The Title V Cooperative is a five-year grant funded by the federal government to assist Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) to plan, develop, and carry out programs to improve and expand the institutions' capacity to serve Hispanic and other low-income students by finding supplemental resources. Our Title V Coop grant, “Closing the Funding Gap,” is a collaborative agreement between East Los Angeles College, Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, and Los Angeles Southwest College. The grant focuses on three areas: business partnerships, foundation development, and grantsmanship.

Selina Chi, Dean of Resource Development and Community Relations, is a member of the grant writing team and also serves on the implementation team for ELAC. Housed under the Development Office, the grant supports the activities of college advancement under the direction of the President’s Office. The outcomes have already shown evident in the improvement of operations and increased capacity. An impact has already been made in grants activity, scholarship development, marketing and public relations for the Foundation, business partnerships and special events. This office is aligning itself with the District’s College Advancement Team concept that was set forth in 2002.

As part of the grant structure, funding included staffing for a Resource Development Specialist. Stan Lim was hired for this position in the spring of 2003. His role has been to foster grant activity on campus, aid in the development of the foundation and scholarships, and implement other capacity-building activities. Stan brings a fresh, new perspective with his experience in business to the Development Office. He recently helped develop the Monterey Park Hospital Nursing Scholarship and has led the development process and launch of the new Foundation web site. Stan was selected to the 2003 U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions Fellows Program and was awarded an all-expense paid fellowship to Washington, D.C.

April Aragon handles the fiduciary responsibility and event coordination for the following:
EVENTS - Concurso de Ballet Folklorico, President’s Annual Gala, Annual Golf Tournament, Scholarship Award Ceremony; PROGRAMS - Foundation Scholarship, payroll deduction, RCAT program, and board meetings, minutes, and scheduling. Title V has also provided us Blackbaud and Raiser’s Edge software, including software training and technical support, to increase our capacity to improve our donor database and compilations.

TITLE V, Higher Education Act:
DEVELOPING HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTIONS

Title V of the Higher Education Act (HEA) was created in 1998 to expand educational opportunities for Hispanic students in order to increase their postsecondary academic success through the expansion and enhancement of the academic offerings, program quality, and institutional stability of the colleges and universities that educate the majority of Hispanic college students in the United States.
The research that led to the creation of Title V determined that Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) provide a significant proportion of postsecondary opportunities for Hispanic students even though they receive significantly less in State and local funding, per fulltime equivalent (FTE) student, than other institutions of higher education, thereby limiting their ability to expand and improve programs and institutional strength. Hispanic-Serving Institutions are defined as those with low education and general expenditures, and 25 percent or more FTE undergraduate Hispanic students of whom 50 percent or more are low-income.

Title V funds may be used by the institutions to plan, develop, undertake, and carry out programs to improve and expand the institutions' capacity to serve Hispanic students and other low-income students; such activities may include the renovation of instructional facilities, faculty development, the purchase of scientific or laboratory equipment for educational purposes, funds and administrative management, development and improvement of academic programs, acquisition of equipment to strengthen funds management and academic programs, joint use of facilities, academic tutoring, counseling programs, and student support services.

A Title V Cooperative grant is awarded to cooperating institutions so that they may combine and share their resources in order to avoid costly duplicative efforts in institutional enhancement and development.