FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Maxinne Bernal
Email: dbernal@peralta.edu
Cell: 415-910-4659
Laney College Receives Major Grant to Improve Support and
Services to Undocumented Students and Their Families
(OAKLAND, CA) Laney College was awarded a $125,000 grant from the California Campus Catalyst Fund. The announcement was made today. This generous financial award is part of a bigger $10-million fund to support higher education institutions with creating innovative initiatives aimed at improving access and services to undocumented students and their families. The Catalyst Fund supports initiatives at California Community Colleges, California State University, and the University of California. Laney was one of 32 campuses to receive the grant.
With this award, Laney will create a holistic, three-year plan to broaden services for undocumented and mixed-status students and their families such as, career and college counseling, legal services, academic support, and access to health and wellness services.
Other Fund grantees are building on the trailblazing work of students, educators, community leaders, and policymakers around the state in welcoming undocumented students out of the shadows and providing them with the resources they need to succeed.
“Undocumented young people and their families are integral to the social, economic, and cultural fabric of California, and as such, support for them needs to be woven into our state’s higher education system,” said Victor Garcia of Immigrants Rising, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that is administering the Fund.
“Our student community reflects the richness of Oakland and is illuminated by the incredible diversity and life experiences our students bring to campus. At the same time, this diversity often masks the level of complexity it takes to thoughtfully serve our students given the multiple identity contingencies they often possess in terms of race, ethnicity, immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, languages spoken, and a myriad of other factors that impact their experience in the community and as students,” said Laney College President Dr. Tammeil Y. Gilkerson.
“At Laney we truly strive to educate, support, and inspire student to excel in an inclusive and diverse learning environment rooted in social justice. We are grateful for the vision of the Catalyst Fund and their support for helping our college increase our infrastructure and institutional understanding to provide holistic support services for serving undocumented students and their families in our community,” Dr. Gilkerson added.
Supporters of the Catalyst Fund include the Chavez Family Foundation, College Futures Foundation, Grove Foundation, Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, Ginnie and Peter Haas Jr. Fund, Heising-Simons Foundation, Hellman Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, Michael Moritz and Harriet Heyman, NextGen America, and Weingart Foundation.
Laney College is one of four colleges in the Peralta Community College District. Laney offers over 100 high-quality academic and career technical education programs to an estimated 12,000 students. To learn more about Laney College visit, Laney.edu.
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