Santa Clara University Among Winners of the 2024 William T. Grant Foundation Institutional Challenge Grant
Funds will support collaborative research into pre-collegiate and college support programs for Latinx/é students
Santa Clara University is one of four winners of the 2024 Institutional Challenge Grant, awarded by the William T. Grant Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, and the Bezos Family Foundation. The grant encourages research institutions to build long-term research-practice partnerships with public agencies or nonprofit organizations to reduce inequality in youth outcomes.
The three-year, $650,000 award will fund a partnership between The SCU School of Education & Counseling Psychology (ECP), the Latino Education Advancement Foundation (LEAF), and The Foundation for Hispanic Education (TFHE) to support college preparation, persistence, and completion for Latinx/é students.
How Can We Better Serve Latinx/é Students and Their Families?
Since the 1970s and 1980s, East San José has been home to the majority of Silicon Valley’s Hispanic and Latinx/é communities. Many of its families are first- and second generation immigrants, and it has one of the region’s highest rates of English-Language Learners and first-generation college students. Given fewer resources and the many socioeconomic barriers to educational and economic success, its schools and students encounter far greater challenges than their neighboring peers in attaining high school and college degrees as well as succeeding to their full potential.
The research, led by ECP scholars Pedro Nava, Jasmín Llamas, Argelia Lara, and Marco Murillo, aims to understand and tackle educational inequalities for East San José Latinx/é students transitioning from high school to college. Through surveys, interviews, and focus groups with students and families, the project will explore how high schools, nonprofits, and colleges can better prepare, support, and engage Latinx/é students to enhance their success and take full advantage of the collegiate experience. This research seeks to shed light on student experiences and guide interventions that build resilience and close persistent gaps.
“A systemic change needs to occur in our higher education systems to serve a huge population of students who aren’t being reached in our public education systems,” says Brittany Alvarez, Executive Director of the Latino Education Advancement Foundation. “LEAF wants to be part of that work and this partnership will deepen the areas of expertise we have around collecting and utilizing data for programmatic improvement and then sharing that research and best practices widely with all of the colleges and universities we work with.”
The project also aligns with TFHE’s goals, as noted by CEO Dr. Sherry Segura: "As we strive to be the model for equitable education, our collaboration with Santa Clara University and LEAF on this valuable research underscores our commitment to understanding and addressing the challenges faced by Latinx/é students in their educational journeys. Through this project, we aim to eliminate opportunity gaps, celebrate diverse identities, and empower students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds for leadership and success."
A Lasting Partnership
This collaboration is a natural progression in Santa Clara University’s long history of engagement in East San José. In 1986, SCU and three partner organizations launched the Eastside Project to provide community-based learning placements for students. By 2000, that program had grown into the Arrupe Center for Community-based Learning, one of SCU’s four interdisciplinary centers of distinction. Today, it serves more than 1,200 undergraduates across 50 placement sites, many in East San José neighborhoods. In 1995, Santa Clara launched the Eastside Future Teachers Project, which paired outreach to high school students from underrepresented communities who were considering teaching careers, with supplemental tuition scholarships and a supportive learning community. As National Hispanic University was winding down its operations in 2014, ECP adopted its bilingual teacher training program to sustain a graduate education degree program focused on preparing teachers from and for Latinx/é communities.
More to Come
Today, SCU has pledged commitment to becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), and is dedicated to enacting the campus changes necessary to become the university of choice for Latinx/é students. This includes ensuring that faculty who are researching methods to fortify the academic preparation of Latinx/é high school students and curate supports that enhance the Latinx/é college student experience are resourced and acknowledged appropriately. With this project underway, ECP is excited to see it inspire more of this type of research at the university.
“We are deeply honored to have been selected as a recipient of the 2024 Institutional Challenge Grant, one of the most competitive equity-oriented participatory research grants in education,” says Sabrina Zirkel, Dean of ECP. “This community-based research partnership, which converges three mission-aligned organizations with strong Latinx/é leadership and deep community connection, represents a significant opportunity. Our collective aim is to strengthen program delivery, enhance data sharing and analysis, and improve handoffs across key transitions in student pathways between institutions. This initiative embodies our dedication to creating a more inclusive and equitable educational landscape."