Examining the Impact of the Puente Project on Community College Latino Males

• In Event: Pathways From the Community College: Building Successful Practices for Latino Males in the Community College

Abstract

Jesse Enriquez, University of California, San Diego
Title: Examining the Impact of the Puente Project on Community College Latino Males

The Puente Project is a UC system-wide intervention program designed to support transfer and college completion among first-generation and historically underrepresented students. The Puente Project has been recognized as a national-award-winning program that has helped thousands of students enroll in four-year colleges and universities (Laden, 1999). Although the program has grown exponentially over the years, now at 65 California community colleges, scholarly research on this model intervention program has remained stagnant. Only a handful of scholars have documented the experiences of Puente students, staff, or faculty at the community college (Rendon, 2002; Laden, 1999; McGrath & Galaviz, 1996a). Giving that Latino students disproportionately gain entry to higher education through the community college system, an examination of the impact of the Puente program on Latino success in community college is warranted.

This research paper is part of a larger comprehensive, statewide, mixed methods research study of the Puente Project. This larger research study highlights the results of a statewide survey of Puente stakeholders (i.e., students, administrators, counselors & faculty) as well as analysis of the Puente Community College Project in California.

Methods
This paper draws from individual semi-structured interviews with Latino men who participated in the Community College Puente Project program. The following research questions guided the study:
How does the Puente Project help Latino men successfully navigate through the community college system?
What role does the Puente Program play in facilitating the transfer aspirations of Latino men?

Theoretical Framework
This paper draws on Laura Rendon’s (1994) theory of validation to examine how the multidimensional features of the Puente Program, (1) college-level English course sequence, (2) mentorship from professionals in the community, and (3) individual academic counseling create an infrastructure that validates the student’s culture, background, generational status, and multiple, intersecting identities.

Findings
Rendon’s (2002) theory of validation is applied to this pilot study to better understand how each Puente community college program operates and validates their students within their institutional context. Findings from this study are consistent with previous research on the Puente Project. Initial results confirm that Puente faculty and staff are important validating agents that engage in a “process of enabling, confirming and supporting” students both inside and out of the classroom, as well as their “academic and interpersonal development” (Rendon, 1994, p. 44). In addition, constructs of college choice, readiness, familial responsibilities and support, competitive eligibility, access, and individual academic planning are explored in this study to better understand how to create a more seamless pathways to the baccalaureate degree and beyond. Puente’s holistic, culturally responsive approach to engaging community college students has contributed to Puente’s strong reputation for serving Latina/o students.

Author

• Jesse Enriquez, University of California - San Diego