Grant to Assist Latino Students

Ventura College has won a $2.1-million grant aimed at boosting the educational performance of Latino students while funding new programs on its Santa Paula campus.

The school edged out 60 other community colleges that also applied for the federal grant, which will be disbursed over the next five years, beginning in October.

“Over the last five years we have tried to get a handle on the needs of our community,” said Ventura College President Larry Calderon.

“One thing staring us right in the face is the rapidly changing demography. We are becoming more Latino in this part of the county. We looked around and asked how effectively are we serving the needs of our Hispanic population.”

The college, with about 12,000 students, is about 30% Latino. The grant is only awarded to colleges with Latino populations of at least 25%.

Part of the grant will target gateway courses, in which Latino students have historically under-performed, said Sandra Avalos de Curiel, assistant dean of off-campus programs at Ventura College.

She said instructors will experiment with new ways of teaching courses such as algebra, accounting, pre-calculus and English composition.

“We are going to find where students are weak academically and really push, even if it means having instructors use nontraditional methods of teaching,” she said.

“Nontraditional means using more technology, group sessions and teamwork approaches rather than just standing behind a podium and lecturing.”

The college’s east campus in Santa Paula, where the student population is 65% Latino, will get a new library learning and resource center and additional computer education and medical assistant training classes.

The Santa Paula campus is 2 years old, and enrollment has already tripled to about 900 students. Avalos de Curiel said her goal is to increase enrollment by at least 250 over the next five years.

“We are a community college and we have to reach out to the community,” she said.

The grant comes under Title 5, a U.S. Department of Education program that funds community colleges serving large Latino populations. This is the first time Ventura College has applied for such a grant.

College officials said they won the grant because they gathered enough data, did enough research and made a more compelling case than their competitors.

“They are really looking to fund grants showing enough input and research into the needs of a community,” said Avalos de Curiel, the college’s Title 5 program director. “That’s why we came out ahead.”