USA Funds Grant Advances Dialogue About Latino Higher-Education Issues

USA Funds^® recently provided a $10,000 grant to support Alcance, an Indiana Summit on Latinos in Higher Education.  The summit, held Sept. 15 at Marian College in Indianapolis, was a collaboration between La Plaza Inc., Marian College and the Independent Colleges of Indiana.

The title of the summit, Alcance, is Spanish for “reach.” More than 100 representatives from Indiana colleges, universities and private institutions that serve the Latino community gathered to address issues and concerns about access to postsecondary education for Latino students and discuss best practices in recruiting and retaining Latino students.

“USA Funds strongly supports initiatives to promote access to education for the Hispanic community and is pleased to partner with organizations that work toward that mission,” says Kyle Malone, USA Funds manager of philanthropy and scholarships. “We want to ensure that Hispanic students overcome challenges they may face and that educators and leaders in the academic community are prepared to meet the needs of both students and parents.”

Keynote speaker Sarita Brown, president of Excelencia in Education, shared with attendees the need for postsecondary-education attainment in the Hispanic community and the unique needs of the Hispanic student.

“This was an opportunity to come together and dedicate time and resources specifically to Latinos in higher education,” says Laura Dandelet, program manager, La Plaza. “We not only shared best practices in recruiting and retaining Latino students, but we also were able to identify next steps for the future.”

Many in attendance expressed the desire for follow-up, or for another conference next year.

“The sessions did a lot to answer questions about Latinos in higher education, bring much-needed dialogue about Latinos in higher education, and to share ideas about what programs are successful and what other initiatives are being taken in recruiting and retaining Latinos,” says Fran Garcia, La Plaza postsecondary-education specialist.