Center for Educational Partnership

A significant grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will advance UC Merced's efforts to create a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of college readiness among high-school students in the San Joaquin Valley, particularly those from underrepresented and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds.

Editor's note: In honor of Black History Month, the UC Merced newsroom is highlighting some of the organizations, services and people who serve or represent the Black community on campus.

For many aspiring college students, it can be hard to picture themselves attending a four-year university, especially when they will be the first in their family to attend. UC Merced's partnership with The 1300 Campaign is giving local young men of color a first-hand experience of what being a student at UC Merced might feel like for themselves - from the dorm room to the research lab.

An education and workforce collaborative spearheaded by UC Merced and composed of partners from Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties was awarded $18.1 million by the California Department of General Services (DGS) as part of the K-16 Education Collaborative Grant Program. WE Will! The Northern San Joaquin Valley K-16 Regional Partnership was one of four collaboratives across the state recently selected to receive an award.

Veterans with aspirations to pursue higher education will have access to new resources and support through the Veterans Upward Bound Program at UC Merced.

This year, the university was selected as one of the recipients of the Department of Education (DOE) grant, which helps to provide first-generation and low-income veterans with assistance from the application process through commencement. The DOE website states, "the program's primary goal is to increase the rate at which participants enroll in and complete postsecondary education programs."

Almost 1,000 community college students representing 39 different campuses in California came to UC Merced to explore the opportunities for transfer to a University of California school.

The all-day Puente Motivational Conference introduced the students and more than 100 faculty members to admissions counselors from across the University.

Araceli Hernandez could have been playing video games, swimming or sleeping in over summer break, but instead she was doing math. And she’s happy about it.

Hernandez took part in one of three summer programs on campus developed by UC Merced’s Center for Educational Partnerships (CEP) with funding from U.S. Department of Education Trio grants aimed at increasing the number of youth from disadvantaged backgrounds who complete high school and enroll in and complete their postsecondary education.

UC Merced is one of three campuses in the University of California system to team up with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to prepare young Californians for college success.

Three grants totaling more than $3.6 million from the

UC Merced staff and administrators encouraged about 400 Le Grand High School ninth- through 12th-grade students to aim for a University of California education. The visit on Nov. 19 was part of Achieve UC, a systemwide effort to deliver a simple message to students: College, and a UC education, is within reach.

UC Merced’s interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Life Brian O’Bruba urged the students to see themselves as college material.