Undocumented and AB540 students at Cal State Long Beach now have a resource center to help meet their unique needs, with the opening of the Dream Success Center on Monday.
The center, located in Room 309 of the University Student Union, is dedicated to providing support and services to these students. CSULB’s center is the fourth one within the CSU system’s 23 campuses.
“These students face unique challenges both in and out of higher education, and it is crucial for us to provide institutional support in their educational endeavors,” said CSULB’s Dream Success Center Coordinator Edgar Romo, in a statement. “A center serves as not only a physical space dedicated to their needs as students, but as a commitment from the university to prioritize student success.”
CSULB estimates there are some 650 AB540 and/or undocumented students at the university. The Associated Students, Inc. passed a resolution in March 2015 to create a resource center for these students.
CSULB President Jane Close Conoley said the school is always working to ensure each group gets the support they need to be successful.
The Dream Success Center will offer students resources like referrals to financial assistance, assistance, information on programs and services designed to improve retention and graduation rates and a place where students can connect with one another. The center also will provide computers, career development and other academic services.
“The task, of course, is ahead of us,” she said. “We’ve opened the center and now it’s for us to make it real, to make it a strong support for each student who takes advantage of having a place of their own and where they can connect with one another.”
Jorge Sandoval Ocampo, an undocumented student, who transferred to CSULB from Santa Ana College said in a statement that he was excited about the new center.
“As a student it’s so hard to navigate through the myriad of resources that are available on campus,” he said. “When I saw the Dream Success Center I thought to myself, ‘Every time I go into that center I’m going to be one step closer to success.’ What is being done right now is working, it’s helping me succeed and this center is another step in the right direction.”