San Antonio College officials recently announced a new Institute for Community Initiatives, funded in part by a $197,040, three-year grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund of Jacksonville, Fla. The Institute will combine existing efforts with new strategies to help students continue their education, foster student leadership, and serve the development and workforce needs of the community.

"We are very pleased to announce the Institute for Community Initiatives, which is a multi-pronged effort to benefit our community and our students," said Dr. Robert E. Zeigler, President. He added, "The duPont grant will fund a critical component of the Institute, the Family Learning Academy, which will help thousands of students go on to achieve a higher education and therefore a better life for themselves and their communities."

The Institute for Community Initiatives will initially focus on five areas: creating a Family Learning Academy, expanding the San Antonio College Online programs to serve community workforce and human development needs, creating a SAC Student Leadership Academy (to include leadership training, internships, and community service), partnering with the Minority Leadership Institute (directed by Dr. Roberto Jimenez, Chairman of the Board of Managers of the UT Health Science System) to provide minority leaders for health-related administrative positions, and seeking to create an endowment for scholarships and the Institute's operational expenses.

The grant will establish a Family Learning Academy to educate students and their parents about college opportunities by training students and parents to be peer mentors and education advisors. This plan will address obstacles to attending college identified in a previous duPont-funded study by the Intercultural Development Research Association: dropping out of high school, the negative perceptions about access to higher education, a perceived lack of financial support, and a lack of awareness of college resources and services.

Four Parent Councils will be established with 4th-9th graders' parents from each school area. They will be trained as advocates for higher education at home and in the community by dissemination of information and advocating for children and schools. Their goal will be to educate inner-city residents with information about post-secondary opportunities over a three-year period. Scholarships of up to $1,000 will provide incentives for student mentors and parent advisors. The Nearby Neighbor Program is already in place with mentoring and tutoring activities for 9th-10th Grade students at Jefferson, Edison, Fox Tech, and Lanier high schools and their feeder schools.

For more information about the duPont grant or the Institute for Community Initiatives, call Ruben Flores, Dean of Weekend, Evening and Distance Education, at 733-2475.