**84.382A – Strengthening Predominantly Black Institutions (Competitive Grants) Program**

FY 2011 Project Abstracts

(CLICK ON PAGE NUMBER TO VIEW ABSTRACT)

**1****ALBANY TECHNICAL COLLEGE******

**2****ATLANTA TECHNICAL COLLEGE******

**3****AUGUSTA TECHNICAL COLLEGE******

**4****BALTIMORE CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE******

**5****BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE******

**6****CENTRAL CAROLINA TECHNICAL COLLEGE******

**7****CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY******

**8****COLUMBUS TECHNICAL COLLEGE******

**9****COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA******

**10****DEKALB TECHNICAL COLLEGE******

**11****FLORENCE-DARLINGTON TECHNICAL COLLEGE******

**12****HINDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT******

**14****KENNEDY-KING COLLEGE (CITY COLLEGES OF CHICAGO)******

**15****LOS ANGELES SOUTHWEST COLLEGE******

**16****MID-SOUTH COMMUNITY COLLEGE******

**17****MISSISSIPPI DELTA COMMUNITY COLLEGE******

**18****OLIVE-HARVEY COLLEGE (CITY COLLEGES OF CHICAGO)******

**19****PIEDMONT TECHNICAL COLLEGE******

**20****PRAIRIE STATE COLLEGE******

**21****ST.LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE******

**22****SOJOURNER-DOUGLASS COLLEGE******

**23****SOUTH GEORGIA TECHNICAL COLLEGE******

**24****SOUTHWEST TENNESSEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE******

**25****TECHNICAL COLLEGE OF THE LOWCOUNTRY******

**26****WEST LOS ANGELES COLLEGE******

**27****YORK COLLEGE (THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK)******

****

# ALBANY TECHNICAL COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110002

***State:***Georgia

Albany Technical College (ATC) is a public postsecondary institution located in southwest Georgia, the most economically disadvantaged region in the state. A college within the Technical College System of Georgia, ATC provides technical education and training support for 4,747 full-time and 1,692 part-time students through 29 associate degree programs; 43 diplomas; and 91 certificates. Currently, 75 percent of ATC’s student population is African American. In fiscal year 2010, the number of students who received financial aid through Pell grants was 4,335. The main campus is located in Albany with adult learning centers present in all seven of ATC’s service delivery counties: Baker, Calhoun, Clay, Dougherty, Lee, Randolph, and Terrell. When viewed as a whole, the service area represents a picture of a region that is primarily African American with a significant percentage of its citizens affected by higher rates of unemployment, poverty, and lower educational attainment levels than other regions of the state and the nation. 

ATC is seeking PBI funding to strengthen its STEM programs through implementation of an innovative program entitled, “**Students Achieving Success in Engineering Technology**” (SASET). The goal of the project is to increase success, persistence, and graduation rates for African-American students in the STEM area of Engineering Technology—a field that is vastly underrepresented by African American students and members of the workforce. The project design of the SASET program is entirely appropriate to and addresses the needs of the target population of African-American high school students who have been admitted to the Joint Enrollment program for study in one of ATC’s Engineering Technology programs. It is designed to increase mathematical competency by training students during the academic year in the most current and relevant ways using active learning methods that draw on engineering principles and that anchor the often highly-theoretical subject matter in real-world concepts and practices. These students will also take part in an innovative Summer Robotics Academy. In addition, the project addresses the need for instructor re-training and collaboration, and the availability, based on learning trends and best practices nationwide, of learning communities and other partnerships. It will also provide for a dedicated space on ATC’s main campus where students, instructors, and community stakeholders can meet. Improved and necessary equipment relevant to the newly redesigned math courses will also be housed in this space along with the appropriate computer hardware and software. 

ATC’s project is fully aligned with the purposes of the PBI program which are to strengthen ATC to carry out programs in STEM and to improve educational outcomes of African American males. In addition, ATC’s project meets the two competitive priority areas by enabling increased data-based decision making for the purpose of increasing postsecondary success for this high-need population.

# ATLANTA TECHNICAL COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110052

***State:***Georgia

Atlanta Technical College (ATC) is a comprehensive, urban, public, two-year community and technical college serving Fulton County, south of the Chattahoochee River and Clayton County Georgia, and operates as a postsecondary institution under the governance of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG). Through funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Predominantly Black Institutions Program, ATC proposes to serve low-income, low-achieving, underserved populations, in particular minorities, wishing to engage in developing themselves by pursing academic achievement in STEM or healthcare-related training programs at Atlanta Technical College. Through this project, ATC will implement sustainable measures and solutions to low enrollment, retention and graduation among STEM and healthcare program students. 

This federal grant will be used to improve educational outcomes of the target population through implementing a coordinated campus-based initiative called the Student Teacher Advisement and Retention (STAR) Center. The proposed project is a student success center that provides high-quality programs and services to include: recruitment and orientation programs, assessment and placement programs, developmental/remediation learning support, academic enrichment and additional social support services that are often barriers to academic achievement. 

ATC, through the establishment of the STAR Center, will provide students seeking academic credentials to support STEM or health-related occupations with superior performance, service and quality for the achievement of the following goals: 

1) To provide awareness of STEM and heath-related programs at the postsecondary level;

2) To provide access to STEM and heath-related programs at the postsecondary level; and

3) To insure student success in postsecondary STEM and health-related programs. 

# AUGUSTA TECHNICAL COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110011

***State:***Georgia

The purpose of Augusta Technical College’s Predominately Black Institutions (PBI) application is to strengthen programs which improve the educational outcomes of African American male students. Gaps in education achievement signaled to college staff a critical need to focus programs, resources, and data analysis on the African American male student population on their four campuses.

Each activity has been designed to address the goals and objectives of the PBI program, competitive preference priorities and to strategically align with the needs of the college’s African American male (AA M) student population:

The Augusta Technical College PBI project will be implemented through three objectives and key strategies:

**Objective 1: Increase the academic success of AA M students in targeted developmental courses by 4 percent.**

· A writing and math lab entitled the Center for Learning and Academic Support Services –****CLASS -- will be opened on campus to supplement and target learning in key skills that****are often barriers for African American male students who test into developmental level,****pre-college course work based on the COMPASS assessment and placement tool.

**Objective 2: Increase the retention rate of AA M students by 4 percent.**

· A Student Success Coordinator will provide targeted and aggressive individual case****management and service intervention planning for African American male students.****He/She will manage, along with the Learning Support Advisor, the learning support****advising, learning support registration and learning support course selection process****including identifying and scheduling academic and support services for the AA M student****who is not fully engaged in services offered on campus.

· A week-long faculty professional development academy will be offered to best educate****and train faculty on developmental education strategies impacting the success of their****African American male students. The academy curriculum is designed to increase AA M****retention rate by fostering faculty cultural competencies and understanding of the****developmental education pedagogy.

**Objective 3: Increase the College’s information technology (IT) and institutional research (IR) capacity as demonstrated by improved reporting.**

· Infrastructure improvements that will support the college in evaluating and analyzing****programs serving African American male students.

· Adopt “Achieving the Dream” national strategy to collect and analyze student performance data in order to build a culture of evidence.

# BALTIMORE CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110018

***State:***Maryland

Baltimore City Community College (BCCC), a minority-serving institution with a 2008-2009 Black American undergraduate unduplicated enrollment of 83 percent, proposes to strengthen its Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) by implementing a program targeting African American males. Through the proposed ***Academic Acceleration for African American Males Program (4A Program)***, Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) will improve the educational outcomes of high-need African American males who persist in and complete college.

The overall goals of the 4A Program, which addresses the goals of the PBI Program, are twofold: 

1) to increase the participation rates of urban African American males from diverse backgrounds in higher education; and 

2) to improve the college degree completion rate of urban African American males through academic acceleration with supportive services.

An academic acceleration model with supportive services was chosen for the ***4A Program*** because data from a pilot program and internal BCCC data (reflecting national trends) show that if African American males do not graduate in one to three years, chances increase that they will drop out of college. Strategies/activities to improve enrollment, retention, persistence, and graduation rates among African American males in the Teacher Education Program include: a) an intensive and accelerated three-week course (Second Chance Program) for African American male students who wish to attain an Associate of Arts Degree in General Studies (and transfer to a four-year college or university) but do not pass developmental reading, English, and mathematics; and b) supportive services (such as mentors, intensive advisement, specialized tutors, and case management).

The ***4A Program*** will meet the two Competitive Preference Priorities:

1) Increasing Postsecondary Success – Increasing the number and proportion of high-need students (as defined in this notice) who persist in and complete college or other postsecondary education and training; and

2) Enabling More Data-Based Decision-Making –  Projects that are designed to collect (or obtain), analyze, and use high-quality and timely data, including data on program participant outcomes, in accordance with privacy requirements, in the following priority area: Improving postsecondary student outcomes relating to enrollment, persistence, and completion and leading to career success.

# BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110030 

***State:***New Jersey

Bloomfield College (Bloomfield, NJ), is a fully-accredited, four-year liberal arts institution that has a total undergraduate enrollment of 2,168 students including 1,165 (53.7 percent) Black Americans, 1,417 (65.4 percent) low income or first generation, and 359 (16.6 percent) African American Male students. 

The Bloomfield College PBI 2011 Project requests $2,400,000 to assist its African-American and other disadvantaged students by implementing the following activities in support of the goals and objectives of the Predominantly Black Institutions Program:

The proposal has provided detailed information on: the need for the project; the project design; the project services; the project personnel; the resources; the management plan; and the project evaluation plan.

# CENTRAL CAROLINA TECHNICAL COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110003

***State:***South Carolina

Central Carolina Technical College (CCTC) is an open-door, public, two-year institution serving four counties in central South Carolina. The college enrolls approximately 4,400 students, 51 percent of whom are first generation, low income, high need and minority students who face multiple barriers in enrolling and completing postsecondary education. 

CCTC has identified four areas of need for this PBI project: 

1) Significant numbers of academically underprepared students enter the College and are placed into developmental education courses; 

2) First-generation college students, especially African American (AA) males and high need students, lack the skills and support to negotiate college processes, select appropriate coursework and majors, and manage college requirements which results in high attrition; 

3) Low enrollment of AA males; and

4) Low graduation rates of AA males. 

CCTC’s PBI project goals support: 

1) the College’s mission to provide services and programs that contribute to personal growth, economic development, and an improved quality of life for area residents; 

2) the GPRA goal to “Ensure the accessibility, affordability and accountability of higher education, and better prepare students and adults for employment and future learning;” and 

3) the PBI program goal of improving the capacity of minority-serving institutions. 

CCTC has designed a comprehensive, collaborative and integrated institutional project with the following goals: 

· Increase the enrollment of high need students including AA males by providing enhanced academic support that improves postsecondary educational outcomes. (CCTC Initiative - *Academics in Motion (AIM) and Men in Motion (MIM*)) 

· Increase success (retention) of high need students including AA male students in the postsecondary environment by providing integrated academic and career services. (CCTC Initiative – *Careers in Motion (CIM) and Academics in Motion (AIM))*

· Increase the graduation rate of high need students and AA males. *Men in Motion (MIM), Careers in Motion (CIM), and Academics in Motion (AIM)*) 

The PBI program will allow the college to implement specific academic, advisement, and institutional support services identified as best practices through research of predominantly black and other higher education institutions. Key measures of success will demonstrate: 

· Increased numbers of AA males and high need students transitioning from developmental level courses into college level courses as a result of participation in *Academics in Motion*, an academic recovery program, at least one semester ahead of schedule. 

· Increased numbers of AA male and other high need students receiving grade of C or better in targeted college level and technology coursework. 

· Increased opportunities for counseling and participation in career and support services activities for AA males and high need students. 

· Increased opportunities for development of life and career skills in *Men in Motion*, a CCTC learning community focused on AA males. 

# CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY

***PR Award Number:***P382A110049

***State:***Illinois

Chicago State University (CSU) proposes to develop and establish the Center for STEM Education & Research (CSER). The purpose of CSER is to connect existing Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) programs, align them with the various STEM disciplines within the university, and provide support to student-faculty research collaborations as well as grant-funded research projects and programs, and to help research faculty to better prepare students for STEM challenges of the future.

The goals of this Center are to:

1) Increase America's Talent Pool by Improving STEM Education for Students in Grades 6-12.

2) Enhance Student Awareness of and Motivation for STEM Education and Careers through Improved Information, Mentoring and Outreach.

3) Provide Resources and Professional Development to Boost Faculty Research and Proposal Writing Productivity.

Establishing links between the STEM grade 6-12 activities, training and research grants, Centers, faculty, and students at CSU is a central component of the proposed CSER. To accomplish these goals, the CSER will concentrate its efforts on four specific areas to promote STEM advancement at CSU. These are environment, experiences, exposure and evaluation. Each consists of:

**Environment:**Provide positive surrounding influences that encourage and promote STEM learning.

**Experiences:**Foster the acquisition of knowledge and skills by engaging CSU students in STEM K-12 and undergraduate research activities.

**Evaluation:**Promote continual assessment and evaluation using rigorous formative and summative research methods and design.

**Exposure:**Disseminate information and introduce students to new STEM events and activities such international field trips, conferences & speakers.

Providing substantive and formal connections to all STEM-funded programs using this model will provide an increase in the number of students exposed to opportunities in STEM, hence improving the overall STEM talent pool.

# COLUMBUS TECHNICAL COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110001

***State:***Georgia 

Columbus Technical College (CTC) serves a five-county, predominantly rural region including Chattahoochee, Harris, Muscogee, Quitman, and Stewart counties in the southwest area of Georgia. In 2008-09, CTC’s black student population was 45 percent and grew to 51 percent for 2009-10, as compared to 42 percent for the service area. The college serves a student population that is more than 75 percent economically disadvantaged in keeping with a region that averages over 19 percent of the population living below the poverty level, 5 percent higher than the state average. Postsecondary completion rates are significantly below national rates with only an average of 16.4 percent of the population from the five-county region holding a bachelor’s degree compared to 24.3 percent state-wide and 24.4 percent for the nation.

CTC’s project has the primary goal of improving access to and completion of associate degree programs in allied health, while also supporting other students enrolled in associate degree offerings in the School of Business and the School of Professional and Technical Services. CTC will establish a Biology Learning Support Lab, which will provide tutorial resources and hands-on learning experiences for students, specifically targeting low completion rates in critical allied health core courses such as Anatomy and Physiology. CTC will establish a Mathematics Enrichment Center to address the more than 70 percent of student admitted to the college not prepared for associate degree course work, especially College Algebra. The Center staff will provide students with individualized gap assessments and prescriptions and online tutoring tailored to these gaps with the goal to accelerate the time required in remedial courses.

CTC will also establish a Student Success Hub on campus to target students having difficulty transitioning to associate degree programs and will concentrate on increasing the percentage of black males currently enrolled in allied health associate degree programs by partnering students with professional healthcare mentors that will assist them with preparing for the competitive admission process.

The following goals and objectives support the purpose of the PBI Program in that they will strengthen CTC’s health education programs and improve the educational outcomes of African American students:

1)  improve percentage of students admitted to associate degree programs;

2)  increase percentage of black males admitted to the allied health associate degree programs;

3) improve student performance in the allied health associate degree competitive admissions process;

4)  increase the percentage of allied health certificate students who complete the competitive admissions process for associate degree programs;

5) increase faculty and staff knowledge/expertise to effectively integrate student success strategies into course work; and

6)  increase the percentage of faculty who incorporate best practices in student success strategies and integrate these strategies in the classroom for both traditional and on-line courses.

The project supports the PBI preference priorities: (1) increasing the number and proportion of high-need students who persist in and complete college; and (2) enabling more data-based decision making to foster increased enrollment in allied health associate degree programs and ensure student persistence and graduation.

# COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA

***PR Award Number:***P382110012

***State:***Pennsylvania

Community College of Philadelphia (the College) is an open-access associate degree-granting institution that provides access to higher education for all who may benefit. With an enrollment of almost 25,000 degree-seeking students, the College is the largest institution of higher education in Philadelphia and the sixth largest in Pennsylvania. With an African American student population of over 53 percent, the College is the largest single point of access for minorities into higher education in Pennsylvania. At the College, 70 percent of full-time students and 60 percent of part-time students receive financial aid. Of all the students who apply for financial aid, 64 percent qualify for need-based aid, and 56 percent of the student population is offered some form of need-based aid.

Through a $600,000/year four-year grant, the Predominantly Black Institutions program will allow the College to focus on improving the educational outcomes of African American male students through the Center for Male Engagement (CME). The CME provides a community where males are supported by peers and mentors, and encouraged to take advantage of the myriad academic and social opportunities in their new college environment. Through this grant, the CME will enroll four cohorts of 200 first-time-in-college African American male students and provide them with support coaches, counseling, academic support, life skills workshops, cultural enrichment activities and financial assistance as needed. A drop-in service model will allow an additional 400 males to receive services.

The goals of the program are as follows:

**Goal 1:**To achieve higher levels of academic performance and persistence rates among African American male members of the Center for Male Engagement.

**Goal 2**: To increase student engagement and social responsibility of African American male students at the Community College of Philadelphia.

**Goal 3:**To provide a summer enrichment program for African American males who are entering college for the first time.

**Goal 4**:To provide recommendations for best practices for retention and satisfaction of African American male students at community colleges.

Key measures of success for this program include increases in the fall-to-spring and fall-to-fall persistence rates, and percent passing grades in college-designated ‘gatekeeper’ courses for African American males; increase in life skills among African American male members of the CME; and a decrease in the percentage of African American males facing adverse action through the College’s judicial process. An external evaluation will assist with measuring these outcomes, as well as provide a formative and summative evaluation of the success of the entire program. At the completion of the project, the College will disseminate key outcomes of the program that contributed to the success of male students at the College through conference presentations, literary articles and presentations to college faculty and staff.

# DEKALB TECHNICAL COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110039

***State:***Georgia

DeKalb Technical College (DTC), a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia, was established in 1961 and serves DeKalb, Newton, Rockdale, and Morgan counties in the east metropolitan Atlanta area. DTC currently has approximately 4,000 students enrolled in diploma or degree programs and more than 9,000 in adult education classes. Academic and technical programs at DeKalb Tech cover more than 100 different occupations.

DeKalb Technical College seeks to strengthen its ability to enhance higher education opportunities for low-income African-American male students and improve student persistence with support from Predominantly Black Institutions Competitive Grant funding. DeKalb Technical College student population is characterized as low-income and African-American. In FY 2010, 75.2 percent of the student population was African-American and 86.7 percent received financial aid.

PBI Competitive Grant support will be used for two initiatives by DTC to improve the educational outcomes for its student body, including African American males, with two partnering approaches: implementation of the Achieving the Dream initiative, in order to enable more data-based decision making; and implementation of a proactive Learning Support Redesign Initiative to decrease the program time and increase the number and percentage of students, including African American males, who become program ready, leading to improved student success.

Grant funded initiatives will result in implementation of a data-based decision making initiative to guide institutional approaches to student retention and completion; and a 90 percent course completion rate and a 15 percent increase in retention for Learning Support Students, including African American males.

# FLORENCE-DARLINGTON TECHNICAL COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110026

***State:***South Carolina

Florence-Darlington Technical College (FDTC) is one of sixteen two-year colleges in South Carolina’s Technical College System. Its service areas of Florence, Darlington and Marion Counties are challenged with some of the highest poverty rates in the nation, coupled with some of the lowest educational attainment rates among African Americans in the Southeast. FDTC proposes addressing this issue through development of Project RISE (Realizing and Inspiring Success through Education). The RISE initiative is designed to strengthen and motivate African American students both personally and academically through: (1) the creation of a resource support and transition center, the RISE Center, providing targeted gender-specific services for the improvement of educational outcomes, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) performance, and health education; (2) the creation of a textbook lending library to increase retention and success in prerequisite and entry-level STEM courses; (3) an increase in STEM faculty professional development; and (4) the establishment of a student incentive program. 

RISE is an original and innovative educational opportunity for African American students at FDTC. The RISE Center will serve as a new model resource and transition center which can be replicated across the state and the nation. The RISE Center will consist of counselors who will work with students to promote academic and personal success according to their gender-specific needs. This resource center will serve to foster a sense of belonging among African American students on the FDTC campus and will assist students with the acclimation to college culture. 

African American women make up 35 percent of the student population at FDTC outnumbering white females by 40 percent. Their responsibilities include managing careers, raising children, attending college, and fulfilling other family and community obligations. The RISE Center will offer services such as career counseling, single-parent and other parent support groups focusing on the family’s role in education, personal goal-setting and health education workshops, and the provision of a network of other resources devoted to the unique experiences of African American females and their personal and academic success. The RISE Center will provide African American females with a venue for listening, learning, empathizing, and coping with their given circumstances while simultaneously achieving academic success. The Center will also provide a venue for the proven strategy for success for minority students, positive peer and mentor relationships to support educational and social growth. 

The American Council on Education published a startling fact: African American males have the lowest graduation rate among any other group of students. For African American males, the RISE counselors will work to add relevance to their education through a variety of different activities such as real-world STEM workshops to enhance student learning. An additional focus on outreach, mentorship, internship, and guidance will serve disadvantaged African American males along with self-esteem and goal achievement workshops designed to break through the stigma that African American males are under-achievers. 

Additional assistance will be given to student participants including customized college advisement and counseling activities, creation and promotion of a college-bound culture through workshops provided by FDTC personnel, and health education and wellness opportunities. Project RISE, an original and motivational degree-attainment initiative, is geared towards this significant student population and will provide African American students at FDTC with the encouragement and support needed at the postsecondary level that has been previously unavailable to them.

# HINDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

***PR Award Number:***P382A110047

***State:***Mississippi

Hinds Community College (HCC) provides quality, affordable education across a five-county district in Central Mississippi on six campuses. The population of Hinds County, the location of four campuses, is more than two-thirds African American. The Jackson Academic Technical Center (ATC), centrally located in the capitol city of Jackson, MS, has the largest minority student population among the three HCC campuses that qualify under the PBI program. Jackson ATC provides training and degrees in 18 technical career fields as well as academic coursework qualifying students for an Associate of Arts degree and GED preparation and testing for non-high school graduates. Enrollment at Jackson ATC comprises approximately 20 percent of the total HCC district enrollment. For the 2009 and 2010 years, enrollment at Jackson ATC was 1,960 and 2,544, respectively. Of the total enrollments for those years, white males comprised less than 2 percent, white females less than 5 percent, black (AA) females 69 percent, and black (AA) males 22 percent. 

The need is high: Considering the demographics of the geographic area served by the campus, African American males are the most underrepresented group at Jackson ATC. In addition, African American males, on average, have lower persistence rates and lower grade point averages than all other HCC students combined. To address the need, HCC proposes the *Minority Male (M2) Leadership Initiative*, a comprehensive program of student support services, academic assessments and interventions promoting sustained academic readiness, academic and career counseling, faculty and staff development, and one-on-one mentoring promoting identity development. 

The proposed *M2 Leadership Initiative*aligns with the PBI program’s purpose by providing access to high-quality educational opportunities and proposing measures to ensure student persistence and success. HCC proposes to improve the educational outcomes of African American males and others who may qualify by: 

1) Identifying barriers affecting persistence and graduation rates of African American males enrolled at the Jackson Academic Technical Center.

2) Establishing and conducting partnership activities with such institutions as Alcorn State University, to increase the number of minority males in the pipeline who are prepared to earn baccalaureate degrees at Mississippi public universities.

3) Providing support services such as academic and mental health counseling, mentoring, peer-support groups, special-topics workshops, orientation, financial workshops and other assistance to increase retention, transfer, GPA, and completion rates.

4) Leveraging community partnerships and resources to increase recruitment of minority males as well as awareness of and support for the M2 Leadership Initiative. 

5) Enhancing awareness among faculty members and staff of the challenges faced by African American males entering college. Particularly, faculty/staff professional development and sensitivity training will be a vital project component resulting in increased awareness of the far-reaching implications of the poverty endured by many African American males who enroll at HCC’s Jackson ATC.

6) Sharing—via a best practices summit—educational and support services models and processes developed during the M2 Leadership Initiative for replication at other Mississippi community colleges and other institutions across the nation. 

The *M2 Leadership Initiative*includes community outreach and awareness building, a specialized orientation, peer and community mentoring, tutoring services, various workshops and seminars, faculty/staff development activities, and thorough formative and summative evaluation.

# KENNEDY-KING COLLEGE (CITY COLLEGES OF CHICAGO)

***PR Award Number:***P382A110034

***State:***Illinois

Kennedy-King College (KKC) is one of the seven colleges located within Chicago in Illinois Community College District 507, known as the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC). CCC, established in 1911, is a comprehensive public community college system dedicated to serving the educational needs of Chicago’s diverse population. The college is accredited separately from the other City Colleges by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges; the latest ten-year re-accreditation took place in 2006.

Today CCC serves over 120,000 students in its various programs. One project is proposed to enable KKC to increase its numbers of tutors, mentors, and advisors to respond to students’ academic and social needs. The college has determined to: 1) develop a Transfer Academy to provide students with the skills needed to make the transition from the two-year college to four-year colleges, as well as into the workforce; and 2) increase its tutoring, mentoring, and advising capacity through the establishment of a First-Year Academy. This project is designed to address the overarching need to increase African American male enrollment at the College and to increase those students’ success in college courses and retention from semester-to-semester, ultimately leading to degree and certificate completion.

**Project Objectives**: Establish clear recruitment/enrollment pathways with existing Adult Education/GED students and feeder high schools; Provide services that promote Black male students’ connection to KKC and motivation to remain enrolled; Provide Black male students with intensive academic enrichment; Develop capacity at KKC to provide focused career and transfer counseling and tracking of KKC graduates.

**Proposed Outcomes**: A Career and Transfer Center will be established; Black male graduates will transfer to four-year institutions at a rate five percent higher than baseline (Year 2); 10 percent higher than baseline (Year 3); 12 percent higher than baseline (Year 4); there will be a10 percent increase in the rate of Black male students successfully completing “gateway” courses; 20 new tutors will be hired in demonstrated high-need areas (Math, Reading, English, Computer Information Systems); 100 percent of full-time Math and English faculty members will receive professional development on tailoring instruction to students requiring remediation; a mentor program will be established to serve 50 Black male students; two additional college advisors will be hired; one college advisor will be assigned a caseload comprised of Adult Ed/GED students in their final year of the program; the number of Adult Ed/GED completers enrolling in credit courses will increase by 15 percent; Math placement test scores of incoming Black male students selected via the recruitment program will be one level higher than counterparts’; and the number of African American males enrolling at KKC will increase by 10 percent.

# LOS ANGELES SOUTHWEST COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110019

***State:***California

Los Angeles Southwest College (LASC), a two-year, public, urban community college located in the heart of South Los Angeles, California, enrolls nearly 14,000 students per year. Over sixty percent (63.2 percent) are African American and 63.4 percent are low-income or the first in their families to attend college. 

The Predominantly Black Institutions Program will allow LASC to improve the educational outcomes of African American male students through the expansion of the Passage Program. The Passage Program is a comprehensive, culturally responsive student support services program, based on the state-recognized Umoja Model. Through this grant, the Passage Program will serve 200 incoming and current African American male students each year. 

Funding from the Department of Education will strengthen the institution’s capacity to achieve the following Passage Program goals: 

1) Improve the performance of African American male students in core institutional effectiveness measures, such as persistence and course completion; 

2) Strengthen the integration of academic and student services to enhance student success; and,

3) Increase engagement among African American male students. 

The Passage Program will implement the following activities: extended orientation, rites of passage events, learning communities, linked courses, intrusive counseling, service learning, tutoring, student club activities, mentoring, educational and cultural enrichment activities, and an African American male summit. 

The PBI Coordinator with assistance from an Assistant Research Analyst and external evaluator will conduct a comprehensive evaluation that will facilitate data-based decision making; measure program outcomes; document lessons learned; and, identify strategies that contributed to the success of male students and best practices to be sustained at the end of the funding period.

# MID-SOUTH COMMUNITY COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110010

***State:***Arkansas

Mid-South Community College, a rapidly-growing two-year college in West Memphis, Arkansas, serves an impoverished, undereducated county in the Mississippi River Delta. While the county population is 49.8 percent African American, MSCC’s African American headcount enrollment is higher at 57 percent. Sixty-nine percent of our more than 2,300 students are degree-seeking. Most (85 percent) are first generation in college, and 63 percent receive Pell grants. Students arrive largely under-prepared for college courses: 88 percent require remediation in one or more subjects, and over half of developmental math students make less than a C in their first math class. African American males are the least likely group to experience academic success: in spring 2010, their overall grade point average was 1.92, compared to a college average of 2.27. For those in technical and Allied Health programs, it was even lower, at just 1.75. While our population would benefit from a strong advising program and from participation in academic support services, few students take advantage of what is available. Advising is typically little more than registering students for self-selected courses. Tutoring is limited and is not required for those in academic difficulties. 

Given these challenges, it is no surprise that retention and graduation rates are low: overall retention is only 49 percent, with African American males lagging that average at just 32.5 percent. Students in technical and Allied Health programs achieve 45.2 percent retention, compared to 52.5 percent for those in the Associate of Arts transfer-oriented program. The three-year graduation rate for the fall 2006 cohort of first-time, full-time students was a discouraging 4.3 percent, compared to a state two-year college average of 17.2 percent. 

This proposal aligns with the purpose of the PBI Program by strengthening a predominantly black institution’s ability to carry out programs in STEM, health education, and teacher education and to increase the success of African American males. The college proposes to use PBI funds to: (1) develop contextualized instruction in developmental math, developmental communications, and basic science, with required skills embedded in STEM, Allied Health, and Teacher Education courses; (2) provide professional development in intrusive developmental advising and proven ways of working effectively with diverse students; (3) institute a full-scale Structured Learning Assistance (SLA) program to provide supplemental support in developmental math, College Algebra, Physical Science, General Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, Composition I, and Social Science courses where student success is unacceptably low; and (4) develop an additional group of experiences shown by research to be effective in building retention and success of African American males (mentoring, leadership training, increased social opportunities on campus, access to recreational opportunities, and training in entrepreneurship). 

By developing these services, the college will increase full-time student enrollment, retention of first-time, full-time students, and three-year graduation by at least 5 percentage points each over baselines of 37.4 percent, 49.7 percent, and 4.6 percent respectively. As a result of professional development, at least 75 percent of advisors will demonstrate increased knowledge of existing campus retention services and techniques for intrusive developmental advising. With faculty and student facilitators trained in SLA methods, the percentage of D/F/W grades for courses supported by Structured Learning Assistance will be at least ten percentage points lower than in the same courses before implementation of SLA. At least 70 percent of students in courses incorporating contextualized skills will achieve target skill levels. 

# MISSISSIPPI DELTA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110022

***State:***Mississippi

Mississippi Delta Community College (Moorhead, MS) is located near the geographical center of the Mississippi Delta; founded in 1926, fully accredited since 1928; two-year public, rural, residential and commuter community college; 3,300 students in the fall of 2010.

Mississippi Delta Community College is proposing one activity: the ***PATHFINDERS of Mississippi Delta Community College (MDCC).***

This project aims to properly assess, develop, and implement educational support and mentoring strategies to consistently increase the persistence rate among MDCC Black males especially as it relates to the academic study fields of English, reading, mathematics, and the sciences. The project identifies the problem and then strategies and activities to strengthen the College’s response to meeting student needs related to: 1) financial aid; 2) English, reading, mathematics, and science curricula and instruction; 3) academic support services and finally; 4) student social services. 

The seven-county primary service area, which MDCC serves, documents that two-thirds of its population is identified as living at the 200 percent poverty level, and over one-third have an annual income of less than $13,000. Unemployment levels run well over 200 percent above other parts of the state and nation. 

The five defined outcomes or objectives of the *MDCC PATHFINDERS* Program are: 

1) 175 full-time Black males will be selected to participate in the *PATHFINDERS of MDCC* Program with 97 percent successfully completing the semester annually;

2) increase the MDCC persistence rate among Black males from the current rate of 20 percent to a rate of 40 percent;

3)  increase the course completion rate and average grade earned in all levels of developmental courses at MDCC among Black males from the current 33 percent rate to a 69 percent rate;

4) increase service use of: Learning Center (by 43 percent), academic advisement (by 40 percent) , and student counseling contact hours from 692 to 2,400; and

5) increase the enrollment of Black males (by 12 percent), and graduation rates from 12 percent to 29 percent. 

Project Evaluation will be conducted internally by the Director of Institutional Research at no cost to the grant.

# OLIVE-HARVEY COLLEGE (CITY COLLEGES OF CHICAGO)

***PR Award Number:***P382A110046

***State:***Illinois

STEM education is increasingly important to the rapidly changing and technical 21st century and to maintaining an educated and competitive workforce. There is a significant demand for workers with some college education and Associate’s degrees and STEM occupations show the highest concentrations of jobs requiring postsecondary education. At current, the pace of educational attainment versus workforce demands and technological advancements is unequal, leaving employers struggling to fill vacancies and projecting workforce shortages within emerging industries, for example, health care and technology. Many reports indicate that minorities are underrepresented in STEM education and occupations. In Illinois, STEM academic achievement gaps of low-income, Black and Hispanic students are larger than the national averages (Illinois STEM Education Report, June 2009).

To address both educational and employment disparities in STEM, Olive-Harvey College (OHC) seeks to establish the ***STEM Student Learning and Effective Teaching Program (STEMSL/ET)***. OHC is one of the seven accredited City Colleges of Chicago (CCC). OHC addresses the needs of its students by providing high-quality, affordable education in career and transfer programs to primarily low-income, minority students. This project offers a unique, comprehensive set of services for students and faculty. The strategic goals of this project are to improve student learning and teacher effectiveness in STEM related disciplines through two strategies – learning communities and a center for teaching and learning. 

The following is a summary of services proposed in the project:

**Student Learning Communities**will expose students to numerous collaborative and cooperative learning options to increase both, their interest in STEM fields and achievement rate in STEM coursework.

· Provide an infrastructure to support the transition to college-level STEM courses

· Enhance STEM academic curricula to increase completion and transfer for college-credit (for transfer to a four-year institution or to receive an occupational education certificate)

**A Center for Teaching and Learning**will provide faculty with the resources and tools necessary to improve their teaching, both inside and outside of the classroom, while fostering systemic change regarding STEM education and careers through faculty collaboration.

· Develop the infrastructure, facility and equipment, to expand STEM pipeline resources

· Increase curricula/technology professional development to improve STEM teaching. 

The projected outcomes of this project are associated with measurable objectives that provide evidence of effectiveness and achieve the following:

· Increase student academic achievement in STEM courses and the number of two-year degrees/certifications in STEM education for 2,250 students.

Overall, the goals of this project are complementary – students increase their competencies in STEM education and teachers advance their capacity to teach STEM disciplines – extending the knowledge of both far beyond the classroom.

# PIEDMONT TECHNICAL COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110035

***State:***South Carolina

Piedmont Technical College (PTC), in Greenwood, South Carolina, is a public, open-door, comprehensive community college serving the largest and most diverse of the state’s 16 technical college districts. Disadvantage is common throughout the district: per capita incomes are 79 percent of the national average, poverty as high as 24 percent, and bachelor’s-degreed residents only about two-thirds of the nation’s. African Americans, 34 percent of residents, have only 60 percent of Caucasians’ earnings and 36 percent of their educational attainment. PTC’s students reflect area disadvantage, and many share traits that signal risk for failure in college. Yet PTC has worked hard to support them, and our students have responded: overall re-enrollment and completion rates, for example, compare well to state and national averages.

However, African American male students struggle in several popular, high-opportunity academic programs: the Associate in Arts for transfer to complete bachelor’s degrees in fields such as teaching and Associate in Applied Science degree programs in Criminal Justice and the STEM and related fields of Computer Technology. Black men in these programs have lower GPAs and rates of retention, completion and transfer than all students; two programs have fall – fall retention rates in the low 20 percents and three have 0 percent completions for Black male students. While PTC’s support is available to these students, what are missing are structures that improve outcomes for African American men.

PTC therefore proposes a project entitled ***Project Genesis: Where Success Begins. Genesis*** begins with outreach to improve college access. Then, Bridge Programs help new students start in college with Individual Graduation Plans based on comprehensive individual assessments that specify case-managed support for each participant. Peer mentoring, workshops in success skills such as financial literacy, contextual learning, tutoring, health/wellness education, and leadership training and professional role modeling further support participants’ success. ***Genesis***’ objectives call for substantial increases in enrollment, GPAs, re-enrollment, completion, and transfer rates with rigorous evaluation to use data to make decisions about continuous project improvement. The project thereby addresses the PBI program goal, “to improve the capacity of minority-serving institutions...to improve student success and provide high-quality educational opportunities for their students,” its objects (increased enrollment, retention, and graduation), its purposes (STEM and African American males’ outcomes with provisions for teacher preparation and health education), and both U.S. Department of Education 2011 Competitive Preference Priorities for PBI, Increasing Postsecondary Success and Enabling More Data-Based Decision Making.

**Genesis** also aligns with PTC’s mission, to “transform lives and strengthen communities by providing opportunities for intellectual and economic growth.” Governed by an area commission of twelve community leaders, PTC is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and offers a wide range of Associate degree, certificate, and other programs responding to area needs. **Genesis** represents a significant step in expanding our support of African American men, vital yet often under-served members of our community.

# PRAIRIE STATE COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110014

***State:***Illinois

Prairie State College (PSC), a comprehensive community college that serves the south suburbs of Chicago Illinois, recognizes the problem of too few STEM graduates. Over the past 50 years, PSC has been an institutional mirror of its eclectic community. Of the 5,791 total student body, 58.1 percent are now African American. 

Prairie State College’s program supports the PBI program for first time, full time degree-seeking students. The College’s four-year project, ***SySTEMic Change at Prairie State College: Ensuring African American Student Success in Math & Science,*****offers a research-based approach to prepare students for STEM achievement with the following goals and objectives. 

Goals are to:

1) increase the number of African American students who are successful in math and science at Prairie State College, and 

2) increase the number of African American students who complete an Associate in Science (A.S.) degree.

The PSC Goal 1 objectives are to: 1a) improve African American student success in gateway and foundation math courses linked to advanced work in STEM fields; and1b) improve African American student success in the sciences that will lead to increased degree completion in STEM fields. 

Goal 2 objectives are to: 2a) increase the use of classroom/instructional best practices that leads to an increased persistence of African American students within the STEM educational track at Prairie State College; and 2b) increase student support at PSC that leads to an increased number of African American students graduating with an Associate in Science (A.S.) degree. 

Three program components will lead to doubling and then tripling the number of A.S. degrees earned by African Americans over the four-year project. These initiatives include: STEM Recruitment and Retention, Classroom Innovations, and Student Support Systems*. Classroom Innovations*include modernizing existing science labs and purchasing lab equipment; implementing curriculum reform, creative teaching/learning approaches, and best practices; and establishing a Summer Undergraduate Research Institute to recruit, retain and graduate a higher number of African American students. *Student Support Systems*involve intrusive advising, supplemental instruction, Peer Led Team Learning, and a targeted tutoring program for piloted sections of STEM courses. *STEM Recruitment and Retention*involves recruiting students from local high schools; recruiting instructors, including females, from historically underrepresented groups for mentoring and role modeling for students; and establishing a Career Exploration program where PSC students will hear from successful STEM degree completers who mirror the target population and who have effectively navigated their way through community college. 

Through PSC’s well orchestrated efforts, African American students at Prairie State College will be invited to explore STEM possibilities, engaged by state-of-the-art STEM tools and supported academically and personally by STEM professionals. In this way, students will come to realize their full STEM potential, and they will become more engaged in STEM courses and careers.

# ST.LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110021

***State:***Missouri

St. Louis Community College (STLCC) proposes to conduct a single, coordinated project at its Florissant Valley (FV) and Forest Park (FP) campuses to be called the ***African-American Male Initiative (AAMI): Empowering Student Leaders for the Future.*** A project by this same name is in place now at these STLCC campuses, and the proposed AAMI project will allow STLCC to continue strengthening institutional capacity to serve African American males and improve their educational outcomes. In fall 2010, black student enrollment represented more than 50 percent of FP's full-time students and exceeded 60 percent or FV's full-time students. 

The persistent need for improved services to African American males at STLCC is high in comparison to other demographic groups, in the areas of low persistence rates, academic difficulties, and other barriers. The project's purpose is to implement a comprehensive program of student support services, academic interventions, peer and community mentoring, and professional development for faculty and staff, with goals aimed at the following measureable outcomes: persistence rates of project participants will increase to align with the rest of the STLCC student body, measured by fall-to-fall persistence; academic achievement of project participants will align with the rest of the STLCC student body, measured by grade point average; and faculty and staff participating in staff development activities, conferences and site visits will demonstrate increased awareness of and responsiveness to the needs of African-American male students at STLCC, measured by participation in professional development activities, staff and student feedback on evaluation instruments, and in interviews. 

A cohort of 200 students (100 per campus) will be served each project year for a total of 800 students receiving services over the four-year AAMI project period. 

# SOJOURNER-DOUGLASS COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110028

***State:***Maryland

Sojourner-Douglass College (S-DC) intends to use funding from the Predominantly Black Institutions (PBI) program to expand the Bachelor of Science in Nursing and the Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology programs. The project is also designed to create greater student success in STEM-related fields and supports the PBI legislative mandate to strengthen PBIs to carry out programs in STEM and health education. 

As Maryland’s only private, nonprofit, four-year, minority-serving institution, S-DC annually enrolls nearly 1,500 students who are predominantly Black (98 percent) and low-income. The College’s main campus is in East Baltimore, Maryland, with five other campuses located in Prince George’s County, Annapolis, Owings Mills, Cambridge, and Salisbury as well as an international campus in Nassau, Bahamas. Funding requested for this project will support development of STEM activities at the Baltimore, Annapolis, Cambridge, Salisbury and Prince George’s County campuses. 

The primary goal of the project is to build program capacity and create greater student success in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing and the Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology programs. Cumulative average math and science scores on the nursing entrance exam should be approximately 65 percent, but the most recent exam reflects cumulative math and science scores of 50 percent. Among the sciences tested, Biology presents the most problems for students with an average score of 32 percent. This is followed by average scores of 42 percent for Anatomy and Physiology. 

The objectives are: 1) increase the Math, Biology, Anatomy & Physiology scores on the nursing entrance exam; 2) expand the Nursing Program to the Prince George's County campus; 3) increase the number of students in the Biotechnology Program; and 4) to increase retention and graduation rates. 

The following activities and services are designed to achieve the objectives: 1) increase the number of sections of math and science courses; 2) offer General Education science courses via Interactive Television (ITV) distance learning technology to all campuses; 3) revise and develop two new math courses, Algebra I and Algebra II; 4) develop and offer one new science course, Biology II; 5) develop and offer seven new Supplemental Instruction courses for three math courses and four science courses; 6) increase tutoring services for science and math courses; 7) increase the number of students in the Biotechnology Program; 8) increase retention for full-time and first-time student retention rates from first fall to second fall and the six-year graduation rate, and 9) replace and upgrade all outdated equipment in the clinical skills labs on the five campuses. 

In addition to establishing new math and science courses and labs, the project offers tutoring support and supplemental instruction to students enrolled in these courses to ensure their success and increase their persistence. This project will also expand the college’s ITV distance learning capabilities. 

The PBI project staff will include a Project Director, a Science Director, Project Manager, new science, math and nursing faculty and math/science tutors supported by a Project Assistant.

# SOUTH GEORGIA TECHNICAL COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110033

***State:***Georgia

South Georgia Technical College is proposing a program entitled ***“Supporting Academic Success for African American Males”*****for funding under the Predominately Black Institutions Program Title III, Part F, Section 371 project. This project is designed to improve the educational outcomes of the at-risk African American males by 25 percent over four years. It does incorporate the college’s ability to collect, access, and use information about the institution’s operation for improved decision-making. 

The purpose of this project is five-fold: 

1) To enhance student services by adding admissions/retention counselors to provide the at-risk African American male population with advising and counseling services at initial enrollment, mid-term, and exit points each semester; 

2) Provide existing faculty/staff with specific training in developmental and learning support initiatives as well as increase the number of faculty members dedicated to developmental and learning support classes; 

3) Renovate additional space for developmental education/learning support classrooms to enhance the African American males educational environment; 

4) Improve student outcome data collection ability in order to analyze patterns and drive decision-making about intervention strategies; and 

5) Endow scholarships for African American males to help ease the financial burden of attending and remaining in college. 

The strategy to implement this project will be as follows: 

· Renovate a portion of a recently acquired 27,270 square foot building on the college’s main campus, valued at $2.2 million, to include five new classrooms and offices with meeting space for learning support/developmental education students, faculty, and advisors/retention counselors; 

· Employ academic advisors/retention counselors who can incorporate “Appreciative Advising” concepts to help at-risk students more accurately pinpoint their program of study and place students who demonstrate a need for developmental/learning support classes in cohorts taught be faculty professionally trained to assist this at-risk population; 

· Provide tailored professional development training for existing and new faculty members who teach learning support/developmental education classes; 

· Endow a new scholarship for African American males to provide additional financial incentives for students to continue their educations; and 

· Initiate data-based decision-making services by incorporating “Achieving the Dream” principles. 

South Georgia Technical College’s goal for this project is to improve the educational outcomes of at-risk African American males at all levels and provide the targeted population with the skills needed to enter the workforce or continue their education beyond the associate degree level, which is one of the goals and objectives of the Predominately Black Institutions Program.

# SOUTHWEST TENNESSEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110054

***State:***Tennessee

Southwest Tennessee Community College, founded in 2000, is the largest comprehensive two-year public college in Tennessee with over 100 associate degree and technical certificate programs. The college has two main campuses (Macon and Union), a center and four additional sites throughout Shelby and Fayette counties in West Tennessee. Southwest provides quality, comprehensive, accessible, and affordable educational experiences designed to raise educational levels, enhance economic development and enrich personal lives of its citizens. Southwest has an African American student population of 7,584 students. In addition, 4,457 students qualified for need-based aid are low-income or first generation students. 

Southwest is seeking funding for a PBI Competitive Grant to implement **Project M.O.S.T. *(Men of Southwest Tennessee)***in order to execute the following goals: 

1) Increase the retention and graduation rate of Africa American male students by providing them with resources that will enable them to achieve their educational and career goals; 

2) Collect decision-oriented data to support alternative modalities in the academic and service environment which address needed activities to assist African American males with the challenges they face in higher education. 

**M.O.S.T.** will provide services annuallyto 120 first-year, African American male cohort participants enrolled in scheduled developmental study courses. In addition, the program will provide a two-week summer structured program, needs assessments, and provide financial assistance. A strengths-based approach to advising promotes student achievement because it: (1) builds self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation; (2) generates positive emotions that enhance students’ problem-solving and capacity for creativity; and (3) develops a wider repertoire of successful strategies and coping skills, factors which many college student retention theories attribute to student persistence (Tinto, 1993). In addition, the data collection will track the persistence and graduation of African American males, as well as employing instruments such as Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), Self-Efficacy Scale, and Proactive Coping Scale to measure student engagement, motivation, and coping skills. 

Key measures of success for this program include: 

1) increases in the fall-to-spring and fall-to-fall persistence rate, and course completion hours for African American males; 

2) increase in self-efficacy and proactive coping skills; and 

3) preparation for graduation and career readiness.

# TECHNICAL COLLEGE OF THE LOWCOUNTRY

***PR Award Number:***P382A110016

***State:***South Carolina

**Project PILAU*** was designed to improve the educational outcomes of African American males (AAM) enrolled at the Technical College of the Lowcountry (TCL) by creating a learning community that supports academic success, retention, persistence, and completion outcomes. PILAU offers intensive academic interventions to ensure student success in securing an associate’s degree through full-time enrollment at TCL. Participants develop leadership skills, successfully complete courses, enhance self-esteem and pride, and gain a better cultural understanding of Gullah and area communities. 

**Goal 1** of the project is to improve our capacity to serve the target population (AAM students), who are predominately low-income, to improve participants’ postsecondary education persistence and completion, and to provide high-quality educational opportunities for our students. (Competitive Preference Priority one). Proposed activities include college orientation programs and a first-year experience program for PILAU students. In addition, an African American mentoring team will be developed, pulling from TCL faculty and staff as well as community members. Other learning activities include tutoring, academic counseling, a laptop computer loan program, and educationally and culturally enhancing activities for participating students. Leadership skills will be enhanced through student participation in and completion of a proposed entrepreneurial learning project. 

TCL is located in the heart of South Carolina’s Lowcountry, which is steeped in the local Gullah culture, language, history, and the rich traditions of the “sea island” people. 

**Goal 2**, a process goal, is to develop and showcase a cultural ensemble to include a Gullah oral history project and cultural productions/presentations, with the objectives of expanding participants’ knowledge of Gullah culture, improving presentation and public speaking skills, and boosting student confidence and pride. 

TCL is one of 16 technical colleges in South Carolina and serves Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties. The College traces its roots to the Reconstruction era (1868) when the Mather School was established to educate the daughters of freed slaves. In 1955, the school was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and permitted male students to enroll for the first time. The name was changed to Technical College of the Lowcountry in 1988. 

*PILAU is a popular Lowcountry (Gullah) rice dish made with shrimp, oysters, beans, herbs, and spices.

# WEST LOS ANGELES COLLEGE

***PR Award Number:***P382A110031

***State:***California

At West Los Angeles College, approximately 44 percent of the 10,000+ student body are African Americans who are predominately low-income, first-generation college students.

The **LEARN project*(Leading and Energizing African American Students through Research***

***and Knowledge)*** is a four-year effort by the college to address significant success deficits for

African American students: 

1) African American students are not succeeding in K12 and college; 

2) faculty are from a different generation and ethnic backgrounds than students;

3) English and Math are significant barriers for students, particularly African American males; and

4) students have only minimal knowledge of and experience with the wider world.

**LEARN** addresses both of the competitive preference priorities through innovative and coordinated actions designed to: (1) increase the number and proportion of high-need students who persist in and complete college or other postsecondary education; and (2) training and collect, analyze, and use high quality and timely data to improve postsecondary student outcomes relating to enrollment, persistence, and completing and leading to career success. Specific objectives to accomplish these priorities include:

1) research on how African American students learn and interact with the educational system;

2) a faculty learning community built on this knowledge (1, above) to align instructional strategies with how African American students learn, with a special emphasis on increasing the success rate for African American males students;

3)  joining with the college’s TRIO Upward Bound and Talent Search programs to engage middle and high school students through Discovery Days activities that connect in demand careers and education;

4) leadership coaches for intrusive mentoring enabling student to develop personal and group leadership skills essential for college and life success;

5) globalization activities designed to enable African American students to develop knowledge about, appreciation of, and ability to interact in careers and professions in an increasingly globalized world;

6) faculty advisors to lead discovery activities such as career opportunities, transfer about specific disciplines; and

7) establishing a **LEARN** Center where African American students can obtain assistance.

# YORK COLLEGE (THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK)

***PR Award Number:***P382A110042

***State:***New York

York College is a public, four-year commuter college enrolling approximately 7,780 students. York is a senior college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system, the nation’s largest urban public university, with 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, and several graduate colleges and specialized institutions. Located in Queens, NY, one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the nation, York has 93.4 percent minority students, including 56.5 percent African American, 21.6 percent Hispanic and 14.9 percent Asian (York College Fact Book, Academic Year: 2009-2010). About 66.2 percent of York students are female; over half of York’s students come from low-income families (under $30,000 a year), and 44 percent are first-generation college students.

York College has designed a comprehensive, integrated institutional approach to the PBI program, with three major goals, each with specific activities to carry out the goals:

1) Improve retention rates of African American students, especially males, by reform of general education, especially gatekeeper courses, including training of faculty to use new educational technologies and improved learning assessment tools;

2) Improve six-year graduation rates of African American students, especially males, by providing an enhanced and coordinated academic support system, from initial entry through graduation, including proactive advising on appropriate course selection leading to career choices, supplemental instruction, summer bridge programs, tutoring and mentoring, and peer-led learning communities.

3) College-wide special initiatives to increase the numbers of African American students prepared for and seeking majors and careers in the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), including undergraduate research experiences, academic and career mentoring, and learning communities.

Each goal is based on research, best practices, and successful programs at other PBI and HBCU institutions. The goals also reflect York’s annual performance goals set by the president, Dr. Marcia V. Keizs, with specific targets and measures: one-year retention rate of full-time freshmen, six-year graduation rate of full-time, first-time freshmen, total enrollment, mean SAT score of regularly admitted first-time freshmen, and student satisfaction with academic support, student services, and computer technology.

The three project goals will be supported by specific activities to be conducted over two years. Although they are described as separate services, the activities are crucial to African American student achievement and inter-connected to overall project success. The successful fulfillment of the three goals will enable York to increase the number of African American students who are retained, graduate and enter the professional and technological workforce or who seek advanced degrees in STEM and other academic areas.

The program proposed by York College addresses two of the PBI purposes: strengthening programs in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, including health education; and improving educational outcomes of African American males.

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