A collaborative effort plans to send more Hispanics to college, thanks to a grant of more than $300,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture awarded recently to a partnership led by the Laredo Community College District and the Houston Community College System.
Announcement of the grant was made recently by LCC President Dr. Ramon H. Dovalina.
“With the grant, LCC and HCCS plan to establish the first USDA Texas consortium to improve educational access and success for thousands of Hispanic students,” Dovalina said.
The project also aims to help the consortium of Hispanic-Serving Institutions to enhance their institutional abilities through grant writing efforts.
Dr. Nora Garza, dean of arts and sciences at LCC and the grant writer for the USDA grant, said that the purpose of the consortium is to unite 38 HSIs to work for one common goal.
“LCC and Houston will band together to organize a consortium of Hispanic serving colleges and universities, public and private, to increase our capacity to secure funds, to improve instructional delivery systems, and to identify and address common problems. This will help Hispanic students advance their dreams of obtaining a college degree,” Garza said.
She said that the consortium wants to support a strategic goal of USDA, which is to enhance economic opportunity for agricultural producers and to focus on instructional delivery systems, student recruitment and retention.
“Texas HSIs will collaborate to retain Hispanic students by providing increased public awareness of USDA programs and by providing financial assistance, a major barrier for underrepresented students,” Garza said.
A $30,000 scholarship will be awarded through the grant to an academically exceptional college student interested in a working with USDA, she added.
LCC will serve as the fiscal agent and provide office support for the program administrator. HCCS will provide expertise in enhancing the HSI consortium through the system’s resource development department by offering a series of workshops, technical assistance and other forms of information sharing among the consortium membership.
Accomplishments will be highlighted at a future conference and through a dedicated website.
The first grant writing workshop is scheduled for November 2-3, 2005, at Laredo Community College. For more information, contact Jan Melendez at 764-5747 or 721-5337.
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