St. Cloud Collaboration

The Network proudly partnered with St. Cloud State University, the St. Cloud School District, and St. Cloud Technical College in the development of a college access pathway 2008-2009. This project was funded by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities through their Access and Opportunity Program grant. The collaboration was one of a limited number of projects funded during that time through the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities’ grant program.

 

Jennifer Godinez, associate director, MMEP, provided college access program development research analysis and best practices advice for the project beginning fall 2007 for implementation fall 2008. Partners, including Dr. Robert Johnson, primary investigator for the project, along with leaders from St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud Technical College, and several administrators from St. Cloud School District all agreed that MCAN played a critical role in the project.

 

According to Johnson, “MCAN has the expertise and track record to provide useful information and insight to local groups and institutions seeking direction or that are engaged in implementing programs to address disparities in college attendance. The MCAN staff strives to stay abreast of emerging trends, promising practices and useful resources that can be shared with its partners. MCAN is a part of Minnesota Minority Education Partnership (MMEP), which has a long history of advocacy for underserved students, and understands the needs and the issues. MCAN is a tremendous resource for the practitioner, the policy analyst, the researcher, the community activist, the parent and the student.”

 

This college access programming partnership will provide 600 students of color and low income youth summer programming for academic tutoring support, school-year tutoring support, intensive course-selection advising, admissions and financial aid counseling for college entrance, and test preparation for college entrance exams.