New Initiatives at EPC Strengthen Partnership Between UCSC, Santa Cruz

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EPC was recently awarded a $15,000 planning grant from Bank of America Charitable Foundation to launch the Santa Cruz Education Collaborative, a partnership of K-12, higher education, community, and business leaders focused on improving student learning and building a college-going culture in the Santa Cruz City Schools. With strong support from Superintendent Alan Pagano, school principals, community-based agencies, and Cabrillo College, EPC has convened the Collaborative and established task forces to collect and analyze student outcomes data, map local assets, identify collaboration opportunities, and develop a comprehensive plan to serve students and families in support of the intersegmental alliance.

Also strengthening the partnership between UCSC and Santa Cruz is EPC’s University-Community Engagement (UCE) project, a community-driven, university-supported effort to support African heritage youth and families in Santa Cruz on the college-going pathway. With a $30,000 grant from UC Office of the President for CY 2008, EPC is again partnering with a local community-based organization, Second Saturday Network, to deliver a variety of special events, college awareness and exploration activities, and sustained follow-up with students. EPC hosted a successful African Heritage Youth Retreat on campus last November and is organizing another bus trip for students to visits area college campuses. Also, through the MESA Schools Program, EPC is implementing a mathematics tutoring program at Santa Cruz High School. The UCE partnership serves as a catalyst for meaning university-community collaborations to work as equal partners on efforts to close achievement gaps and build each other’s capacity to support student success. EPC was awarded a $25,000 grant from UCOP last year to launch the pilot UCE project in 2007.