s Financial Aid Office, HCAP will integrate financial literacy across

several programs including the Transfer Pipeline, Navigating College Programs, and Faculty

Development Programs. Financial literacy activities will integrate the U.S Financial Literacy and

Education Commission’s 2019 *Best Practices for Financial Literacy and Education at*

*Institutions of Higher Education*recommendations.

**University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN**

The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (UMTC) is a four-year, public research, land-grant state institution. Founded in 1869, it is the oldest and largest public university in the state of Minnesota. As one of few urban, research, land-grant institutions, it is in the metropolitan area of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. UMTC is home to the 6th-largest campus student body in the United States and, by enrollment, is the second largest higher education institution in the Midwest. It serves 51,327 students across 17 colleges and schools. Currently, 67% of undergraduate students come from Minnesota, with 79% (20922) from the Twin Cities metro area. AAPI students are the largest undergraduate student of color group, at 12.8% (4,038); followed by 8.3% (2,619) international students; 6.3% (1,979) Black students; 4.2% (1,341) Chicano/Latino students; and 1.3% (418) American Indian students. 

**Purpose**

The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities *Project*Thrive aims to provide services to improve the academic experiences and outcomes of Asian American Native American Pacific Islander (AAPI) students at the UMTC. The three goals of the proposed 5-year project include: (1) To provide culturally relevant resources for AAPI academic achievement; (2) To increase culturally relevant academic programming for AAPI students; and (3) To enhance postsecondary success pathways of AAPI students. Short-term and midterm outcomes from the project include increased knowledge of AAPI students, increased access to culturally relevant resources, and increased social and academic integration, among others. Long-term outcomes include increased enrollment, retention, and graduation of AAPI students. The proposed *Project Thrive*reflects the current research and effective practices knowledge base and will significantly strengthen the UMTC and advance the academic success of its predominantly low-income, first-generation, Southeast Asian American students. 

Project services address the Competitive Preference Priority 1: Fostering Knowledge 

Promoting the Development of Skills that Prepare Students to be Informed, Thoughtful, and Productive Individuals and Citizens. It will support instruction in personal financial literacy, with attention to knowledge of higher education financing and repayment as well as other skills for students to build personal financial understanding and responsibility.

**Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR**

**Institutional Context**: Established in 1849, Pacific University (Oregon) is a private university

with 3,875 students, 1,756 of which are undergraduates on Pacific’s residential campus in Forest

Grove. With undergraduate and graduate/professional degrees available across five colleges—

Arts & Sciences, Business, Education, Health Professions, Optometry—Pacific prepares students

for a multiplicity of future careers while having developed particularly strong pathways for

students aspiring to careers in education, business, and especially health care professions.

**Purpose**: The purpose of the project is to enable Pacific to improve and expand its capacity to

serve Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander students by strengthening the

institution’s ability to support inclusive student success. With its project, Pacific aims to close

equity gaps in academic performance, retention rates, and 6-year graduation rates through

services that address higher education barriers experienced by low-income and first-generation

students, many of whom also encounter barriers related to underrepresented minority status. The

project also addresses Competitive Preference Priority 1 through financial literacy components.

**Project Goals**: Pacific will pursue four objectives in support of two outcomes:

Objective 1. **Increase participation**in critical academic and student support services

Objective 2. **Increase first-year retention rate**of low income and first-generation students

Objective 3. **Raise**the percentage of low-income and first-generation students who sustain

**good academic standing**

Objective 4. **Increase enrollment**in STEM degrees through the implementation of an

engineering program.

Outcome 1. **Persistence Rate**: Students identified as low income, first-generation, or self-identified as other than white will persist from one academic year to the beginning of the

next academic year, or will have earned a bachelor’s degree at the grantee institution

during the academic year, at rates equal to or higher than all other students.

Outcome 2. **Graduation Rate**: Students who are either low-income or first-generation will

graduate from Pacific with a bachelor’s degree or equivalent within six (6) years at rates

equal to or higher than all other students.

**Project Services**: Pacific will support inclusive student success by introducing tailored support

prior to matriculation, enhancing first-year development of academic, dispositional, and financial

strengths, implementing 4-year STEM career advising, developing more inclusive curriculum

practices, and providing equipment for expanding capacity in STEM education at Pacific.

Activities will include:

• Pre-matriculation financial counseling

• Summer Bridge outdoor experience course

• First-year College Success courses

• 4-year STEM career advising curriculum

• Curriculum development for inclusive pedagogy

• Start-up engineering equipment

**Laney College, Oakland, CA**

****

**Applicant:**Laney College (Laney) is a two-year public community college located in Oakland, California, and is situated in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. It is one of four colleges in the Peralta Community College District. The college has been consistently recognized for having **one of the highest enrollments of minority students (89%) in California. One-third of Laney’s student population is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and they comprise 68% of the college’s ESOL students**. The college has also been recognized by the state of California for its outstanding Career and Technical Education programs. It offers 80 CTE degrees and Certificates. 

**AANAPISI Project**: ******

This proposal addresses three significant gaps in service that present monumental barriers for ESOL/AAPI immigrant and urban disadvantaged students who want to transition to CTE degree and certificate programs: 

Gap #1. NO discernable career pathway exists for ESOL students to successfully transition to CTE programs 

Gap #2. Inadequate academic and student support services limit access to and success in CTE for students transitioning from ESOL 

GAP #3 Severely limited linkages from school to work for this population 

**Palau Community College, Koror, PW**

The purpose of the PCC AANAPISI project is to increase the retention, graduation, and transfer rates of students. The project is designed to improve the academic and student support services at PCC, so it can build its capacity to adequately address the major problems that contribute to students’ poor academic attitudes, performances, and dropout rates. The identified problems include lack of basic skills; language difficulties; and lack of motivation/academic goals. These problems are related and cannot be remedied in isolation. Consequently, the project activities are geared at targeting these identified barriers that can impede retention, graduation, and transfer rates. 

The project activities include tutoring & instruction and career& transfer counseling. 

AANAPISI Instructors assisted by peer tutors will provide tutoring, workshops and instructional services that target students’ lack of basic skills in English and Math, as well as continuing students that are struggling in college level courses. The support is to help students gain basic skills and pass their classes. 

The AANAPISI Counselor assisted by peer counselors will provide career & transfer counseling services to assist students with career guidance & exploration, internship opportunities and transfer assistance. The support is to help motivate students; instill the importance of developing academic goals and make informed decisions regarding majors & careers; and transferring to four-year universities after graduation to pursue higher education. 

The AANAPISI Project will provide a much-needed support to an institution serving a student population of pacific islanders inhabiting over 2,000 islands scattered throughout 3 million squares miles of ocean known as Micronesia. This area is comprised of the following republics/states: Republic of Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia which include states of Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk and Yap. These six entities are composed of twelve majors distinct cultures and twelve major indigenous languages.

**CUNY Hunter College, New York, NY**

**Purpose:**Despite attention to minority student development, a sizable sub-group of AAPI students at Hunter College and Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) face

barriers to achievement in higher education due to their backgrounds as first-generation collegegoers and as immigrants or children of immigrants. Hunter College AANAPISI Project (HCAP) has leveraged its existing Part F grant (2016-2021) to make strides in addressing AAPI student challenges, but more can be done at Hunter and in partnership with BMCC to institutionalize and embed HCAP’s promising programs. The HCAP CUNY Bridge Initiative, thus, aims to mitigate barriers to educational achievement through services that address three key goals:

1) Enhance student services to increase AAPI student belonging, promote use of campus

resources, and increase financial literacy.

2) Develop and improve academic programs and research opportunities for AAPI students.

3) Increase faculty cultural competency and capacity to serve AAPI students.

Outcomes of these services will include measurable increases in the GPAs, persistence, and

graduation rates of AAPI students at Hunter and BMCC as well as enhanced knowledge and

visibility of AAPI student psychosocial development and backgrounds throughout both

institutions and the CUNY system.

**Hunter College and BMCC Distinguishing Features:**Founded in 1870, Hunter College is one

of 11 four-year senior colleges in the CUNY system and one of the nation’s largest and oldest

public universities. BMCC was founded in 1963 and is the largest of 7 CUNY two-year colleges.

The CUNY system has a long tradition of expanding opportunities for women and minority

students in New York City through a rigorous yet accessible education. With AAPI students

making up 33% of total enrollment at Hunter and 14% at BMCC, the proposed projects represent

an opportunity to coordinate efforts between two CUNY institutions with substantial populations

of AAPI students.

**Competitive Preference Priority:**The proposed project directly addresses Competitive

Preference Priority 1. AAPI and other students from immigrant families struggle when talking to

their parents about financial issues and are unfamiliar with available options for paying for

college. Working in partnership with Financial Aid offices at Hunter and BMCC, the Bridge

Initiative will integrate financial literacy across several programs including the Transfer Pipeline,

Navigating College Programs, and Faculty Development Programs. Financial literacy activities

will integrate the U.S Financial Literacy and Education Commission’s 2019 *Best Practices for Financial Literacy and Education at Institutions of Higher Education*recommendations.

**Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, MN**

**Project Description:**Metropolitan State University seeks $1,483,721 in individual grant funds

to carry out a five-year plan to increase retention, graduation, and related employment rates for

Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander (AANAPI) students at our institution. Our

identified needs, gaps, objectives, and outcomes are crafted to create a comprehensive and

holistic approach to combating inequities faced by AANAPI students with three primary goals:

**Promote**: Cultural Support and Competency, **Advance**: Career Readiness, and **Connect**:

Graduates and Students (PAC). This plan has had direct input from twenty different

stakeholders, each with unique, hands-on experience with AANAPI students, as well as indirect

input from a survey of all support staff who have engaged with AANAPI students over the past

five years and, most importantly, from staff members and students who identify as AANAPI.

**Purpose**: The purpose of this grant project is to provide cultural support, career readiness, and

mentorship opportunities for AANAPI students, to combat inequities in their persistence

in college and career obtainment after college.

**Research:**Contrary to popular belief, AANAPI students “face a high risk of leaving college

before completing their degree” (Yeh, 2004).1 The “model minority” (Yeh, 2004) stereotype has

kept this group getting much needed services. In many ways, this group of students is not only

underserved, but silenced. Metropolitan State is in St. Paul, Minnesota, where the largest

population of Hmong peoples in the United States resides, among which only 2.9% have a

bachelor’s or higher (Yeh, 2004). We have designed this program specifically to target the most

underserved of the AANAPI group with a combination of cultural support, career readiness

training, and mentorship. Mortenson (2005) found that psycho-social support is a key factor in

the persistence of Asian American students in College.2 This is confirmed by the work by Kuh

and Love (2000) who find that the less cultural stress students feel, the more likely they are to

graduate. 

**Competitive Preference #1:**Fostering Knowledge and Promoting the Development of Skills

that Prepare Students to be Informed, Thoughtful, and Productive Individuals and Citizens.

We achieve this competitive preference by creating and delivering financial literacy training to 

AANAPI students as part of our career readiness initiative.

**Mission College, Santa Clara, CA**

Mission College proposes to develop a comprehensive approach to solving the identified problems through three activities that provide students with comprehensive on boarding, program mapping and case management counseling, self-guided placement and early success in Math courses, a dedicated Career Center and the engagement of local industry. The goals of the project are to increase the number and proportion of academically underprepared Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and low-income students who 1) become financial competent, 2) have a path and a plan for completion, 3) have completed a transfer level Math, and 4) have access to career development tools and support. These activities are designed to support AAPI and low-income students along the full continuum of the student experience from high school to career placement. A guiding principle of the project is that these strategies will be implemented with a continuous focus on the goals and objectives of MISSION’s Student Equity and Achievement Plan.

**University of Nevada, Las Vegas**

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public, metropolitan university with an

undergraduate enrollment exceeding 25,000 students. With more than 300 university-degree

programs, UNLV serves as the primary provider of bachelors-, masters-, and doctoral-level

courses for the more than two million residents of Clark County, Nevada. Nearly 4,500 of

UNLV’s undergraduates are Asian American or Native American Pacific Islanders (AANAPI),

while more than 8,200 UNLV undergraduates are disadvantaged (DA)—i.e., low-income

and/or first-generation-college—students with a need for academic support (NFAS) in order to

persist in postsecondary education and complete a baccalaureate degree. On various indicators

of academic performance (year-to-year persistence rates, cumulative GPA, graduation rates,

and postbaccalaureate enrollment rates), UNLV’s DA-NFAS students (14% of which are

AANAPI) are far outstripped by their more advantaged classmates.

Annually, from 2020-2025, the UNLV AANAPISI Project (“the project”) will serve **200**of the

institution’s DA-NFAS undergraduates, with at least 50% of project participants being

AANAPI students and no less than 75% of project participants being low-income individuals.

With the full support of the UNLV administration and of institutional units across the UNLV

campus, the project will provide these participants with an array of student services, including:

 Academic tutoring.

 Counseling (i.e., academic; undergraduate financial aid; career; and

graduate/professional-school admissions and financial-aid);

 Frequent, ongoing academic-progress monitoring; and

Financial-literacy instruction (in response to *FY2020 Competitive Preference Priority #1*).

These services will assist participants with overcoming barriers that would otherwise impede

their academic progress and lead to their premature departure from higher education.

Furthermore, as a result of receiving these services, the participants will earn cumulative GPAs

that are high enough to qualify them for admission to upper-level undergraduate programs and

to postbaccalaureate studies. Finally, at rates substantially higher than those of DA-NFAS

students who receive no assistance from the project, participants will:

· Persist from year to year in their respective degree programs.

· Graduate from the institution in four, five, and six-year time frames; and

· Enroll in postbaccalaureate studies.

In addition to providing student services, the project will contribute to the development and

improvement of academic programs and address *FY2020 Competitive Preference Priority #2*

by expanding UNLV’s capacity to offer web-based undergraduate courses in computer science.

Finally, the project will spearhead an effort to refine the institution’s collection of race and

ethnicity data so that the needs of various subgroups of AANAPI students can be more quickly identified and addressed.

**Northern Marianas College, Susupe, MP**

The Project for the Promotion and Retention of Opportunities for Advancement (Project PROA) aims to increase the number and proportion of disadvantaged Chamorro and Carolinian students that graduate high school and enroll, remain, and succeed in college. A wide education gap exists in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI), as only 17% of the adult population has earned a bachelor’s degree or higher, and a majority of the students in primary and secondary education are behind their grade levels nationally. The high poverty and unemployment rates in the CNMI make affording and attending college difficult, and the widespread destruction caused by Super Typhoon Yutu - a category-5 equivalent storm - in 2018 led to a steep decline in the economy and significant funding cuts to education. As resources to support high school and college students have greatly diminished, the community needs Project PROA to support its students in their pursuit of a college degree, and ultimately a better life. 

Project PROA addresses the two competitive-priority preferences by supporting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and career exploration, and promoting financial literacy: educating students and their families about higher education financing, and skills aimed at building personal financial understanding and responsibility. Project PROA aims to achieve its goals and objectives by providing tutoring and mentoring services (with a focus on science and mathematics), advising and counseling, academic success, college preparatory and financial literacy workshops, and a summer bridge program that promotes STEM career exploration. Utilizing this wrap-around approach will lead to increased success in high school and college for the program’s participants.

**Pierce College, Lakewood, WA**

As a part of the Pierce College District, Piece College Fort Steilacoom (PCFS) is a highly integrated, engaged, and collaborative college focused on achieving our student success mission in a way that serves our diverse community of learners. As an institution, PCFS has successfully managed an Asian American, Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) grant for the past 4 years and strives to meet the needs of all underrepresented and marginalized Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students who are often first generation and low-income. We do this through intentional and holistic support services through our Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Reaching their Potential through Education (ASPIRE) Program. In the proposed project design, AAPI students will receive deliberate, purposeful services within a community environment. They will receive educational career pathway plans, along with cultural enrichment activities designed to empower the students’ strengths and to build the self-efficacy and resilience that resides within them. ASPIRE students are supported by student-centered staff who share similar lived experiences of our resilient ASPIRE students.

The goal for AANAPISI is to eliminate the gaps created by historic (and continued) marginalization. Through specific scaffolded services structured to support AAPI students with cultural needs and those who are first generation and/or low-income students, we will not only increase access for historically underserved populations, but advance retention, completion, and successful transition. In order to accomplish this, we have set the following project objectives: Objective 1: Increase by 2% percent annually the number of enrolled AAPI full time, degree- seeking students; Objective 2: Increase fall-to-fall persistence rate by 2% of first-time, full-time degree seeking AAPI students; and Objective 3a: Increase by 6% the number of AAPI students who complete an Associate’s degree or a certificate within three years; Objective 3b: 45% of AAPI students will complete an associate degree or certification.

Further, to advance research and understanding of AANAPISI (ASPIRE) program impacts, and in potential collaboration with Pierce College Fort Steilacoom if awarded, we intend to engage the following research questions: *How do ASPlRE program leaders design interventions guided by Wayfinder and Learning Assessment Study Skills Inventory (LASSI) evaluation? How do students in the ASPIRE program respond*? In doing so, this study will contribute to the research literature by describing how implementation of the community cultural wealth model in an ASPIRE program affects the success of low-income, first-generation community college students.

The proposed “Community Cultural Wealth Model + ASPIRE research project would maintain good academic standing (2.0) or higher; retain at a rate *X*, graduate at a rate *Y*, transfer at a rate *Z*; This research is informed by the literature that can be found in the scholarly citations. By focusing on student strengths, and engaging in social & emotional empowerment, the ultimate goal is to help students move from a place of marginalization by facilitating a new vision for their future in order to transform their families and our community.

**University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA**

The University of Massachusetts Boston (UMB) is the primary AANAPISI-designated research university in New England, and directly serves historically significant Chinese, Khmer, and Vietnamese American communities and other diverse populations throughout the Boston metropolitan area. With prior AANAPISI funding, we have developed, piloted, institutionalized, and disseminated a wide range of activities to increase college access, retention, and graduation for low-income, first-generation Asian American students who comprise 14% of our student body. Our model is built on principles of equity and cultural wealth and integrates direct student services, curriculum and faculty/staff development, and practice-focused research. The work is co-led through a unique partnership among the Academic Support Services and Undergraduate Studies division, the Institute for Asian American Studies, and Asian American Studies Program. 

Using AANAPISI Part A funds in 2020-2025, we will deepen our institutional capacity through implementing and assessing three need-identified activities based on: (1) designing a multi-layered, ecological system to increase the yield rate of Asian American applicants in conjunction with supporting culturally responsive mentoring, social capital network-building, and financial education with enrolled AANAPISI students; (2) expanding AANAPISI faculty engagement and development opportunities across the campus to support student mentoring, curriculum revision, and collaborative research while drawing on the untapped capacities of Asian American faculty who comprise over 18% of UMB’s full-time, tenure stream faculty; (3) establishing a robust platform for AANAPISI-centered, campus- and community-engaged applied research to further establish our own evidence-base and to add significantly to the national field of AANAPISI theory and practice. 

The implementation of proposed activities will contribute to the attainment of the project’s three overarching goals: (1) to increase the academic performance and retention, persistence and graduation rates of high-need, low-income, first-generation Asian American students; (2) to develop and deepen the long-term capacity of UMB faculty to achieve goal 1; and (3) to align the long-term research capacity of UMB to contribute significantly to goals 1 and 2, while also advancing knowledge and application of effective AANAPISI-centered theory and practice for the national field. We have established five outcomes to measure our progress toward achieving the project’s overarching goals: 

▪ Increase the retention rate for Asian American first-time students by 5 points from 79% to 84% and the on-time graduation rate from 22% to 27%, and the six-year rate from 54% to 59% for Asian American freshmen entering in Fall 2021; 

▪ Increase the yield rate (% of admitted students who enroll) of Asian American freshmen from 24% to 34% by Fall 2025; 

▪ Enhance dimensions of financial literacy, social capital, and a sense of belonging at UMB for students as measured by pre- and post-surveys administered to students participating in financial literacy activities and the Connected AANAPISI Mentoring Network. 

▪ Engage at least 15% of the full-time tenure-stream Asian American each year with AANAPISI activities such as mentoring Asian American students and/or participation in one of three faculty development tracks; 

▪ Produce at least 5 scholarly work products/year that add to AANAPISI research and practice.