TABLE OF CONTENTS

African Diaspora Cultivating Education

Natives Empowered Through Unity & Education

Southeast Asians Furthering Education

Yik'al Kuyum

Bridge - Pilipino Outreach & Retention

The Numbers

NOW HIRING

CONTACT US

Student Recruitment & Retention Center

One Shields Avenue
26 South Hall
Davis, CA 95616

(530) 754-6836
srrc@ucdavis.edu
http://thecenter.ucdavis.edu

Dear Campus Community, 

Hello and welcome to the SRRC's quarterly newsletter! This quarter we would like to invite you to stop by and visit anytime for dialogue, resources, study halls and a warm environment to help you retain yourself at UC Davis.

Right now we're in the process of hiring passionate, dedicated, hard-working folks to continue the efforts the center has been advocating for in our nine years of existence. Come to an information session to learn more on
February 2nd
from 6 pm – 8 pm
in the SRRC Conference Room
(26 South Hall)

In this issue, you will find some stories from people who work with us and a little insight into some of our past events. Please join us for any of the following events or information sessions: We hope to see you soon in the garden level of South Hall (the basement) to experience a day in your center.

In solidarity,
Stephanie Tan and Lia Shepherd
RROC Co-Chairs

African Diaspora Cultivating Education

This Fall quarter was very successful for ACE-African-Diaspora Cultivating Education. This success was due to the increased visibility and collaboration within the African and African American community at UC Davis.  ACE started off the quarter by playing a large role in the planning and funding of Black Fall Welcome. Black Fall Welcome brought together more than 200 students, staff, and faculty to welcome all incoming African and African American freshmen, transfer, and graduate students. ACE also made a big impact on the community this year with the 23rd Annual Black Leadership Retreat (BLR). With sponsorship from the Student Assistants to the Chancellor, BLR was able to host the first Black Leaders Caucus.  The Black Leaders Caucus helped spark collaborations within many African/African American student organizations on campus. Through collaboration, ACE has more than doubled student participation in both retention and recruitment programs.

This fall, ACE's recruitment program BLEP (Black Leadership Excellence Program) worked with Black Engineers Association and Imani Clinic to provide tutoring to New Tech, Burbank, and Natomas High Schools every week.  BLEP also provides mentorship to Luther Burbank's all male leadership class with the help of BEA and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity incorporated. The BLEP mentorship program has been very successful in encouraging young black males and females to continue higher education.

With the help of BEA, ACE also kicked off there African Sistahs & Brothas (ASB) Mentorship program, which is a mentorship Program for UC Davis students. The ASB Program pairs lower division and transfer students with upper division students with the same interests and majors. The purpose of ASB is to increase the retention of African and African American students by creating a greater sense of connection to their community, creating a supportive environment that encourages personal development, cultural awareness, and academic success. This year, 80 students are participating in ASB which makes it this year's largest program for ACE!

Recruitment Highlight
During the month of November, the Recruitment Committee at the Student Recruitment and Retention Center worked together to assist seniors from the surrounding area apply to college through our Apply Yourself program. The Recruitment Committee successfully served 64 students from 7 different schools. Many of the seniors found Apply Yourself to be helpful that some seniors stayed in contact with their recruitment coordinator to continue receiving assistance with their personal statements.

Natives Empowered Through Unity and Education

For Indigenous Day of Resistance, NE'UE offered an event where NE'UE silkscreened t-shirts, which contained a message about the truth about Columbus. There were drummers from DQ University who took part of the event. The event had over 30 people who showed up to silkscreen their own t-shirt for free. Next year, NE'UE plans to continue silk-screening t-shirts for free as well as making the event a greater success.

Southeast Asians Furthering Education

In early November, Amy Voong and Kathy Her, the Outreach Coordinators for Southeast Asians Furthering Education (SAFE), hosted a SAFE Fall Welcome. The SAFE Fall Welcome was a brief introduction to SAFE’s program for the parents and relatives of the high school and middle school students SAFE works with.
 
Parents and guardians were able to ask the Outreach Coordinators and their interns and volunteers more about what their students are doing after school with SAFE. “The parents felt a little bit more reassured after meeting the people who were working with their kids after school,” says Kathy Her, “because the parents were able to ask questions and give their input to the coordinators, interns, and volunteers, they felt more comfortable to allow their kids to stay after school with SAFE.” Many parents did not speak English, but because SAFE had a handful of interns and volunteers that were fluent in different Southeast Asian languages (e.g. Hmong, Mien, Vietnamese), the dialogue with the parents went very well.
      
The Fall Welcome also gave the high school and middle school students a chance to express what drives them to pursue the goals they have for themselves in front of their peers.

The event was emceed by SAFE volunteers, Maikey Moua and Poyee Vang and had over 100 participants.

Yik’al Kuyum

This is a new year for Yik’al Kuyum! We are looking forward for new and innovating projects for our coordinators. We have a peer mentorship project gearing up for our community. We are also looking forward for interesting and discussions about issues that affect our community. Our Gender and Sexuality coordinator is planning these interesting discussions within the new quarter. We are also mentoring students within the local communities. We are looking forward to the new interns and volunteers that will make an impact to those within out community. We also have high school students visiting the UC Davis campus. Yik’al Kuyum is also hosting its first informational meeting this month! So, please come and check out Yik’al Kuyum anytime in 16 South Hall!!

Bridge - Pilipino Outreach & Retention

We got FED up and we liked it!

On Nov. 8 at UC Berkeley, the Fil-Am orgs united to empower and encourage the Filipino youth to attend college. Our Filipino high school and retention program BRIDGE, alongside UC Berkeley’s PASS and Stanford’s PASU, combined forces to empower the Filipino community through academic, cultural, and political awareness. Fil-Amers volunteered to facilitate workshops which focused on topics such as preparing for the SAT’s, applying for colleges, and one-on-one help on the application process. The conference did not cater towards the Filipino community exclusively, but invited other people interested in taking the next step towards higher education.

If you are interested in keeping our youth in school, check out BRIDGE, which is located at the Student Recruitment and Retention Center at 16 South Hall.

The Numbers