Staff Report
A UNM program designed to lower the dropout rate for Hispanic students in kindergarten through college will soon be expanding its efforts, thanks to a national grant.
The Engaging Latino Communities for Education Program, ENLACE, was recognized by the Lumina Foundation earlier this month for its retention efforts with minority students at Albuquerque Public Schools, TVI and UNM.
The Lumina Foundation is a national nonprofit organization designed to expand success for students up to and through college. UNM Received $75,000 through its McCabe Fund, which affords first-generation college students, low-income students and students of color opportunities to earn college degrees.
"This was a great opportunity for the Lumina Foundation to come in and support the model we already have in place," said Karen Sanchez-Griego, director of the ENLACE program, in a University news release. "The Lumina Foundation funding is for middle schools so students can be aware of what they need to do to graduate from high school and get into college, as well as preventing students from dropping out once they get to college."
The ENLACE program is looking to use the funding to establish family centers in three targeted middle schools, including Garfield, Truman and Washington Middle Schools, with predominantly Hispanic student populations.
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The centers will provide students and families with academic, social and cultural support to reduce dropout rates and increase graduation rates. Center volunteers will serve as liaisons between parents and school administrators as well as creating a "home away from home environment on campus," according to the news release.
"We've developed a model of family centers from a grant from the Kellogg Foundation, which was for high school students," Sanchez-Griego said. "The Lumina Foundation grant extends to middle school students and helps those students that feed into the high schools already in the program, as well as adding other students and families who need any assistance."
She said she hopes the expansion of the family centers to middle schools will address problems students and families face and establish family involvement that will carry through into a stronger high school program, helping to establish a pipeline of support for students and their families throughout the educational system.
The McCabe Fund provides modest, competitive grants for programs that work directly with students to improve access to postsecondary education. These programs expand successful models or propose new approaches that are ready to be tested in the field.
Grant proposals were requested from a select group of organizations across the country, including UNM.
"We are optimistic that these grassroots initiatives supported by the McCabe Fund will help reduce the nation's college attainment gap by assisting organizations, such as UNM's ENLACE program, that help students achieve their potential by expanding access to an education beyond high school," said Martha Lamkin, president and chief executive office of the Lumina Foundation, in the news release.
