A Message from
OUR FOUNDATION A MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDATION
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SBCC PROMISE • 1,594 local students enrolled in the SBCC Promise in Fall 2017 • 85% completed all requirements and enrolled for the Spring 2018 semester • SBCC Promise students carried an average load of 12.6 units in Fall 2017 • 45% of SBCC Promise students had a GPA of 3.0 or higher in Spring 2018 • Five most popular majors: business administration, biological sciences, nursing, psychology and engineering
When I was growing up, there was never a time that I didn’t assume I would go to college. Looking back, it’s not hard to understand why. Both of my parents were college graduates, as were nearly all of my aunts, uncles, and grandparents. My mother was an elementary school teacher, my uncle a college professor, and my aunt a high school teacher. My father was a juvenile probation officer, high school counselor, and occasional community college instructor in his retirement. All of this created an environment of expectation and support for my brother and me to pursue higher education. It is now widely recognized that students and their families begin making decisions and setting expectations–both consciously and unconsciously–about college from early childhood. For some students, support and encouragement can be found at every turn. But for many others, barriers are the norm and higher education seems out of reach. Education researchers, advocates, and practitioners continue to point out the glaring inequalities in educational achievement among students across lines of race, gender, economic status, and parental education levels. A century-long commitment to investment in our public education system has produced one of the world’s great education systems, but not all students are equally supported, nor are they prepared to take advantage of it. It is clear that our community colleges–and great ones like SBCC specifically– hold the key to extending educational opportunity to all, meeting students where they are, and providing the pathways necessary to ensure all students can thrive. The distance between opportunity for some and opportunity for all is frequently travelled with the support of donors–those who see that with just a bit more support or the removal of a seemingly insurmountable barrier–anything is possible. Philanthropy is simply the act of putting our resources to work in service of our values and passions. If we believe that education is the key to personal achievement, thriving communities, and economic advancement (and I certainly do), then the path is clear. We must invest. Santa Barbara City College has been a community treasure for generations, and for the past forty-two years the SBCC Foundation has been the bridge between the college and its community of investors. With your support, there is nothing we can’t achieve for our students, our families, and our community. Thank you for making it possible. Gratefully, Geoff Green, Chief Executive Officer SBCC Foundation
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| 2017-2018 Report to the Community