LBCollegePromise

LBCollegePromiseA White House report released Wednesday, September 9 has recognized the Long Beach College Promise (LBCP) program as one of the successful local initiatives used to help develop America’s College Promise Proposal (ACP), which aims to provide more college access and affordability for millions nationwide.

President Barack Obama announced in January his plan to invest $60 billion over the next decade to provide free community college education to students across the nation who are willing to work for it, as reported in this January 2015 article about the ACP.

The LBCP began in 2008 as a collaboration between the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), Long Beach City College (LBCC) and California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). The City of Long Beach became a partner in 2014, with a focus on early education and internships.

LBCP was mentioned in the White House report, titled “America’s College Promise: Progress Report on Free Community College,” as having provided a more structured transition for transfer students and a free first semester for thousands of Long Beach students.

According to LBCC, the report states that the success of the program “has become a model for other California schools.”

“Research shows that if you have access to community college education you can get training or a skill or a transfer degree that your chances of success dramatically increase,” said Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia in the article. “As does your ability to make enough income to raise a family and take care of yourself.”

The citation from the White House is only the latest accolade for the LBCP. In June the initiative was recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative Commitments to Action. LBCP was also given a $5 million State of California Award for Innovation in Higher Education and the 2014 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award.

The LBCP partners will host a community event on Thursday, September 24 at 10:00AM at LBCC to celebrate the past seven years and recent achievements. The celebratory event will also look ahead to the future expansion of the program with the $5 million State of California Innovation award.

For more information about LBCP, click here.

LBCC is located at 4901 Carson Street.

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Asia Morris is a Long Beach native covering arts and culture for the Long Beach Post. You can reach her @hugelandmass on Twitter and Instagram and at [email protected].