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Grantee Voices From the Field

Summer 2021 Newsletter

American Rescue Plan Act Releases $36 Billion in Higher Education Relief Funds

American Rescue Plan Act supports over 5000 institutions recovering from the COVID-19 national emergency.

The U.S. Department of Education released more than $36 billion of higher education emergency relief funds from the American Rescue Plan (ARP).   These grants will help over 5,000 institutions continue their efforts to support students and recover from the COVID-19 national emergency.

ARP funds will be used to make critical investments in the most under-resourced institutions that are educating and providing support systems for students most acutely affected by the pandemic.  Allocations and target institutions include the following:

• $10 billion to community colleges
•  $2.6 billion to historically Black colleges and universities
•  $190 million to Tribally controlled colleges and universities
• $6 billion to Hispanic-serving institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions, and other minority-serving institutions. 

The ARP more than doubles the funding made available to these institutions under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021.

Dr. Anthony Fauci Speaks at International Foreign Language and Education Conference

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, speaks at OPE-funded fireside chat.

Submission by Carolyn Collins, program specialist in International Foreign Language and Education (IFLE) and Kimberly Green of the Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, presented at the 6th Annual Hemispheric Security Conference (HSC 2021), in collaboration with Florida International University’s Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy. The conference was made possible with partial support from the Office of Postsecondary Title VI National Resource Centers grant. The conference attracted 4,159 participants from May 17–21, 2021.

Fauci joined HSC for a COVID-19 fireside chat moderated by U.S. Southern Command. Fellow speaker, Admiral Faller, expressed his appreciation for Fauci’s work throughout the pandemic and noted that it was Fauci’s expertise, and the information he provided, that helped guide U.S. Southern Command response and inform their engagement with regional partners in Latin America and the Caribbean. “We banked on your information day in, day out and passed it on and acted on it as fast as we could,” said Faller.

High-ranking international leaders also contributed to the conference. Luis Guillermo Solis, LACC interim director and former president of Costa Rica, and Epsy Campbell Barr, vice president of Costa Rica, analyzed the political and security challenges specific to Central America and the Caribbean. Erika Mouynes, minister of foreign of affairs of Panama, addressed the impacts of climate change on regional security, among others.

In closing, former LACC director Dr. Frank Mora stressed the importance of a hemispheric-wide commitment to support the true reform required to address the crises facing Latin American and the Caribbean. 

The Title VI National Resource Centers program provides grants to institutions of higher education to establish, strengthen, and operate centers that serve as resources for language education and area or international studies. Centers educate at the undergraduate and graduate levels and provide wide-ranging expertise to the public on specific world regions and issues.

Virginia Union University Upward Bound Program Perseveres Throughout the Pandemic

Virginia Union University students and parents prepare for the first COVID drive-through.

Submission by Alexandra L. Bolden, education program specialist for Upward Bound Programs

The Upward Bound (UB) program at Virginia Union University (VUU) hosted a COVID drive-through celebration for students to provide food, academic and leadership awards, and to honor graduating students for their steadfast commitment to finishing high school and going to college. The event celebrated the importance of adapting during COVID-19 and taught students the importance of responsiveness and resiliency. 

This year's UB program at VUU celebrated its largest graduating classes with the highest cumulative GPA scores in history. Through community partnerships and the support of Richmond Public Schools, VUU was able to complete the mission of the Upward Bound program while building community and autonomy.

Upward Bound staff collectively worked together to provide students with resources.

When Virginia and many southern states were forced to integrate the public school systems after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954, several school districts decided to close their schools rather than integrate. This decision adversely impacted the academic pursuits of thousands of students of color. Many families were not fortunate enough to send their children to live with relatives residing in integrated districts or to private schools. This resulted in a generation of students of color who were left behind.

UB/VUU reflected on the impact this historical moment in history had on the lives of the children most affected by the loss of their education, of up to five years, for many. The Upward Bound community at Virginia Union University collectively worked together, determined not to allow the pandemic to prevent students from pursuing and accomplishing their academic goals. Although the pandemic continues to challenge the VUU Upward Bound Program, through community partnerships, creativity, and teamwork, the program has found a way to reach students, even in a virtual environment. 

Learn more about the Upward Bound Program at Virginia Union University

Texas A&M University-Kingsville Students Win Senior Design Contest

Texas A & M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) computer science students, Tyler Hennig, Rafael Amaro, Kora Lopez, and Jacob Carrillo won first place in the TAMUK College of Engineering 2021 Senior Design Conference.

Submission by Dr. David Hicks of project director for Texas A & M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) and Dr. Bernadette Hence, director of Minority Science Engineering and Improvement Program (MSEIP)

Four Texas A & M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) computer science students, Tyler Hennig, Rafael Amaro, Kora Lopez, and Jacob Carrillo won first place in the TAMUK College of Engineering 2021 Senior Design Conference.

The team developed a program using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices as a potential solution to assist a therapist in automatically capturing the measurements of a patient’s range of motion during therapy sessions, saving both therapists and patients time and effort.  The team leader, Rafael Amaro, was inspired by his mother who works in a hospital and sees the difficulties that occupational therapy patients and therapists face during their sessions, which then became the seed of the idea for the project. With the support from the federally funded MSEIP grant, this team was able to acquire the VR and AR devices to fulfill their project needs.

Learn more about the TAMUK MSEIP program.

California State University, Fresno, Finds a Way for Students With Intellectual Disabilities

California State University, Fresno student Ryan is practicing his measuring skills to learn how to add and subtract measurements.

Submission by Ashley Abrahamson, activities coordinator at California State University, Fresno, and Shedita Alston, senior program specialist for  Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (TPSID)

The Wayfinders program at California State University, Fresno, is a two-year, non-degree, independent living certificate program for young adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. The program receives federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education TPSID program. 

Participants in Wayfinders increase their independence by living in student apartments, participating in work experience internships, taking classes at California State University, Fresno, through Open University, and engaging with the community.

Wayfinders prides itself on creatively assisting students to learn residential skills. Pictured here is student Ryan who is practicing his measuring skills. He worked with residential assistant Kodie to develop a system to learn how to add and subtract measurements. This work is aimed to help Ryan more easily understand measuring requirements in a recipe. He has demonstrated his new measurement skills by cooking omelets and preparing dough for pigs in a blanket.

Learn more about Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (ed.gov).

Think College Publishes 2021 Report for Students With Intellectual Disabilities

Think College National Coordinating Center (NCC) is pleased to share the Report on Model Accreditation Standards for Higher Education Programs for Students with Intellectual Disability: Progress on the Path to Education, Employment, and Community Living.

Submission by Rebecca Lazo, Think College knowledge translation manager and Shedita Alston, Shedita Alston, senior program specialist for  Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (TPSID)

The Think College National Coordinating Center (NCC) is pleased to share the Report on Model Accreditation Standards for Higher Education Programs for Students with Intellectual Disability: Progress on the Path to Education, Employment, and Community Living, recently submitted to the U.S. Department of Education and relevant Congressional committees.

The first NCC workgroup, established in 2011, developed the first model program accreditation standards and authored a report to Congress, the Secretary of Education, and the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity or NACIQI, as required by Congress (National Coordinating Center Accreditation Workgroup, 2016).

The second NCC Accreditation Workgroup began in 2016 and concluded in 2021 with this report. This workgroup conducted a field test of the model standards, held sessions to gather public input, surveyed programs regarding their interest in becoming accredited, and reached out to existing accreditors to ascertain interest in using the model standards.

These revised standards reflect a significant step forward in creating authentic and high-quality higher education opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities. Establishing and implementing model program accreditation standards will create benchmarks that will be useful for quality assurance and improvement of higher education programs enrolling students with intellectual disabilities. These standards will be used to validate and strengthen programs and provide guidelines for colleges and universities considering establishing high-quality programs. The model standards will be valuable for institutions of higher education and accrediting agencies, as well as for students with intellectual disabilities and their families.

The NCC is required by the Higher Education Opportunities Act to convene a workgroup to develop and recommend model criteria, standards, and components of higher education programs for students with intellectual disabilities. The National Coordinating Center Accreditation Workgroup issues this report in response to that statutory requirement.

OPE Employee Spotlights Valerie LeFor, New Director in Planning, Policy, and Innovation

Director of administrative and auxiliary services within the Office of Postsecondary Education’s division of Policy, Planning and Innovation.

Valerie Lefor is the director of administrative and auxiliary services within the Office of Postsecondary Education’s division of Policy, Planning and Innovation.  Her team handles control mail processes, Freedom of Information Act requests, oversight of contracts, information collections, and data analysis to support students in higher education with policy-related issues. She finds purpose in her work by reflecting on her small-town values. Lefor grew up in North Dakota, where she learned about hard work, community, and education. Every day, she is driven to ensure that people in even the most rural places have access to education.

Lefor says, “People and kindness matter. The work that we do is important, but even more so is the others you work with. I always say that we spend a good majority of our days and our lives in the office/working. We need to be sure that we are taking care of one another and trying to do more to help out whenever we can.”

Share Your Good News with the Grantee Community

Email photos, stories, updates and other news to OPE Management and Support Unit, at Sariane.leigh@ed.gov or call 202-453-7768