Armstrong is Major Partner in National Latino Student Success Program

Nov. 8, 2011 - PRLog -- Armstrong Atlantic State University is the lead institution in a regional collaboration funded by Lumina Foundation for Education that is part of a $7.2 million, four-year national project. The initiative is focused on the student success of Latinos and on increasing the proportion of Americans with college degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025.

Lumina is funding 12 partnerships in 10 states with significant and growing Latino populations to strengthen ventures in key metropolitan areas that show promise in improving postsecondary education of Latino students—the fastest-growing student population in America. Armstrong was the only institution selected in Georgia and one of only 12 chosen among 250 across the country.

The Foundation awarded Armstrong $600,000 to lead a collaborative in Southeast Georgia that will increase the percentage of Latino students enrolling in the area’s three public colleges/universities from the current 3.2 percent to 6.4 percent by 2015. The partners include Savannah State University, Savannah Technical College, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, Migrant Education Agency of Georgia, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Coastal Empire, Junior Achievement of Savannah, Goodwill GoodGuides Mentors of Savannah, YMCA branches of Coastal Georgia and Wells Fargo.

"Armstrong is pleased to take on this role and bring together our community partners in a national effort to increase access to higher education for Latinos," said Armstrong President Linda Bleicken. "We are honored that Lumina Foundation chose to select Armstrong for this vital initiative, and we look forward to continuing this work that ultimately changes lives and creates a positive impact on our region."

The regional initiative, named CAMINO (College Access Mentoring Information and Outreach) will be centered in Latino communities in the seven Southeast Georgia counties surrounding Savannah: Chatham, Bryan, Effingham, Evans, Liberty, Tattnall and Toombs counties. This area has a Latino population of approximately 30,861, representing an average of 9.3 percent of the total population in the seven counties (Census 2010).

Armstrong’s success in advancing Latino education in Georgia goes back to 2003, when the university established the HOLA (Hispanic Outreach and Leadership at Armstrong) program to boost Latino enrollment on campus. In the eight years since, the Latino enrollment on campus has increased 122 percent to the current 5.81 percent of total enrollment. The Goizueta Foundation in Atlanta has supported Armstrong’s HOLA program with three grants totaling more than $1.9 million. Armstrong has awarded 73 scholarships to Latino students who maintain a 3.0 GPA. Many of these students receive several scholarships helping to increase retention and graduation rates.

In 2008, Excelencia in Education, a national organization working to improve Latino student success, named the university a semifinalist for its national award, recognizing the university as a leader in Latino education.

“Since 2003 Armstrong has embraced a comprehensive Latino outreach, recruitment, progression and graduation initiative on campus, and as a result of that, we have seen a continued growth of Latino enrollment on campus,” said Melody Rodriguez, founder and director of the HOLA program. “Lumina Foundation’s confidence in Armstrong to take these efforts to a broader regional level is a testament to our commitment to helping Latinos attain a college education.”

Guillermo Montes, 19, is a freshman engineering student who found a support network at Armstrong. He graduated from Savannah’s Groves High School in 2011, but didn’t plan to attend college until hearing about the HOLA program. A U.S. citizen whose Honduran immigrant parents raised a family while working unskilled jobs, he now has definite plans. “Through HOLA I have met many of my Latino friends and now we are focused on helping other Latinos. I want to provide a good future for my family and have a good job in the future working as an aeronautical engineer.”

Montes is among 400 Latino students at Armstrong who are currently building bright futures for themselves and their communities.

For more information, visit http://www.armstrong.edu.

# # #

Armstrong Atlantic State University, part of the University System of Georgia, was founded in 1935. The university offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate academic programs in the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Science and Technology, the College of Education, and the College of Health Professions. Armstrong Atlantic serves approximately 7,500 students at its main campus in Savannah and a regional center in Hinesville. Its diverse student population comes from nearly all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 76 countries. For more information, visit www.armstrong.edu.