Long Beach City College managed to weather the storm in spite of COVID. Superintendent-president Mike Muñoz shared how Long Beach Community College not only weathered the storm but continues to make great strides in his State of the College address.
Enrollment for colleges decreased drastically due lockdowns and fear. “Through the pandemic, the colleges and universities across the country experienced record drops in enrollment. Due to innovative real time response, LBCC was among the top 5 of 116 community colleges in minimizing loss and maintaining student enrollment,” said Muñoz.
Muñoz further stated that this is an accomplishment of the LBCC team. 13 colleagues were honored with the Viking Impact award, which recognizes employees who exemplify high level of service and dedication.
The transfer rate increase was up for Black and Latinx students according to Muñoz. Black/African Americans had a 17% increase in Associate Degree for Transfer and Latinx students had 18% increase. Black/African Americans had 54% increase in University Student Transfer and Latinx students had 23% increase.
“For the fifth time in six years, LBCC was recognized for the campaign for college opportunity for our transfer effort, but for 2022, LBCC was recognized for the Equity Champion of Higher Education Award for accomplishments in supporting Black and Latinx transfer efforts. The transfer efforts have continued to rise despite the pandemic” Muñoz said.
The Long Beach City College 2022 commencement had 920 students participate and 5,369 degrees and certificates of achievement awarded.
Muñoz introduced the strategic plan 2022-2026 stating, “It is the script in which we will act upon our mission and live our values.” He further declared, not to be thrown in the drawer and forgotten, but a script to live by.
The four themes of the plan are Inclusive, Supportive, Innovative and Synergy. Synergy is evidenced by “one of the markers that demonstrates our success: increase job placement into positions that support a living wage, which is now up to 41%.”
In line with the strategic script, other major accomplishments include securing $6.8 million dedicated funds for internships, adding 60 new local industry partners committed to hiring our students and strengthened collaborations with Arizona State University, USC which is aimed at supporting transfer success.
LBCC is also strengthening partnerships with Long Beach Unified School District, City of Long Beach, Port Of Long Beach and CSU Long Beach.
Muñoz also spoke of working with equity based non-profits like Raise the Bar, to help single student parents.
Long Beach Regional Small Business Center, headquartered at LBCC, advised 10,960 entrepreneurs in Long Beach and the surrounding region.
“We are currently working with University of Southern California (USC) Rossier School of Education’s. Together LBCC and USC are collaborating on a new program that promotes and supports higher education for former gang-impacted youth in greater Long Beach over the next three years called the Phoenix Scholars Program” Muñoz said.
The program was dubbed LBCC Phoenix Scholars and received a million dollars and was the only such grant allocated in the nation by the Department of Education.
A student from this new program, Adrian Burt, spoke of how the program changed his life. When Blas Villalobos was asked what his favorite part of today’s program was, he said “My student – Adrian”. Adrian now has a stable life and is a full time student at LBCC as a result of the program.
In December 2022, LBCC announced “Viking Clubhouse” providing after school programs to the children of an estimated 1,000 students. This is accomplished in partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach. According to Muñoz, this could become a model for the nation.
“This new service is simply a game changer for our student parents because at the end of the day, these are just students who are trying to do what’s best for their kids. They are going to college to better their lives and the lives of their family. We know that education creates a generational impact and so we are so proud of this program.” Muñoz said.
To support LBCC’s endeavors, 37 new faculty members have been added.
When asked what she thought of their new Superintendent-President, “I find him approachable and genuine,” said Pamela Brackman, Senior Administrative Assistant, Academic Senate.
From the State of the College address, it appears that LBCC is storming into the future to become the best community college in the country. The strategic website link is https://www.lbcc.edu/strategicplan and all were invited to review and respond. This contains the goals and strategies set to make LBCC the best community college in the nation.