Supplement to the June 2003 Report to the Governor and General Assembly on Underrepresented Groups in Illinois Higher Education - Community

              SELECTED BEST PRACTICE RECRUITMENT AND PREPARATION PROGRAMS FOR MINORITY STUDENTS
Highland Community College’s Enrollment Management Team has developed a multifaceted approach to recruitment. The Team has dedicated local operating funds to a half time position to staff an Inquiry Response Center. The Center ensures that all requests for information are received in a timely fashion and, if possible, the follow up is handled personally by the staff person who can best relate to the student’s background and address his or her needs. Additionally, an Enrollment Management Team member who is an African American works particularly closely with the Freeport schools which have the college district’s largest concentration of minority students. The contact person spends a good deal of time at Freeport High School and delivers all of the information and makes all of the visits to this school for maximum exposure and positive role modeling to the African American student population.
Highland Community College’s Enrollment Management Team has also targeted recruitment of working adults at their places of business to try to get additional employed adults to enroll and improve their skills. Weakness in the local economy have made this a more challenging task. Highland Community College officials also continue to work with local business partners and adults who come to the college for retraining through the Workforce Investment Act.
Highland Community College has also actively recruited recent GED completers. This initiative is coordinated across multiple departments to help GED completers make a successful transition to college. This project is beginning to show positive results after the first year of implementation. Similarly, the Enrollment Management Team is pursuing Upward Bound Program participants since these individuals have developed skills and support systems to successfully make the transition to college. The Enrollment Management Team has implemented new recruitment strategies and expanded data tracking techniques to more fully evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. Future recruiting efforts will be guided by results from existing initiatives.
In partnership with other community agencies, Illinois Valley Community College’s Hola, Mendota English as a Second Language (ESL) class was created to attract ESL students from Hispanic families living and working in the Mendota, Illinois area – particularly seasonal migrant workers. Collaboration with key individuals from the Mendota community helped promote the success of Hola, Mendota. The superintendent of the elementary school district provided an easily accessible site already set up for childcare. The president of the local Hispanic Partnership Council spearheaded recruitment for the Mendota ESL class. Various support services such as bilingual instructors and childcare professionals as well as a free meal on-site encouraged participants to attend class.