futuros executive summary march 2008
Background
In January of 2008, Futuros Educational Services first initiated its work of promoting college access for low-income and immigrant communities. However, as a group, members of the Futuros Board and staff have been involved with efforts to improve college access for low-income and immigrant communities for several years. As students, educators, college access professionals, researchers, community advocates, and elected officials, these individuals have worked to:
- Educate low-income and immigrant students and families about higher education opportunities
- Provide guidance to low-income and immigrant students as they move through the college pipeline
- Investigate the challenges to college access experienced by low-income and immigrant students in order to inform policy and develop best practices for serving their needs
- Develop policies and practices that will provide low-income and immigrant students with greater access to higher education.
As such, these individuals have been pioneers in the fight to ensure that all college-eligible students are provided the opportunity to reach and persist through higher education. Many of them were also instrumental in the development of the College & Financial Aid Guide for: AB540/Undocumented Immigrant Students published in October of 2006 through USC’s Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis.
This Guide was the first of its kind and has served as a tremendous resource for students, families, high school counselors, and higher education professionals throughout California. It has also been used as a template by other states that aim to provide similar information to their students.
As a follow up to the production of the Guide, current members of the Futuros Board and staff determined the need for a more “hands-on” approach to providing college-related information, support, and guidance to low-income and immigrant communities. Consequently, this group decided to work together to develop an organization that could provide a variety of services to low-income and immigrant students and families, as well as the school- and college-based professionals who aim to serve them. Using the Guide as an educational tool and resource, Futuros Educational Services has developed a number of programs to provide information, individualized guidance, and funding support to students.
Currently, Futuros is offering a variety of services including:
- Informational workshops for students and families on college and financial aid opportunities
- Informational workshops for students and families on fundraising for college
- Informational workshops for students and families on how to develop a college network
- Individualized guidance for students on procedural aspects of applying to college
- Individualized guidance for students on fundraising for college, including scholarship application assistance
- Professional development for school- and college-based professionals including information about the challenges to college access experienced by low-income and immigrant students and research-based best practices for improving students’ access to higher education.
