Alamo Colleges District Launches Pilot Near-Peer Coaching Program to Help More Underserved Texans Access and Complete College
SAN ANTONIO , Nov. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alamo Colleges District, the largest community college district in the south Texas region that serves 70,000+ students and provides tuition-free college to thousands of high school seniors, today announced a major new pilot initiative designed to improve first-year student retention, particularly among first-generation students and students from under-resourced backgrounds, through near-peer coaching. Through a collaboration with national nonprofit College Possible, the community college district will bring evidence-based near-peer coaching to 700 AlamoPROMISE students on two of its campuses, the majority of whom are from under-resourced backgrounds or are first-generation students.
- Beginning August 2023, the Alamo Colleges District will offer College Possible's Catalyze success coaching program to help improve persistence and retention, particularly among first-year Pell recipients and first-generation college students.
- The collaboration with College Possible draws on the nonprofit's 20-year history of training AmeriCorps service members as college access and success mentors to help high school juniors and seniors from underserved communities enroll in -- and complete -- college.
- In 2022, College Possible redesigned the Catalyze coaching curriculum with an increased focus on meeting the varied and complex needs of community college students.
- Generous support from the Travelers Foundation has enabled College Possible's expansion into the community college sector over the past two years.