CRY-ROP and Crafton Hills College Receive Funding to create Technical Education Pathways.

Publish Date: Jan. 11, 2022

Crafton Hills College will receive funding from the California Community College Strong Workforce project to expand and strengthen its role partnering with the Colton-Redlands-Yucaipa Regional Occupation Program (CRY-ROP). The award is from the Strong Workforce’s “Building Bridges from High School to Community College” project and will be used to provide area high school students with the opportunity to learn about the benefits of attending community college and completing career and technical education (CTE) certificates or degrees.

This project will develop a student-centered transition model to increase enrollment and completion rates of students in established CTE pathways that begin at one of CHC’s partner high schools and end with program completion at the College. State funding will be used to add two senior student services staff members who will work directly with CRY-ROP to provide college and career awareness workshops, college visit opportunities, financial aid awareness, and other research- proven activities and services to help local high school students enroll and succeed in college. To enhance the high school student experience across secondary and postsecondary systems, college and ROP staff will provide onsite advising and transition services, individualized college transition/career plans, and support in navigating the postsecondary environment after high school. Project services will focus on promoting student success by addressing equity and access gaps faced by underserved and vulnerable student populations.

CRY-ROP Superintendent Tracie Zerpoli states, “We are pleased to formalize our partnership with Crafton Hills College to work side by side to benefit all CTE students. With the addition of the Student Services Technician positions, students will plan their future and make a seamless transition to college and career. We are grateful for this opportunity.”

“Crafton Hills College is extremely excited about this partnership.This funding will help us continue to build on our track record of leading the Inland Empire in transfers to four-year universities and promote some of our highly sought-after career and technical education programs,” claimed Dean of Student Equity and Success, Dr. Ivan Peña