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City College and San Francisco Unified School District partner to support pathways to higher education among African American and Latinx students

The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and City College of San Francisco (R����Ƶ) have partnered to provide historically underserved students with the tools they need to earn a college degree. While SFUSD’s high school graduation rates are climbing, some graduates still fall through the cracks in the journey from high school to college, and are unable to earn a post-secondary degree.

The Bridge to Success partnership equips African American and Latinx students with support at key stages of their academic development, beginning in middle school and continuing through their first year at R����Ƶ. Now in its ninth year, the program helps offer equitable access to college and greatly improves the rate of college completion for participating students. SFUSD and R����Ƶ are holding a leadership symposium on March 14 to advance the partnership and commitment to increase the number of African American and Latinx students with college degrees.

“Bridge to Success is a critical partnership that has aligned the social justice mission of both City College and SF Unified School District in serving San Francisco youth,” said Alex Randolph, President of R����Ƶ’s Board of Trustees. “The Program focuses on delivering support that helps break down institutional barriers to students of color, and helps guide students to pathways of academic success. We look forward to continuing this important work with Unified School District.”

“We want our students to have the option to stay in the city where they were raised and went to school, just as I did after graduating from SFUSD,” SF Board of Education President Stevon Cook said. “In order to do that, we must ensure our students graduate well-equipped to compete in the local workforce with the skills to address the social, economic, civic and environmental challenges in San Francisco today.”

For every 100 Latinx 12th graders, only 18 graduate from college, 49 graduate from high school, and 33 don’t earn a high school diploma. For every 100 African American 12th graders, 13 graduate from college, 58 graduate from high school, and 29 don’t earn a high school diploma. For other subgroups, for every 100 12th graders, 46 graduate from college, 42 graduate from high school, and 12 don’t earn a high school diploma.

To help address some of the barriers students face, Bridge to Success offers a variety of events for students, including comprehensive exploration about college options, field trips and guided planning for 11th and 12th graders to complete R����Ƶ registration for their first year of college.

“SFUSD is one of the highest performing urban school districts in California, yet we know the opportunity gap persists for African American and Latinx students,” SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews said. “Bridge to Success is a powerful partnership to help close that gap and improve college outcomes for SFUSD students. We’re grateful for this partnership with City College -- it’s making a difference in the lives of our students.”

On R����Ƶ’s annual FRISCO Day, the college hosts high school seniors to walk students through registration and provide information about student programs at R����Ƶ. Since it began in 2011, FRISCO Day has helped increase early registration rates in this group of students by nearly 100%.

Another opportunity, Summer Bridge, is a free, two-week program that provides socialemotional transitional training, as well as academic coaching in college-level English and Math to give students a head start. In Summer Melt Outreach, the college follows up with students who have applied to R����Ƶ but not yet completed the registration process via phone call and text.

“We are committed to making City College of San Francisco rank first in California for degree completion and university transfer rate by 2025,” said Dr. Mark Rocha, Chancellor of R����Ƶ. “We plan to reach this milestone through programs like Bridge to Success, which help close the achievement gap for students of color by offering equitable access to free college and providing the tools our students need to graduate and transfer to four-year universities.”