San Diego Mesa College, Sacramento City College and Butte College are the latest community colleges to launch a student support program geared toward foster youth in higher education.
The expansion of NextUp – a program housed under the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) – to 15 additional California community colleges will help new host institutions promote foster youth’s academic success in higher education. The program will provide students with personalized support services, including educational planning, emergency housing assistance, food assistance, financial literacy and counseling and career guidance.
Formerly known as the Cooperating Agencies Foster Youth Educational Support (CAFYES) program, NextUp will now be available to students attending American River College, Cosumnes River College, Folsom Lake College, Bakersfield College, Cerro Coso Community college, Porterville College, Chaffey Community College, Moreno Valley College, Norco College, Riverside City College, San Diego City College and San Diego Miramar College.
To be eligible for participation in NextUp, students must be taking nine units at a college with the program, must be under the age of 26 and must have been in foster care on or after their 16th birthday.
“Foster youth have one of the lowest college graduation rates and providing the basic services such as personal counseling, educational plan, case management services, follow-up services and a variety of educational needs were not being met,” said Sade Burrell, an assistant professor and EOPS special populations counselor at San Diego Mesa College.
Burrell played an integral role in securing funding for NextUp programs in the San Diego Community College District. With more resources, she said the program can fill in the gaps in services previously offered to foster youth in the district’s colleges that also include San Diego City College and San Diego Miramar College.
Program leaders now have a goal to support nearly 90 to 100 eligible students.
