Project Title:
Long Beach City College Student Technology and Resources (STAR) Program
Funding Program:
Connecting Minority Communities Program
Project Purpose/Type:
Long Beach City College (LBCC)'s Student Technology and Resources (STAR) program will address equity gaps created by historically marginalized students' lack of access to internet broadband and technology. The main goals of the program are to increase persistence of students receiving technology (e.g., laptops/hotspots) and increase enrollment in LBCC’s non-credit courses offered at two partner locations within the City of Long Beach (Centro CHA and the North Long Beach Center for Higher Education). Achieving these goals will support students who are experiencing barriers to their education and leverage community partners to expand the scope and scale of support to non-traditional students.
City/Town/Service Area:
State(s):
-
$2,999,978.00Funding Amount$2,999,978.00Total Project Cost0.00Non-Federal Cost Share
Long Beach City College will provide laptops, internet hotspots with wireless service, and noise-cancelling headphones to students. These resources will be distributed over year one and year two of the grant. The expansion and updating of online technology resources will be executed by the college's Instructional and Informational Technology Services departments (IITS). They will review current online resources for gaps, ensure that resources are organized in an intuitive way for students and staff to access, and create or update tutorials to ensure comprehensive support for students. Long Beach City College will offer noncredit classes, Small Business Development Center workshops, and enrollment and financial aid workshops through the North Long Beach Higher Education Center and Centro CHA locations. Each location will be provided with computers and the necessary related equipment to expand their capacity to provide the aforementioned non-credit courses and workshops.
Within the two-year grant period, the STAR Program will: increase persistence rates for recipients of technology tools; increase non-credit enrollment at Centro CHA; and increase non-credit enrollment at North Long Beach Higher Education Center. These outcomes will allow Long Beach City College to support students who are experiencing barriers to their education and leverage community partners to expand the scope and scale of support to non-traditional students.
The direct beneficiaries of the STAR program will be the students of Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California. In addition to prioritizing students who are low-income as defined above, Long Beach City College will ensure the most vulnerable students are receiving support from this program by reserving a percentage of the laptops and hotspots for students who have identified themselves as housing or food insecure. University faculty and staff will also benefit from improved support resources developed during the expansion of online technology resources.
The North Long Beach Higher Education Center and Centro CHA will host Long Beach City College noncredit courses including noncredit classes, Small Business Development Center workshops, and enrollment and financial aid workshops.
The applicant does fund a consortia. The applicant’s activities do occur in the surrounding anchor communities. Details of community involvement are described below.