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ABSTRACT
The ENLACE y Avance ["Get Ahead"] partnership proposes to collectively assess the educational and social needs of the local Latino community, and to identify the best existing practices delivered by educational institutions and community-based organizations that meet those needs. This partnership is a coalition of grass-roots community organizations, businesses, K-12 school districts, as well as the Oxnard, Ventura, and Santa Barbara community colleges, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. The partnership will engage educational institutions from Kindergarten through University in a dialogue with Latino-oriented grass-roots community organizations.
In the planning process, together we will develop a shared vision to design a comprehensive, collaborative program for Latino students and their families. The partnership focuses attention on the barriers Latino students face in both low-performing and bi-modal schools within urban and rural communities. By doing this, the partners seek to create models that can be adapted for use in different types of schools. By examining the dilemmas Latino families experience within the larger educational, socioeconomic, and political context, the partnership will begin to match strategically timed interventions to key points in students' development in ways that take into account regional differences.
The partnership's long-term implementation goals include:
- Doubling within two years (from fall 2000 to fall 2002) the number of Latino students from ENLACE y Avance high schools and community colleges who enroll in four-year colleges and universities;
- 2. Systematically preparing ENLACE "scholars" beginning at the 6th to 7th grade transition, to undertake college-preparatory coursework in junior and senior high school, and
- Drawing on the expertise and knowledge of community-based organizations to bridge the gap between educational institutions and Latino families.
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