Sacramento City College (SCC) and the University of California, Davis, have been jointly awarded a two-year grant from the American Association of Community Colleges Equity Transfer Initiative to increase transfer rates among African American, Hispanic, and first-generation students.

SCC and UC Davis are uniquely poised to provide a direct pipeline and partnership for transfer given the longstanding relationship between the two institutions, which includes the Sacramento City College Davis Center on the UC Davis campus. On average, SCC has approximately 20,000 students enrolled during a normal fall term. The student demographics reflect a diverse community with 33.1 percent of the students being Hispanic and 10 percent of the students being African American.

Working in close partnership with UC Davis, SCC will provide overall leadership for planning and managing projected targets and outcomes. The $27,500 grant will be used to create a path to successful transfer for African American, Hispanic and first-generation students.

The pathway to a bachelor’s degree will start with outreach from SCC to potential college students with a focus on majors that have existing transfer agreements with UC Davis. For those students who start at SCC, the college will work to establish extra support services to guide students from application all the way through their transfer to UC Davis. These services will include access to counselors and transfer representatives that can help keep a student on track with their classes and creating cohorts for students where they can build peer relationships with other transfer students. Once the students transfer to UC Davis, the university will continue to work with students through graduation.

“Equity and anti-racism work are a priority at Sacramento City College,” said Sacramento City College President Michael Gutierrez. “Our executive team and the entire college are committed to African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx and first-generation student success, which includes improving the pathway for our students to transfer to top universities such as UC Davis.”

SCC and UC Davis are one of only two California teams to be awarded the grant. The Equity Transfer Initiative Grant is issued to teams consisting of at least one community college and university. Each team must place at least 100 students on one of their identified transfer pathways by the end of the first year and 300 or more total by the end of the second year.

“We have a deep commitment to programs that are geared to increase the rate of successful transfer of underrepresented students including African American, Hispanic and first-generation learners,” UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May said. “We believe this kind of diversity enriches our community with new perspectives and priorities.”

UC Davis is a leader in providing opportunity to transfer students, and 23 percent of its enrolled undergraduates were admitted as transfer students. The work supported by the grant will help meet a University of California goal to increase the number of academically prepared community college students who transfer to UC and earn a bachelor’s degree.