Minority male students enrolled in community college will soon have an opportunity to bolster their prospects of post-grad success.
The inaugural Men of Color Leadership Conference 2018: Agents of Change will take place at Santa Monica College this Friday, supporting all California college-age minority male students with academic, personal and professional development.
Workshops at the event will focus on leadership, managing relationships, professional headshots, and access to mentorships and networking opportunities. Additionally, the event will provide free breakfast to all attendees, guest speakers and a socially relevant film.
“We want this to create a network, friendships with colleagues across other campuses,” Dr. Paul Jimenez, SMC counselor said. “Hopefully this will build a sense of community and these students will feel like they have someone in their corner, a community that supports them here at SMC at and at other campuses.”
Jimenez, who is involved with many minority-focused programs at SMC, helped spearhead the creation of this event with staff from Long Beach City College, El Camino College, and East LA College.
Staff from these colleges were inspired to create the event after noticing lag in graduation and retention rates among minority male students. After seeing what each other’s schools were doing at administrative conferences, they decided they could create a program to combat this.
They discussed similar programs and noted how having an entry fee attached to an event such as this seemed counter-intuitive. That didn’t sit well with staff, who worked to raise funds themselves to make the event free of charge. Additionally, they felt this event should serve not just one college in particular, but all students throughout California who could benefit from the opportunities the event will provide.
“We didn't have a program like this growing up,” Jimenez said. “For me, it would’ve been a life-changer in terms of having a network of men to model myself after or even just meet.”
So far, the event has over 100 RSVPs with potential for many walk-ins. Alternatively, those RSVPs could fail to materialize. No matter the attendance, Jimenez and staff say they’re there to make an impact on students.
“If we can even get 70 - 80 people to show up, that’d be great. Even if only 10 people show up, we’ll be doing what we do regardless. We may not change their lives in a day, but giving students the opportunity to meet people that might do, that is great,” Jimenez said.
Men of Color Leadership Conference 2018: Agents of Change takes place Friday, October 12 at Santa Monica College in the Humanities & Social Sciences (HSS) Building 7:45 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Admission and parking are free.
To register visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/men-of-color-leadership-conference-2018-agents-of-change-tickets-48663956203
angel@smdp.com
