**Asian American and Native American**

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

**FY 2021 Project Abstract**

**Century College, White Bear Lake, MN**

**Title: Century College AANAPISI Program**

Century College, a public community and technical college in Saint Paul, Minnesota, serves

20,000 credit and non-credit students annually. About 17% of Century students are Asian

American or Pacific Islander (AAPI), most from low-income Southeast Asian families who have

historically been underrepresented on college campuses. While many Health Sciences careers are

in well-paying, high-demand jobs that can create financial stability and lift families out of

poverty, a disproportionately low number of Century’s AAPI students declare a major or earn

credentials in Health Sciences programs that provide a pathway to those careers. Century plans

to implement a five-year AANAPISI Project to boost representation of low-income (Pell eligible) AAPI students in Health Sciences programs, including Nursing, Medical Assistant,

Dental Assistant, Orthotic and Prosthetic Technology, Emergency Medical Technology, and

Radiologic Technology. This project has two primary goals: 1) increase the number and

percentage of low-income AAPI students who earn credentials in Health Sciences programs that

lead to well-paying jobs in high-demand industries; 2) increase the capacity of Century Health

Sciences faculty to foster engagement and success for low-income AAPI students. The Project

will provide programming to address the specific needs of these students, including: 1)

culturally responsive, linguistically relevant outreach and career counseling to connect students

with Health Sciences career pathways; 2) culturally responsive, linguistically relevant advising,

wraparound supports, and tutoring to help students succeed in their courses; 3) activities focused

on Southeast Asian culture and languages to deepen students’ connection to college; 4)

partnerships with local CBOs and high schools that serve AAPI communities to increase AAPI

students’ awareness of and success in Health Sciences programs; and 5) training for faculty to

help them provide culturally responsive pedagogy and linguistically relevant content and

materials to help them more effectively engage, instruct, and support low-income AAPI students.

**Chabot College, Hayward, CA**

**Title: Chabot College Movement AA&PI Program**

**Context:**Chabot College is a comprehensive, public, two-year community college in Hayward, California, located in the heart of a diversified economy and an exceptionally multicultural region in the San Francisco Bay Area, serving the most diverse county in the United States: Alameda County (Niche, 2020 Most Diverse Counties in America). Designated as an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander (AANAPISI) Institution, Chabot has a student body of 12,945 enrolled students who speak fifty-eight languages and are eighty-five percent (85%) non-white. Asian American and Pacific Islander (AA&PI) students represent the second largest population on campus at thirty-three percent (33%), yet the only existing AA&PI-specific resources include two student clubs and one employee association. The development of dedicated, culturally responsive resources is essential to help support Chabot AA&PI student experiences and academic outcomes. 

**Purpose**: To address difficulty with retention, graduation within three years, and transfer in combination with low student satisfaction with and few dedicated services for a highly diverse AA&PI student population, the **Movement AA&PI Program**intends to address multiple barriers to success that are not only academic but meet the needs of the individual. Movement AA&PI aims to establish learning communities for 210 low-income, first-time, full-time AA&PI students and other low-income non-AA or PI students. Additional supports will also address the diversity of AA&PI subgroups. The proposed services will address contributors to the lack of a “sense of belonging” to a college community that AA&PI students experience as well as gaps in particular support services, making the goal of a postsecondary degree/transfer a reality. 

**Proposed Services:**Movement AA&PI will: (1) create two AA&PI-specific learning communities in which cohorts of students take three classes together; (2) develop ethnic studies classes focused on AA&PI themes; (3) provide a dedicated Movement AA&PI Counselor; (4) connect students to academic support, mentoring, and advising from peers from similar backgrounds; (5) conduct outreach and coordination to connect students to needed support in areas such as financial aid, basic needs assistance, and mental health support, (6) create new clubs for students from AA&PI subgroups, and (7) provide work-based learning experiences. 

**Anticipated Results:**With 210 AA&PPI students participating in Movement learning communities over five years, we aim to increase the percentage of AANAPISI students who persist from their first to second year by 7.5%, graduate within 3 years with a degree/credential by 5%, and transfer to a 4-year institution within three years by 5%. 

**Competitive Preference Priorities (CPPs) Addressed**: Yes, both CPP 1 and 2. CPP 1: Movement AA&PI will facilitate cohort students’ access to on- and off-campus internships and other work-based learning activities. CPP 2: Chabot College has never received a grant under the AANAPISI Part F program or the AANAPISI Part A program. 

**Invitational Priority Addressed**: Yes. In-reach services will connect students with existing wrap-around support from the Chabot College CARES Mental Health Team and the Chabot-United Way Bay Area SparkPoint Center (financial literacy and counseling/economic supports).

**Consumnes River College, Sacramento, CA**

**Title: The Consumnes River College Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Project**

Consumnes River College is an urban public two-year community college of higher education in Sacramento, California committed to serving Asian, Native American Pacific Islander and other low-income students. The AANAPI Project will provide four services that meet the standard established by the IES’s What Works Clearinghouse. The Project staff will include a full-time Project Director, Coach, Counselor, Administrative Assistant, and hourly Student Employees. The staff will work in conjunction with the college faculty and staff to effectively deliver the Project services to the AANAPI students. The Project services include: 

 Coaching into academic pathways (Based on a WWC study) 

 Coaching using intrusive advising (Based on a WWC study) 

 Supplemental and focused academic support services in math and science (Based on an accepted research study on Supplemental Instruction) 

 Summer Bridge and other transitional services including faculty development (Based on a WWC study) 

The way the students receive these services will reflect comprehensive and proactive strategies that will improve the likelihood of student success and promote the Project’s desired outcomes in the areas of persistence, academic success, graduation, and graduate admission. These strategies are supported by evidence-based practices resulting from research studies with moderate evidence of effectiveness that support the services presented in this proposal as shown in the selected studies below: 

**INFLUENCING THE DEVELOPMENT OF NON-COGNITIVE FACTORS**

Closing the social-class achievement gap: A difference-education intervention improves first-generation students’ academic performance and all students’ college transition. Stephens, N. M., Hamedani, M. G., & Destin, M. 

**INDIVIDUALIZED COUNSELING FOR PERSONAL, CAREER AND ACADEMIC MATTERS**

The effects of student coaching in college: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student mentoring. Bettinger, E. P., & Baker, R.

**California State University, Fresno, CA**

**Project Title:****Increasing AAPI Representation in Criminal and Civil Justice Professions**

**Purpose:**The purpose of the project is to increase AAPI representation in all majors in the Criminology Department: Law Enforcement, Victimology, Corrections, and Forensic Behavioral Science. Criminology is the largest major at CSU, Fresno, enrolling close to 2,000 students, yet it is also a career in crisis, a crisis exacerbated by a lack of diversity in its members from specific populations. Criminology has the lowest representation of Asian American students among all large and mid-sized majors at our university. This project provides interventions from recruitment through graduation to increase substantially AAPI representation in Criminal and Civil Justice careers. 

**Competitive Preference Priority #1:**The project fulfills CPP #1 because a core component is developing and implementing Work-Based Learning Experiences (WBLEs) for Criminology majors, from entry-to-exit, to connect them to real work sites and to mentors in their chosen careers. 

**Competitive Preference Priority #2:**The University is a new potential grantee, never having received a grant, including through membership in a group application submitted in accordance with 34 CFR 75.127–75.129, under the AANAPISI Part F program. 

**Invitational Priority:**The project includes training for Criminology majors to develop culturally responsive communication skills important to their future careers and to develop a campus wide program of culturally responsive services for the AAPI student community, with an emphasis on recovering from the trauma caused by the pandemic. Students who complete the training will earn a new work-related Micro-Certificate and become AAPI Peer Leaders who will lead the campus wide program. 

**Overview.**The project implements a suite of supports for AAPI Criminology majors, from a communication campaign to reduce Summer Melt and increase enrollment to a choice of internships in their senior year. In addition to the WBLEs component described above, and to the training in culturally responsive communication skills and services, the project pilots a “Writing for Criminal Justice” course to address this identified need for AAPI students, most of whom are ESL learners. 

**Project Goals**. 

**Goal 1.**Ensure that AAPI students receive strengthened support for success by creating a Culturally Responsive Model directly addressing their identified needs (e.g., their need to have physical, epistemological, and transformational cultural connections). 

**Goal 2.**Ensure that AAPI students achieve greater academic success by developing a project that provides best practices to enable their success (e.g., AAPI cohorts, reducing Summer Melt, WBLEs to connect them to careers from entry to exit). 

**Goal 3.**Ensure that all AAPI students have greater opportunity for success by implementing a campus-wide program offering culturally responsive services. 

**Expected Outcomes [Project Objectives].**

**Objective 1.**To increase the enrollment of AAPI Criminology majors by 100% over 2020-2021 baselines. 

**Objective 2.**To increase the persistence, from one year to the next, of AAPI Criminology majors at CSU, Fresno by 25% over the 2020-2021 baselines. 

**Objective 3.**To increase the six-year graduation rates of AAPI Criminology majors at CSU, Fresno by 25% over the 2020-2021 baselines. 

**Contributions for research, policy, practice.**The Co-Project Director, Dr. Takahashi, is a respected researcher of AAPI student success. Moreover, an expert external evaluator, Dr. Ya-Shu Liang, will assess the educational effectiveness of the project overall and of its individual components with AAPI students. Their findings will contribute to the national literature studying the academic and career success of AAPI students in Criminal and Civil Justice careers. Key findings will have wider applications, such as the findings on the training to develop culturally responsive communication skills for the criminal and civil justice professions and to provide culturally responsive services to an AAPI student community. 

**Population to be served.**In fall 2020, CSU, Fresno enrolled 3,121 AAPI students (12.3% of its 25,341 total student enrollment), which is 45% more AAPI students than the combined numbers of the other two smaller CSU campuses in the Valley (CSU, Stanislaus and CSU, Bakersfield).

**California State University, Long Beach, CA**

**Project Title: Project Resilience: Improving Post-Pandemic AAPI Student Wellness and Fostering Career Pathways at the Beach**

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) as a group are often perceived as a “model minority” with stellar educational aspirations and outcomes. In reality, AAPIs are an extremely diverse group with tremendous variations in ethnicity, socioeconomic status, migration patterns, citizenship status, and educational attainments under the “Asian” designation; this has been a critical concern for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPIs) who are lumped in with a much larger racial group. Yet, when referring to underserved and underrepresented students, much of the public policy and academic literature simply overlooks AAPIs as marginalized minorities. 

While the lack of disaggregated data makes it difficult to understand the full complexities within the AAPI community, the pandemic has heightened and revealed existing vulnerabilities and disparities within and among subgroups. Although anti-Asian xenophobia and violence are not new in the U.S., AAPIs - as specific ethnic groups and racialized groups - experienced a staggering rise of hate and violence incidents, discrimination, hospitalization and death rates, business closures, long-term unemployment, and mental health struggles due to the global pandemic (Pillai, Yellow Horse, and Jeung, 2021; Wang, Gee, Bahiru, Yang, and Hsu, 2020). For example, previous research found that young Cambodian Americans have faced challenges such as high rates of depression, teen pregnancy, gang violence suggesting that the war-related trauma and poverty experienced by the first generation influences educational opportunities and outcomes for the second generation. The pandemic has exacerbated the inequities in the greater Long Beach, home to the largest Cambodian American population in the U.S. 

Project Resilience builds on the ongoing strategic planning and mission of California State University, Long Beach to improve and expand the capacity to serve high-need AAPI and low-income undergraduate students further affected by the pandemic. The main goal of this project is to strengthen academic outcomes of and social support for AAPI and low-income students who are experiencing educational, health, mental health, and socioeconomic challenges and inequities in addition to a rise in anti-Asian and xenophobic hate crimes and violence in their communities due to the pandemic. The project will achieve this goal by implementing the following: (1) learning communities designed to integrate culturally relevant topics and academic support for undergraduates; (2) peer mentoring, wellness workshops and an online wellness hub to increase knowledge about and access to mental health services; (3) professional development and internship opportunities to build skills and explore post-graduation paths, and (4) faculty development to further understand, engage, and support AAPI and low-income students. A comprehensive evaluation component will provide continuous feedback for improvement.

**California State University, Sacramento, CA**

**Title: Sacramento-San Joaquin AANAPISI Collaboration**

California State University - Sacramento (Sacramento State) is an urban public four-year

comprehensive university located in California’s capital city. Sacramento State’s mission is to

transform lives by preparing students for leadership, service, and success. Through the

**Sacramento-San Joaquin AANAPISI Collaboration**(SAC Project), Sacramento State will

partner with six community colleges in its service region to develop transfer support services to

specifically serve Asian Americans and Native American Pacific Islanders and low-income

students. The SAC Project will develop a model of transfer student services focused on

increasing the academic success, retention, community college graduation and transfer rates to

Sacramento State for AANAPI students by developing, implementing a “coordinated transfer

success model” spanning all partnering institutions. Services include:

• Cohort Learning Communities at the community colleges and the university

• Intrusive Advising using Staff and Faculty Mentors

• Transfer Summer Bridge and Other Transitional Services

• Portfolio Development for the Writing Placement for Juniors

• Career Development and Readiness

This project will address Competitive Preference Priority 1 and provide work-based learning

experiences (such as internships, apprenticeships, and fellowships) that align with in-demand

industry sectors or occupations. Students receiving these services will reflect comprehensive and

proactive strategies that will improve persistence, academic success, transfer to Sacramento

State, and graduation with a bachelor’s degree. This is a critical piece of Sacramento State’s

2025 Graduation Initiative which aims to increase two-year graduation rates from 25.6% in 2015

to 38% in 2025.

This project will also expand the capacity of all institutions in this collaboration to support

students to graduate in a timely fashion, enter the workforce, positively impact their lifelong

earnings, and strengthen our regional economy.

**Leeward Community College, Pearl City HI**

**Title: Matagi Olatia: Healing Winds**

Leeward Community College (Pearl City, HI) and the University of Hawaii West O’ahu' s (Kapolei, HI) capacities to support their Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander students' mental wellbeing. Asian Americans and Native American Pacific Islanders make up 83%-84% of both institutions' student populations.

The project will feature two activities: (1) Provide a cross-campus, integrated, high-quality mental   health system, and (2) Provide high-quality, work-based learning experiences as part of a higher education, mental health care system for graduate practicum students.

**Project Goal.**Improve the mental wellbeing of Asian American and Native American Pacific  Islander (AANAPI) students in order to support their abilities to persist, graduate, and transfer.

· Objective 1**:**Increase mental health care for AANAPI students.

· Objective 2: Increase the number of mental health professionals with the necessary licensure  and work experience to provide critical care on college campuses.

· Increased faculty, staff and student knowledge of how to recognize students in need of         mental health treatment in order to refer these students for care.

· Increased mental health clinic staff knowledge of how to identify, track, and treat students in order to provide appropriate care.

· Increased stakeholder knowledge of the size and scope of the mental health problems to galvanize more support for mental health funding.

· Increased graduate practicum students' knowledge of best mental health practices in higher education settings.

· The percentage of first-time, full-time degree seeking AANAPI students at the University of Hawai'i West O'ahu (UHWO) persisting from year 1 to year 2 will increase by two percentage points, by the end of this project.

· The percentage of first-time, full-time degree seeking AANAPI students at Leeward Community College (Leeward CC) persisting from year 1 to year 2 will increase by three percentage points, by the end of this project.

· The percentage of first-time, full-time degree seeking AANAPI students who graduate within 6 years of enrollment at UHWO, and within 3 years of enrollment at Leeward CC, will increase by three percentage points by the end of this project.

· The percentage of first-time, full-time degree seeking AANAPI students at Leeward CC and UHWO who transfer will increase by three percentage points, by the end of this project.

Leeward Community College is a two-year public community college that services the largest          population of Native Hawaiians in the University of Hawai'i Community College System.

Leeward CC is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of   the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The University of West O'ahu is a four-year university and is one of the fastest growing institutions of its size in the nation. Between 2006 and  2016, the campus student population expanded by 239%. UHWO is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission. Leeward CC and UHWO are two of ten campuses of the University of Hawaii system.

**North Seattle College, Seattle, WA**

**Title: North Seattle College AANAPISI Project**

North Seattle College (NSC) is a diverse urban campus serving students in North Seattle and North King County, WA. Located just 4 miles away from the University of Washington, NSC offers a strong transfer program as well as workforce-oriented degrees and certificates, including five Bachelor of Applied Science programs, in high demand fields. With more than 40% of its students identifying as students of color, NSC established its Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in 2018, with its top priority goal to eliminate the equity gaps in academic outcomes for its historically underserved students. 

Section A. NSC is a finalist for the 2021 American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Awards of Excellence in the category of “Advancing Diversity.” Yet despite the tremendous strides the college has made towards its equity, diversity, and inclusion goals, its services and approaches to its growing Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander (AANAPI) student body often overlook this population, falling into the trap of treating these students as a homogenous group rather than an amalgamation of unique cultures, traditions, immigration histories, languages, and socio-economic backgrounds. 

Section B. NSC’s AANAPISI Project responds to three primary weaknesses it has identified in serving its AANAPI population: 1) insufficient data to enable NSC to fully understand its growing AANAPI population, 2) AANAPI student feelings of exclusion from major campus initiatives, and 3) Academic and achievement gaps that hinder persistence and completion rates for AANAPI students who are “non-traditional” students. In direct response to these identified weaknesses, **NSC has established the following 5-year goals to significantly build its capacity to appropriately service its AANAPI student body:**

• Ensure that research informs service approaches, curriculum, and overall campus operations to more effectively serve AANAPI students. 

• Ensure that NSC is a welcoming campus for AANAPI and low-income students. 

• Improve key academic outcome indicators for AANAPI and low-income students. 

**Budget:**NSC requests $1.5 million over five years. 

**Competitive Preference Priorities (CPPs):**NSC is submitting a narrative response to CPP1. The college automatically qualifies for points under CPP2, as it has not received a Part F grant in the past.

**Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), Annandale, Virginia**

**Title: Appeal: Asian Pacific Pedagogy for Equity, Achievement and Learning**

Section C. **Project Abstract**

**NOVA**is the largest institution of higher education in the Commonwealth of Virginia and one of the most diverse, including 8,641 or 16.7% Asian students in Fall 2019. Located near Washington, D.C., the College includes six campuses – Alexandria, Annandale, Loudoun, Manassas, MEC (Springfield) and Woodbridge; along with Reston Educational Center and NOVA Online. 

**Project Goals:**(1) Provide low-income AANAPI students with the opportunity to improve student success through the lens of Difference Education Initiatives; (2) Provide low-income AANAPI students enrolled in foundational Math and English courses with transformative learning experiences that utilize high-impact practices and culturally responsive pedagogy to improve student success; and (3) Provide low-income AANAPI students at NOVA with an Intercultural Learning Center for tutoring, mentorship, community building and other student support services including access to undergraduate research opportunities that allow students and faculty to understand and address the impact of COVID-19 on AANAPI communities. 

**Project Interventions Summary:**The goals of the proposed 5-year project will be addressed through: (1) a coordinated approach to offer peer mentorship and leadership training to incoming AANAPI students; (2) a strategic professional development program for faculty who teach foundational Math and English courses on how to use culturally responsive pedagogy and high-impact practices to create equity in opportunity and performance for AANAPI students; and (3) the infusion of a dynamic Intercultural Learning Center that allows NOVA students, faculty and staff to connect with community stakeholders and advocates and work together to understand the impact of COVID-19 on AANAPI communities and the strategies needed to create community solutions and connections that result in Inclusive Excellence. 

**The AANAPI application from NOVA addresses Competitive Preference Priority 1 – Fostering Flexible and Affordable Paths to Obtaining Knowledge and Skills; Competitive Preference Priority 2 – Applications from New Potential Grantees; and the Invitational Priority – Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on Students’ Mental Health and Academic Outcomes Through Student Support Services.**Via the proposed Intercultural Learning Center, Difference Education Peer Mentor Program, NOVA will improve the knowledge skills and leadership abilities of AANAPI students and connect them to employment and education resources in the community **(Priority 1)**. NOVA has not received an ANNAPISI grant independently or through a joint application or award **(Priority 2)**. Through the creation of the Intercultural Learning Center, and NOVA’s coordinated approach to training faculty in culturally responsive pedagogy and high-impact practices, NOVA will coordinate student/faculty research on the impact of COVID-19 on the AANAPI community and coordinate efforts to provide those impacted with resources to improve their mental and academic health and well-being **(Invitational Priority)**.

**San Diego Messa College, San Diego, CA**

**Title:*****Equity, Empathy & Excellence: Uplifting and Transforming Campus Culture through a Kapwa Lens,*or *Project Kapwa*, is a multipronged, evidence-based design to reduce equity gaps and increase the academic success, retention, graduation, and transfer rates of Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander (APIA) and low-income students.**

By implementing systemic reforms that are equity-informed and tailored to Mesa College’s specific needs, the activities in this proposal, aligned with best practices and evidence-based literature, will lay the foundation for long-term changes in how Mesa College approaches serving its APIA and low-income students. A $1.5 million program of integrated interventions and capacity building activities, *Project Kapwa*will increase the number of APIA and low-income students attaining postsecondary degrees and participating in the growing regional economy, through the following strategies: 

**Strategy 1:**Establish a strong APIA program that aggressively works toward addressing disproportionate impacts on APIA and low-income groups through integrated academic support services and a comprehensive, culturally responsive approach to student success. 

**Strategy 2:**Strengthen the academic infrastructure that supports APIA students and increase awareness of APIA student issues through equity-based and culturally responsive professional development, expanded APIA-focused curriculum, and a new APIA Studies certificate program. 

Project Kapwa’s objectives include: 

**Enrollment:**There will be a 10% increase in the number of APIA and low-income full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students annually enrolled at Mesa 

**Persistence**: The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking APIA students who were in their first year of postsecondary enrollment in prior year and are enrolled in current year at Mesa will increase from 65% to 71.5% 

**Graduation**The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students enrolled at two-year ANNAPISs who graduate within three years of enrollment will increase 5% 

**Student Support Utilization**: The number of students who participate in grant-funded career preparation activities, including civic engagement projects, internships, etc., will increase from 40 to 400 

**Student Support Utilization:**The number of students targeted from APIA groups who participate in grant sponsored English and Personal Growth learning community will increase from zero annually to 125 students annually 

**Professional Development**: 80 faculty and staff will be trained in culturally inclusive approaches to inquiry, teaching and learning that address the needs of APIA, low-income, and disproportionately impacted students, over baseline of 0. 

These strategies and their sub-activities satisfy both **Competitive Preference Priorities**– through expanded work-based learning experiences and internships within in-demand occupations and industry sectors, and Mesa’s status as a possible new AANAPISI grant recipient – as well as the **Invitational Priority**for this competition.

**Seattle Central College (SCC), Seattle, WA**

**Title:  Building Pathways for Student Success**

Seattle Central College (SCC) is recognized as an exemplary open-access learning institution that transforms lives, promotes equity, and enriches the community. Serving metropolitan Seattle and its surrounding communities, SCC’s student population is one of the state’s most diverse, with 32% of its degree-seeking students identifying as Asian American or Native American Pacific Islander (AANAPI). Despite AANAPI students representing the largest student of color subpopulation, SCC does not have any dedicated programming specifically designed to support AANAPI students. 

Through this five-year project, SCC seeks to improve and expand the institution’s capacity to serve and meet the needs of AANAPI and low-income students by implementing the following equity-driven activities: **Activity 1: Community and Belonging**(AANAPISI Center, AANAPISI First-Year Program, Revisions/Redesign of Curricula and Pedagogy); **Activity 2: Academic Success and Career Exploration**(Wraparound Support—Invitational Priority, Peer Mentoring and Tutoring, Career Services and Work-Based Learning—Competitive Preference Priority 1); **and Activity 3: Professional Development on Culturally Responsive and Inclusive Practices**(Professional Development for Faculty/Staff). 

SCC developed these activities in light of AANAPI students’ overrepresentation in Basic and Transitional Studies (BTS), their low rates of transitioning to college-level programs, and their low rates of academic success once there. Through proposed activities, SCC seeks to address these needs and contributing factors, including but not limited to, high rates of being low-income and first-generation coupled with low rates of completing financial aid applications and low satisfaction with financial aid and other key services, as well as a lack of sense of belonging and feeling of isolation due culturally unresponsive curricula, pedagogy, and student services, all of which contribute to SCC’s AANAPI students’ comparatively low rates of academic and career success. 

**Goals: 1) To improve the institution’s capacity to support students’ a) transition to college-level programs and b) academic and career success, and 2) To provide culturally responsive and inclusive curricula, pedagogy, and student services.**

Objective 1: Increase AANAPI students’ rates of transition from pre-college to college 

Objective 2: Increase AANAPI students’ rates of retention, completion, and transfer 

Objective 3: Increase cultural responsiveness and inclusiveness of curriculum, pedagogy, and student services

**Shoreline Community College, Shoreline, WA**

**Title: Student Achievement through Guidance and Engagement (SAGE) project**

Shoreline Community College (Shoreline) serves a diverse student body in which over

19% of Shoreline’s students identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander (referred to

as AAPI students); 29% of Shoreline’s students are eligible for need-based financial aid

(referred to as Pell Eligible or low-income students), and nearly 28% of students are the

first in their family to attend college (i.e. first-generation college students).

The need for increased academic and other support services for AAPI students is

significant. Among Pacific Islander students, 43% are first-generation and 46% are Pell

Eligible. For Asian American students, 30% are first generation and 31% are Pell

Eligible. In 2019, only 14% of AAPI students completed a degree, certificate, or

transferred. For Shoreline’s Pacific Islander students, the completion rate was 11%.

**Purpose:**Through launching the **SAGE project,**Shoreline Community College will

improve and expand the College’s capacity to serve Asian American, Native-American

Pacific Islander, and low-income students. The SAGE project is designed to close

equity gaps by providing comprehensive onboarding, orientation, and financial aid

counseling; critical academic advising and career planning; academic learning activities;

and peer mentoring and tutoring services. The project will also offer programming to

build a sense of belonging and community among AAPI students, who may often feel

excluded or placeless on campus. The SAGE project addresses Competitive

Preference 1 by developing and providing work-based learning opportunities for

students. Competitive Preference 2 is addressed by the fact that the College has never

received a Title III AANAPISI grant award. Shoreline’s SAGE project goals include:

**Goal 1.**To increase by **2 percentage points**each year of the grant, the rate at which

SAGE students earn their first 15 college credits

**Goal 2.**Each year, increase fall-to-fall retention by **2 percentage points**and degree

completion or transfer by **2 percentage points**

**Goal 3.**To build institutional capacity and increase faculty, staff, and overall college

awareness and understanding of AAPI cultures and develop meaningful classroom

interventions and strategies to respectfully engage with AAPI and low-income students

**Project services include:**

• Comprehensive onboarding and enrollment navigation

• Mandatory orientation

• Financial aid counseling

• Student success course with embedded Peer Mentors

• Proactive career navigation, planning, and advising

• Peer mentoring

• Peer tutoring for gateway math and English

• Professional develop events and Community of Practice for faculty

**South Seattle College (SSC), Seattle, WA**

**Title: AANAPISI Center Serving AA&PI students of South Seattle College**

South Seattle College (SSC) is one of three comprehensive public community colleges in the Seattle Colleges District (SCD) and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. South’s service area spans South King County, the region of King County that demonstrates a high need for services due to disparities in income, education levels and job opportunities. The AANAPISI project will plan, develop, undertake, and carry out activities to improve and expand the capacity to serve AA&PI and low-income students. The project will provide wraparound support through an individualized, strength-based approach and easy access to opportunities such as: 

1. AANAPISI Center: Drop-in and scheduled academic tutoring and learning center with computer lab, study groups lead by faculty and peer tutors, peer mentoring activities, and college and community resources. 

2. Proactive Academic Advising and Mentoring: Staff will maintain a consistent high level of contact with participants to offer advice on course selection, degree and transfer planning and address challenges through an Early Alert system to promote timely problem resolution and progress toward graduation. 

3. Academic Assessment and Education Planning: Coordination with faculty and students to assess participant’s academic progress twice quarterly and encourage communication. AANAPISI advisors will require all students to create and maintain an Education Plan that provides a pathway to completion. 

4. Student and Faculty Engagement Workshops: Interactive roundtable discussions facilitated by Peer Mentors, inviting AA&PI staff and faculty to share advice and receive feedback from students. 

5. Development of AA&PI Studies Course: The curriculum will focus on the complex social, cultural, political, artistic, and historical aspects of AA&PI life. Classes will include guest speakers from the college (both staff and faculty) who identify as AA&PI, have obtained an advanced degree, and can share their challenges as well as positive experiences from their educational journey. 

The AANAPISI center will be a welcoming environment that supports students from diverse backgrounds and who may face obstacles to completing their education. By providing a variety of culturally responsive activities such as peer mentor programs and faculty and student engagement opportunities, students will feel a connection to their school and inevitably lead to success in academics.

**University of Hawaii at Mānoa (UHM), Honolulu, HI**

**Title: University of Hawaii at Manoa AANAPISI Project**

The University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (UHM) proposes to serve a minimum of 300 participants

through its ***UHM AANAPISI Project***. Prospective participants include Asian American Native

American Pacific Islander (AANAPI) high school seniors attending three target schools on

O`ahu. These schools contain a majority of AANAPI students and high rates of low-income

students: Farrington High School, Waipahu High School, and Kaimuki High School. Participants

will also be incoming AANAPI students transferring from UH community colleges, and first-time freshmen and continuing AANAPI students currently attending UHM. Outreach efforts will

be made to recruit continuing and transfer AANAPI students who are Pell-eligible or who are

Pell recipients.

The project will conduct intensive academic activities to increase student retention in and

graduation from college. These include regular academic advising, peer and on-line tutoring, an

automated contact system, skill development in reading, research, and writing, co-requisite

academic course and academic clusters, work-based learning experiences and summer

internships. In addition, the project will also provide non-academic support activities to promote

skill development in financial literacy, time management, and intercultural competency and to

facilitate opportunities for AANAPI students to engage in community, civic, and cultural

activities.

The project will employ 3 full-time staff: a Project Director, an Outreach Coordinator and a

Retention Coordinator. Under the proposed grant, UHM requests $300,000 to accomplish the

following objectives:

1. COLLEGE ENROLLMENT: Increase the number of high-need AANAPI students enrolled

at UHM by 30%.

2. COLLEGE RETENTION: Improve the 2nd year retention rate of full-time, high need

AANAPI students enrolled at UHM by 20%.

3. POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT: Improve the 6th year graduation rate of full-time, high

need AANAPI students enrolled at UHM by 10%.

**University of Nevada (UNLV), Nevada, Las Vegas**

**Title: University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) AANAPISI STEM & Health Sciences Project**

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 and degrees for the more than two million residents of Clark County, Nevada. 

Annually, from 2021-2026, the **UNLV AANAPISI STEM and Health Sciences Project**(“the project”) will serve **100**UNLV undergraduates who are low-income (LI) and/or first-generation-college (FG) students, are STEM or Health Sciences (or potential STEM or Health Sciences) majors, and have a need for academic support in order to persist in higher education and complete a baccalaureate degree. Moreover, at least 45% of project participants will be AANAPI students and no less than 84% of project participants will be LI individuals. With the full support of the UNLV administration and 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 and financial aid); 

• Frequent, ongoing academic progress monitoring; 

• Life design acceleration, which is a sequence of strategic career-development interventions that culminate in internships and micro-internships in in-demand industry sectors or occupations (in response to *FY2021 Competitive Preference Priority #1: Fostering Flexible and Affordable Paths to Obtaining Knowledge and Skills*); 

• Opportunities to conduct undergraduate research under the supervision of UNLV STEM and Health Science faculty; and 

• Access to a lending library of STEM and Health Sciences textbooks. 

Additionally, the project will create and build an endowment fund that, after federal funding ends in 2026, will be utilized to ensure the lending library is maintained and updated in perpetuity so that LI undergraduates at UNLV can benefit from the library long into the future. Finally, the project will organize and sponsor an ongoing series of cultural competency workshops for UNLV STEM and Health Sciences faculty, with the end goal being to increase the capacity of instructors to interact with and teach all UNLV student populations effectively. 

The aforementioned services will assist participants with overcoming barriers that would otherwise impede their academic progress and lead to their premature departure from STEM or Health Sciences fields of study or even higher education altogether. 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 and graduate/professional programs. Finally, at rates substantially higher than those of LI and FG students who have a need for academic support but receive no assistance from the project, participants will: 

• Persist from year to year in their respective degree programs; and 

• Graduate from UNLV with baccalaureate degrees in four, five, and six-year time frames.