Long Beach City College is giving away grant money for vulnerable student groups in order to increase fairness within the school.
$3 million of the $30 million donated to LBCC by philanthropist Mackenzie Scott has been put aside to fund student-led projects through the Equity Innovation Grant.
Student Equity Coordinator, Jerome Hunt, spoke on the kind of projects that the program is searching for.
“We are looking for programs that are creative, a bit out of the box, that would be a bit more long term than short term,” Hunt said. “Things that aid in decreasing the equity gap, looking at how we can help in persistence of transfer for our students, particularly for the first year to the second year.”
“Our Black/African American students, our LGBTQIA, our homeless, veterans, foster youth, our APID community, our Native American community, and more,” Hunt said, regarding who the projects would aid.
The application period went live on Oct. 3 and is set to close on Jan. 13, 2023. The original application period was to end on Dec. 13 but was extended due to no applications being submitted.
“So far we do not have any applications,” Hunt said. “We have a lot of interest and we have heard from a number of faculty members who are working with students and other faculty members, but they needed a little bit more time.”
The application process itself is quite extensive, consisting of four different sections, complete with writings about what the project will be about, a reviewal of the school’s strategic plan, and budget management.
When asked about the intensity of the application process, Dean of Student Equity, Dr. Sonia De La Torre-Iniguez said, “The goal was to have an application that was clear and straightforward, yet offered the opportunity for the applicant to provide enough information to get a good sense of the scope of the project.”
There is aid for those attempting to fill out the application process, specifically found on the LBCC Equity Innovation Grant website.
“To assist applicants we prepared an information video, an FAQ, and guidelines which can all be found on our webpage,” De La Torre-Iniguez said.
Since there have been no applications as of yet, there is a question about what would happen if no applications are submitted.
“That’s a great question, however, I am very hopeful that we will receive many applications. I have heard many folks talk about their great ideas for submission and anticipate seeing those applications come to fruition,” De La Torre-Iniguez said in response.