HSI Mini Grant

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The Kennedy Library will engage students in service learning to curate a mini library collection that highlights Latinx/e themes and voices. This project will showcase the rich cultural heritage and diversity within Latinx/e communities and celebrate bilingualism and linguistic diversity.

To ensure the collection resonates with students, the library will solicit student input via an outreach survey, supplemented by a Latinx/e student focus group, to refine the collection’s focus (e.g. diasporas, mixed-race/mestizo experiences, LGBTQ+ Latinx/e experiences). The library will offer one student scholarship to work in collaboration with two library employees, the DEI librarian and a staff member from the Collection Strategies & Discovery department, to curate specific titles.

The Kennedy Library will commit matching collection funds to reach the 300-volume book target during this pilot year of a three-year program. With a prominent location to highlight the books, shelving space will be dedicated to this collection in the Kennedy Library upon its reopening in Fall 2025, strengthening the sense of belonging of the Latinx/e community on campus. Accompanying this reopening, the library will facilitate a community event as part of Hispanic Heritage Month in conjunction with Cal Poly faculty to discuss the importance of representation in library collections.

“La Familia y Communidad” Advising Pilot with Mustang Success Center 

Becoming an HSI at Cal Poly requires intentionality in the way that we serve our students. This mini grant will provide University Advising and the Mustang Success Center the opportunity to pilot the design of a student advising experience in a way that is culturally centered around bringing supporters (including parents, guardians and families) along with their first time first year Latinx/e students. This project is deliberately investing and cultivating the familial capital (Yosso, 2005) of Cal Poly students in understanding advising resources and navigating higher education helping to activate this form of familial and community support for first time, first year Latinx students enrolling at Cal Poly. This is especially important because underrepresented students may face obstacles – financial struggles and language barriers between parents/families and academic institutions which may create potential stressors and hinder their academic performance (Boden, 2011). This project hopes to empower families with knowledge, resources and connections in order for them to increase their ability to support their students at Cal Poly. The goal is also to create a connection with parents, guardians and/or supporters so that they can feel connected to the institution their student has chosen to attend.

Instead of traditionally separating supporters from students, in this advising pilot, supporters are included in a year-round experience that starts off at orientation event with learning more about advising, first year experiences, and ways that they can learn how to support their student while in college. Supporters are connected throughout the year with monthly quarterly newsletters and recorded videos that provide information about academic milestones, campus resources, high impact practice opportunities, finances, and progress through the quarters so that families can continue to support and connect with their students instead of being disconnected and in the dark about what is going on during the college experience.

Queer & Latinx @ Cal Poly

The Trans Queer Student Union is planning on holding a cultural and community engagement panel focused on being Queer & Latinx @ Cal Poly - the panel will be an opportunity for Cal Poly community members (Staff, faculty, alumni) who identify both as Queer and Latinx to share their experiences regarding the intersection of culture, gender, religion, and more and how it impacts their personal lives as well as how they carry themselves in their personal careers. Catering from a Latinx owned vendor would be provided for all attendees and panelists.

Topic areas are currently planning on including discussions on the duality of being religious and queer - managing relationships with family and healthy boundaries - as well as talking about how to find safe places as a queer POC to find employment. This will be a bridge to show queer Latinx (as well as POC students as a whole) students that there are people like them thriving in careers - and that there are truly opportunities for them out there if they look.

This mini-grant will fund Avances: Advancing Math Readiness, a pilot project by The Office of Writing and Learning (OWL), in partnership with Admissions, to improve math preparation at select partner California high schools in the Central Valley’s Wonderful Education group (95% Hispanic/Latinx students) and the Salinas Union High School District (91% Hispanic/Latinx students). Statewide assessment data show about 75% of students at these partner schools do not meet 11th grade math standards, underscoring the need to support college-level math preparation. CSU EO 1110 prioritizes first-year completion of GE B4 math requirements, reinforcing the importance of equipping high school students with foundational skills for math success. Leveraging its existing virtual learning support infrastructure, funding will allow OWL to offer math tutoring and readiness workshops to students from the select partner schools. OWL will prioritize recruiting and hiring Latinx/e tutors for this project, embracing a “for us, by us” approach that creates culturally affirming peer connections to build math confidence while empowering Latinx/e high school students to see themselves thriving at Cal Poly. Avances aligns with Dr. Garcia’s servingness framework and the “Educational Initiatives” and “Cultural and Community Engagement” mini-grant categories, advancing HSI Taskforce goals to expand pipeline programs for Latinx/e recruitment and enrollment.

The Latinx/e-focused section of BUS 206: Career Readiness & Professionalism is a high-impact educational initiative designed to align with Cal Poly’s HSI mission by centering the experiences and needs of Latinx/e students in the Orfalea College of Business. Coordinated by Yesenia Marquez (Multicultural Business Program Coordinator/Orfalea College of Business Advisor and Latinx Business Student Association Advisor), this 2-unit course will integrate culturally responsive pedagogy, mentorship, and professional development.

Key components include:  

• Mentorship: Students will be paired with Latinx/e business professionals and supported by paid student peer mentors, who will provide consistent guidance and support throughout the quarter.

• Corporate Tour: Participants will engage in an industry visit to learn directly from professionals and expand their networks.

• Community-Building: Networking events, guest lectures, and culturally affirming activities will connect students with peers, alumni, and business professionals.

This project supports the Educational Initiatives and Cultural and Community Engagement grant categories by combining a high-impact academic experience with cultural affirmation and professional preparation. It aims to boost student confidence, enhance career readiness, and create a scalable model for equitable and inclusive education. As a required course for Business majors, BUS 206 has already demonstrated the impact of specialized sections, such as the Women in Business Leadership Academy and Multicultural Business Program-focused courses, in fostering student success and creating tailored learning experiences. 

Project Goals

• Enhance Latinx students’ career readiness through culturally relevant content, mentorship, and experiential learning.

• Foster a sense of belonging by centering Latinx experiences in business contexts.  

• Strengthen academic and professional outcomes by addressing unique challenges faced by Latinx students.

• Create a model for culturally responsive professional development courses that can be scaled across the university.

• By fostering a sense of belonging and advancing the professional aspirations of Latinx students, this initiative directly contributes to Cal Poly’s vision of “servingness” as an HSI.

The Chicano SLO Archive, a collaborative project involving Cal Poly’s Theatre/Dance and History Departments, memorializes the creative spirit of the Chicanx community of the Central Coast by documenting and interpreting ephemera produced by Chicanx students and community members in the early 1990’s-2014. Items include music and dance performance files, art exhibits, poetry readings, Dia de los Muertos celebrations and other Latinx/e events. The materials capture Chicanx efforts to be culturally engaged while affirming their racial identity in a largely white dominant institution and community. Materials also capture the fight for Ethnic Studies by students all against the backdrop of anti-immigrant sentiment and legislation in California in the 1990’s. This project aligns with Cal Poly’s HSI mission to create an educational environment that affirms Chicanx identity in and outside the classroom. Funding will be used to hire a student to organize, catalog, and digitize materials serving as a learning opportunity to build the archive and a research tool that expands narratives and affirms culture. Funding will also be used to prepare these materials for digital showcase on the Our Roots/Our Routes website. Some examples can be viewed on Instagram at @chicanoslo_archive created by Cal Poly Alumni Pedro Arroyo.

Nuestra Ciencia (NC) strives to empower undergraduates to become STEM mentors for Latinx youth. Through evidence-based teaching and collaborative research, NC combat microbiology misconceptions and inspire a love for science. NC’s long-term vision is to enhance Latinx success in STEM and provide educational resources for all. NC will work with the CP and community partner team to develop videos in Spanish, English, and Mixteco to explain microbiology concepts to elementary-age kids and their families. These videos will support NC undergraduates teaching microbiology concepts to children in dual immersion bilingual programs in the Central Coast NC undergraduates. NC members will visit classrooms and host field trips through the NC section of The Learn By Doing Lab: SCM302 (Aprender Haciendo) that takes place every Winter. NC will explain concepts like the mechanism of action of vaccines, why some vaccines require periodic boosters, and how vaccines can protect unvaccinated people through herd immunity. NC will share these materials with elementary students visiting Cal Poly and host them on our website. This project will empower Latinx undergraduate students to leverage their language skills to serve their community and promote Latinx and Mixteco culture and community engagement beyond Cal Poly.

Cal Poly’s transition to becoming an HSI will require not only recruiting Latinx/e students but also retaining them. Retention concerns are connected to students experiencing academic challenges, including probation, as well as lacking a sense of belonging. Cal Poly Scholars, EOP, and TRIO serve students who have identities that are marginalized and underserved. As University Housing staff members, the leads of this project will serve students in their on-campus homes. They have a unique ability to help students build a sense of belonging through educational and social programs, while also bringing services and resources to them, in their own homes. They will also oversee the residential communities that house Cal Poly Scholars, EOP, and TRIO, which allows collaborative, intentional support of these students through the Un Camino a tu Comunidad Series.

This mini-grant will fund the ability to host programs to intentionally address retention concerns of students living in the Cal Poly Scholars, EOP, and TRIO residential learning communities. Weekly topics may include (we will seek student feedback, too) academic study tips, asset-based approach to understanding community cultural wealth, and social events to support personal connections. The funds will be utilized to purchase food, supplies for activities, and potential guest speakers.

While the percentage of Latinx/e students at Cal Poly reached 25% recently, the reality is that Latinx/e student experiences are still imbedded in a predominantly White institution (PWI), in a predominantly White community. Latinx/e students attending PWIs have been historically stereotyped as ‘underqualified’ and ‘lacking intelligence’, and have been made to feel unwanted in these environments (Yosso et al., 2009). Not surprisingly, Latinx/e students frequently report racism, discrimination, and isolation while attending PWIs (Von Robertson, Bravo, Chaney, 2014). A recent study by the Lumina Foundation (Gallup State of Higher Education, 2022) found that Latinx/e students are more likely to feel discriminated against than any other racial or ethnic group.

This mini-grant will fund the workshop “Trauma Healing for Latinx/e Students; an adaptation of healing,” aiming to provide a “counter-space” for these students to experience safety, validation, support, and healing interventions, as guided by Latinx/e identified psychology faculty. This project will adapt and modify the Trauma Healing for Educators of Color that has been successful and valued at Cal Poly. The proposal aligns with Cal Poly’s HSI goal of increasing “Holistic Health & Belonging” for its Latinx/e students. Specifically, it supports recommendation #5 of the HSI Executive Summary: Strengthen wellbeing and basic needs support services addressing equity gaps for Latinx students.

Located in southern Mexico, the state of Oaxaca is home to 16 indigenous groups, such as the Triqui, Mixteco, and Zapotec peoples. Despite this diversity, these groups are oftentimes racialized as “Mexican” when they immigrate to the U.S., a bureaucratic measure that invisibilizes indigenous Latinx/e cultures. This one-day series of events will enable the Cal Poly community to learn about the history of indigenous Latinx/e peoples, and why the Central Coast is a key site for Oaxacan migration and mobilization.

The first event will be a talk by historian Dr. Jorge Ramirez-Lopez, a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the American Indian Studies Center at UCLA. Dr. Ramirez-Lopez will present on Oaxacan migration history in CA, particularly the relationship between Oaxacan farmworker activism and agricultural labor. The second event is a workshop by Gabriel Mendoza, a Mixteco linguist, researcher, and community organizer. Participants will explore the diversity of indigenous languages from Mexico, the role of interpretation and translation, and the challenges of maintaining indigenous languages in the diaspora. All-in-all, both events serve to broaden our understanding of indigenous and Latinx/e intersections through a Western hemispheric lens rooted in indigenous rights, autonomy, and multi-ethnic and multi-racial solidarities.

This project will start a club that promotes Latinos in Veterinary Medicine. This club in complement with the already existing Vet Science club will create a more inclusive and inviting environment. Within the Veterinary Medicine project Latinos are a minority with only 20% of students identifying as Hispanic or Latinx. It's even more discouraging considering that only 0.5% of vets in California are Latinx. Because of this, it's important to create a support system that encourages Latinx students to continue their education in the field of animal sciences in order to further continue our education in Veterinary school. This project aligns with the goals of this program by striving for cultural and community engagement.

Cal Poly Scholars, the Educational Opportunity Program and TRIO Achievers will expand their transfer support program by creating a Transfer Bridge program (1 day) and/or a UNIV 100 course specifically for transfer students enrolled in our programs. The programs have an overall average 64% Latinx enrollment which ranges from 56% - 76%, with transfers representing a higher percentage of Latinx students. The transfer bridge and/or UNIV 100 will focus on connecting students to integral resources, community building and career readiness. “The Heard” program is currently being enrolled to provide us focus group data and auditing other Transfer Bridge programs throughout the CSU to determine the curriculum and/or best practices in providing transfer specific resources. They are currently working with and/or want to work Career Services, Transfer Center, NSTP, SDAB, Financial Aid, Students with Depedents, Campus Health and Wellbeing Services, Office of Writing and Learning. This program would help HSI priority 2, 4, and 5.

The project involves sponsoring Cal Poly welcome events in the Santa Maria and Salinas CA regions in spring 2025 (for Fall 2025 accepted students). The goal is to serve communities that support a majority of Latine/x accepted students and their supporters and offer them exposure to the benefits of a Cal Poly education in an accessible format. Parents and supporters play a critical role in the decision-making process for students when they are deciding whether or not to confirm a university admission offer. The regions with the highest number of accepted Latine/x students nationwide to Cal Poly are the Santa Maria and Salinas, California regions. Therefore, these welcome events will be high impact in removing socioeconomic barriers that prevent students and supporters from traveling to Cal Poly by bringing Cal Poly representatives, information and resources to them in their local community. This will also support the admission and enrollment pipeline for Latine/x students by ensuring they have all the necessary support needed to make the critical decision of where to attend college.

This project aims to engage with cultural and community engagement by creating murals and paintings to help increase visual representation of Latinx/e author’s within the English building here on campus. There is already representation for a few authors of different backgrounds and have ample space to include more already. These paintings/murals will help highlight authors of a Latinx/e background while simultaneously creating a platform to include other backgrounds within the future. The project will focus on the fact that many of the best works of literature in the English language are translations—starting with the Latinx/e works. From there it is possible to include many other languages and cultures via the established platform. The works will be painted on the weekends and include authors such as Pablo Neruda, Gabby Rivera, Sandra Cisernos, and many others.

The Latinx Business Student Association (LBSA) will support a one-day corporate tour in San Francisco, designed to empower Latinx/e students by exposing them to professional opportunities and environments. This initiative aligns with the recommendations of Cal Poly's HSI Taskforce to foster cultural and community engagement while also advancing educational and career success for Latinx/e students.

To ensure accessibility and inclusivity, LBSA will cover transportation, dining, and event planning costs. These accommodations remove financial barriers that might otherwise prevent participation, ensuring all interested students have an equal opportunity to benefit from this experience.

Participants will visit two professional corporations in San Francisco, where they will gain insight into various industries, connect with professionals, and engage in meaningful discussions and panels about navigating corporate spaces as underrepresented individuals. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions, learn about internship and full-time opportunities, and expand their networks, helping them to envision themselves in these professional settings. By immersing students in this experience, the tour aims to enhance their understanding of potential career paths, boost their confidence in pursuing ambitious goals, and inspire them to bridge the gap between academia and the corporate world.

The Chicanx/Latinx Faculty Staff Association (CLFSA) will have a field trip to The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture in Riverside, California. The Cheech is a renowned cultural institution that celebrates and preserves Chicano art and heritage. Opened in June 2022, it serves as a vital space for understanding the depth and diversity of the Chicanx experience in the United States. This visit will foster community-building among Chicanx/Latinx faculty and staff and provide a platform to reflect on how cultural institutions like The Cheech can inspire engagement and representation at Cal Poly. This experience aligns with Cal Poly’s commitment to promoting Latinx culture and advancing equity, racial justice, and belonging.

This project will support initiating an outreach program to community colleges near Cal Poly that offer courses and degrees in forestry, natural resources management, soil science, wildland fire, and environmental studies.

These programs are found at Bakersfield, Reedley, Butte, and Alan Hancock community colleges.

These colleges serve areas with a high Latinx/e population. The proximity of these colleges should make Cal Poly a competitive location for transfer from these programs, but the forestry and fire sciences, environmental management, and earth and soil science degrees receive few applicants from these locations.

This project will develop several short videos with a focus on Cal Poly’s efforts toward a Hispanic Serving Institution and a diverse student body. These videos will target potential transfer students to forestry, soil science, and environmental management degrees at Cal Poly. This project will result in 3-4 short videos featuring campus life for Latinx/e students, our clubs, teams, and natural resources career opportunities after Cal Poly.

We will further take a contingent of students to a Community College Forum for students and faculty from several of the target colleges April 24-25, 2025.