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Cossatot Community College |
CCCUA Receives CAMP Grant
30 July 2004
DE QUEEN – Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas has won a $1.7 million federal grant to help migrant and seasonal farm workers complete their secondary education and move into a college setting, it was announced today by Eduardo Mendoza, Camp Project Director. The grant, called CAMP (College Assistance Migrant Program) and prepared with the assistance of the Migrant Education Office in Little Rock, will make $335,000 available to the College for instructional purposes in each of the next five years. This is the first CAMP grant of its kind in Arkansas.
The grant proposal states that monies will help current Hispanic migrant and seasonal farm workers in the area, but all eligible migrant and seasonal farm worker students will be considered for enrollment and services. It notes that the Hispanic population in Arkansas is increasing, with the state ranked second in the nation for percentage of Hispanic population growth, at 337%. In some areas within the region to be served, the percentage is much higher.
The grant’s objectives are to admit 30 eligible migrant
students in the first year, 35 in the second, 40 in the third year, and 50
each year thereafter. CAMP participants will participate in four or more academic
and support services activities each year, with 85% of students finishing
their first year of college in good academic standing. The objectives call
for 80% of CAMP students to continue into their second year at CCCUA, and
for 55% of those to complete a postsecondary degree program within six years
of enrolling.
The grant proposal went on to state that “The CAMP staff will assure
that CAMP students have access to every possible resource to help them get
the financial assistance they need by providing support to students when they
complete their Federal Financial Aid, Work Study, and Scholarship forms. In
addition, CCCUA-CAMP will provide CAMP participants with monthly stipends
of $175, and an emergency fund will be made available to them if needed.”
The College will also work with Alianza Hispana, a community-based nonprofit organization based in De Queen, to reach large numbers of potential students with farm worker backgrounds. The two organizations will visit at least 10 high schools in southwest Arkansas, attend college parent information nights at five of them, collaborate with CCCUA recruitment programs such as Admissions and Upward Bound, and work together in other ways to make potential students aware of the CAMP program.
U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln said, ““I am very
pleased to have been able, with other Senators, to facilitate this grant.
No one person was able to do this – it was the result of an effort of
a large team, including the able group of grant writers at the College itself,
and the southwest Arkansas community, which showed its support through more
than three dozen letters. The CAMP grant represents a great step forward in
bringing migrant laborers closer to taking advantage of the economic opportunities
that are enjoyed by millions of other Americans.”
Mendoza said, “The CAMP grant ties right in with the recognized need
from our NCA Self-Study of 2002 to do more to recruit minority students, and
we feel that our goal of building a more diverse student body will be realized.”
Cossatot Community College offers both technical certification
and Associate’s degrees in a wide range of fields on its campus at De
Queen, at extension sites at Nashville and Ashdown, and at cccua.edu. It has
an enrollment of more than 1,100 students, and is accredited by the Higher
Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
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