The grant, which will provide $400,000 a year over the next five years, will fund the Including City Achievement Network or ICAN program and enable the college to improve and expand its capacity to serve Asian American, Native American Pacific Islander students, and low-income individuals.
“Becoming an AANAPISI makes City College a minority-serving institution, a Hispanic-serving institution, and now an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution,” said Kirin Macapugay, associate professor of Social Work. “This will give us the opportunity to strengthen our commitment to educate and empower our long under-resourced communities, the communities our own faculty and staff come from and care for.”
San Diego City College serves more than 25,000 students annually with 13% of students identifying as Asian American or Native American Pacific Islander.
“We are so excited to be the recipient of the Title III, Part A, AANAPISI grant,” said Masahiro Omae, Ph.D., dean of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and Consumer and Family Studies. “We are certain that this grant will further strengthen our commitment to providing additional learning opportunities for our Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander students.”
In 2021, Mesa College was awarded a $1.5 million AANAPISI grant. Mesa’s AANAPISI project, “Equity, Empathy & Excellence: Uplifting and Transforming Campus Culture through a Kapwa Lens,” is a multipronged, evidence-based effort designed to reduce equity gaps and increase the academic success, retention, graduation, and transfer rates.