A Focus on Equity in Student Aid

And then we have a lot of students that are, are using , um, MITC as a jumpstart to a four-year college as well. So we're the largest college in the state in terms of the size of our population of students, of color and equity and inclusion. Uh, we have 107 degree programs that range everything from firefighter and police officer training to , um, you know, pre-engineering to technology degrees. Um, so we really are a full-service organization that serves our area.

The Milwaukee area is over a million people metropolitan and our district serves, you know , hundreds of schools , um, that are primary and secondary schools that are feeders for our students and our college.

And then we expanded it to adults. So not only is it for students that are coming straight from high school, but we also expanded it for those that started, but didn't complete a degree. And that was a huge part of our equity agenda because what we found is that a lot of the students even though they, they might have some access to Pell that there , there just wasn't the feeling that people had within their reach, the possibility to even pursue college.

So they just wrote it off as a possibility for them, for their career advancement. But what we found is that once you have access, if your systems within the college themselves are not set up for equitable outcomes, or for truly for student success at the, at the highest that they possibly could be, that you don't get folks to the finish line.

And so we've really taken a look at the data within our institution, both around an equity lens, but also just in general of our completion and in our student success and realized that our own structures were getting in the way. And so we've adopted guided pathways as the framework to restructure , um , how our schools are organized, how our programs are grouped, how advising and counseling works.

Actually like restructuring lines , positions throughout the entire college, our whole online or our whole experience for students coming into the college has changed. And we've also been a part of something that's called or the Achieving the Dream or Achieving the Dream cohorts school this year, brand new. And then also we've just become a part of something called the Moon Shot for Equity that the EAB just launched.

And we have a regional approach in Milwaukee where four different colleges have joined together to really link our strategies around equity. So are looking at best practices from advising to counseling, to how , how scholarships are structured on how we do , um , emergency grants and all of that, to really link it more to student success and specifically to , um, success in equitable outcomes and really removing some of those, those gaps. So it's, data-driven all of the things that I mentioned.

It, a lot of technology, things like adopting EAB Navigate , um, really, really focusing on the structures and the processes within an institution that at scale can bring very significant outcomes for students.

Um, you know, when I, we set our goals around March or April for the next academic year, and I remember meeting with my president and saying, I do not know if our , if we could reasonably hit , um, we had a $2.5 million a year, the year prior. And as a college we're while we're a large college, I would call our fundraising programs still fairly immature. Um, you know, as a public school and especially I think the community colleges , um, haven't had a strong of a fundraising arm.

And what we've been really trying to do is knowing the needs that our students have and knowing that we really are a lifeline to the kind of career advancement students have, and that, that, that the foundation and our fundraising has become an integral partner to all the student success measures that we're trying to do. So I said to my president , I don't know if we're going to hit 2.5 million again, because this pandemic people's giving strategies are going to change.

It's harder to reach them. A lot of our donors are donors where their affiliation to donor donating to us is through their place of work. And we don't have their home telephone numbers, like the basic way of getting in touch with people and their affiliation was kind of appended . And I said, I think we have to set a goal that's that's lower and rightfully. So my president said, absolutely not because it's super critical. Our students and our community has never needed us more.

And so we have , um, we went ahead and , and had that same goal as we did last year and said, if not, we should even try to exceed it because of the need. And I've got to tell you, our community has responded in a huge way. Um, you know, we're 50% of the year into the year into our academic and our fiscal year. And we're 91% of the goal that we set out. It's unbelievable. We've raised over $2 million. And , um, and I think we're going to exceed the goal that we set out.

And we have some people that have given, you know, sizeable gifts, our average gift sizes up, but we have new donors that came, that came in as well.

So all of us have access to that without even having to go through the portal of the college, which sometimes can be a little bit slow as what we've experienced. So just even making sure we have the information in front of us in order to manager our , um , relation to ships and our , um, our pacing, you know, as we actually as a college , um, we used to do a golf outing. Um, and several years ago we just looked at the cost benefit of that event.

And I have found that the individual fundraising strategy and the individual cultivation has been a lot more powerful and a lot more in terms of , um, rather than events. So we're we're right now , um , finding that the hardest bit , um, has not been able to have people on campus who are, especially who are newer in the institution, may not understand the depth of what we do, not being able to give tours.

And so we are actually like that to us when we're building new relationships, it gives a picture of what we can do. And granted, we have, we do have classes that are occurring on, on, on campus to some extent, especially in classes where it's absolutely necessary that those classes be taught, in-person firefighting , um, culinary.

But what we're doing is these really neat zoom meetings where we've been able to have , um, students, scholarship students meet directly with their donors, and it's actually been really intimate.

Um, we've done a couple of recordings of videos where someone said , um, you know, I think my mom might be really interested in seamless , and this is a lot lower pressure if she can watch a recorded video of students and not necessarily meet with the president quite yet, because she might not be at a donor like at a place to have a meeting with the president yet where there's pressure that she might be asked to give, but this could give her such a flavor and she could do it in the safety of her

own home. I never thought I'd hear that like that , that by having these vignettes of, of get-togethers with donors and , um, and students could be also used as a, as a way, not only to build some relationships between that individual donor and the students that they've supported, but it also might be something that , um, another donor one w that sparked their interest. So I would say that the virtual meet and greets have been huge.

And then the thing that we've really focused on is , um, is engaging the board of the foundation. So , um, we've been able to do these, these kind of zoom , um, get to know the college better because they aren't on campus. They're not able to tour different classrooms. And this way they're able to meet the students, the staff, beyond behind the programs we're trying to implement. And those have been extremely helpful.

And it's really helped us , um, have these meetings where they get a real sense of the depth behind what we're trying to achieve and, and do. And then we have a board meeting where they're taking actions on an individually taking actions, both with their personal commitment, but also thinking about how their company might become more engaged in what we're trying to do.

So , um, there's been blessings in the midst of this , um, that, that really we've tried to create, use the technology as a way to create , um, connections and individual relationships.

There's an , and now you have these, these virtual events and the process already set up. So there's been some really interesting silver linings, I think, from, from all of this change. But what have you seen in terms of when you look at your, your virtual events, are you doing also specific fundraising campaigns, or are you looking at , uh, emergency pandemic relief and scholarships for effected students? Just if the pandemic, are you doing things that specific?

And we had to really put that , um, th that kind of like the public face of the campaign on hold. And so, like I said, our, our, our focus , um, has been really more friend-raising than fundraising and preparation for that. We've done two major, what really, one really interesting , um, funded that we established as part of this.

And I think this might spark , um , some other people listening, we call it the Healthcare Heroes Fund and for our students that are taking , um, that are finishing and completing degrees in health care . One of the things that stands in the way from them practice thing is getting their licensing .

And when you have people that are , um, not yet working or , um, you know, kind of working where they're coming from lower incomes and getting into a system , a family supporting job, that that first job is a really is a tough thing to get. And often people have expanded expended all their resources . And so , um, the licensure can cost anywhere from like $500, $250.

And in some cases, a thousand dollars to get licensed to practice and everything from respiratory therapy to , um, you know, we have a really strong associate nursing program. And so we actually set up a fund to pay for the licensure and fees as a graduation gift. So every single person that was graduating in a program that required a license in may of 2020 received a graduation gift, no questions asked you didn't have to apply of the amount that was required in order to get that, that license.

And then we were able to do the same thing in December, and , um, it was such a great way to engage donors. It was such a great way to honor people making the choice to go into the world of healthcare at a time when they're needed most and quite honestly, when they're most at risk. And so , um, and, and what an amazing thing to stand up and say, this is an area I want to go into at a time.

And so from a technology perspective, we had to figure out in a systems perspective, like how do we, what tools can we use to , um, to make sure that they get the payment and all of that, it was kind of out of our normal cycle of awarding scholarships. So , um, even just the systems in place in order to make that happen, took a little bit of time.

And one of the things you mentioned earlier that I want to make sure we discuss a little bit more before we drop is the work that you're doing with Moon Shot for Equity with EAB. So can you tell us more about that?

And so the Milwaukee Area Technical College, Carthage College, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and University of Wisconsin-Parkside all joined together where, you know, combined our , um, institutions really set some goals where we're looking at various things specific ways. Not only can we look at articulating between our different colleges, but also adopting best practices at scale.

Um, so that we create w we're looking both at Houston GPS and at Georgia State University to be mentors for us in doing so, and really, really looking at both systems for first-generation students or any students that get in the way from , um, everything's from like housing and employment opportunities that that might be paired cooperative opportunities. That those are the kinds of things that we can , um, really align , and improve across colleges in removing the moving equity gaps that exist.

So, I mean, it's such an amazing resource so that a individual guidance counselor or a academic advisor is really able to see a snapshot of where a student's at, how close are they are to program completion and really help on very specific ways of improving that individual student's outcomes, identify maybe if they didn't show up for class, or if their grades are slipping, that you get these retention alerts and it's much more embedded in the program, but it isn't just for that individual

student or individual who's an advisor working with an individual student to have the data they need to help that student. But we're also able to really look as a whole to say, what is the data telling us for all students where we really have to improve systems?

You know, one of the things that for, for our region, 50%, 6% of white students in our region earned a college degree with, or a certificate within six years in 2020, but only 32% of Hispanic students and 20% of black students completed degrees in that same timeframe. So if you look, I mean, our region is just, it's, it's, it's in some ways a microcosm of the rest of the country in terms of a lot of the equity gaps, but, but in a lot of ways our region is one of the worst.

I mean, we have the highest black incarceration, black male incarceration in the country in , um, in Milwaukee. And there's just so many things that we know that as an institution, both we're in a system where there's just a lot of things that get in the way of ensuring that people have an equitable path to be able to have the careers and, and the future for their lives.

Um, and this is a real commitment from those institutions, all of those institutions to say, where we can make changes, where we get in the way of success, we are going to remove those barriers. And we are. This is not acceptable to have, you know, 20% of African-American students, complete degrees in the same timeframe where 56% of whites did.

I mean, in a lot of ways, we want to increase that completion for all areas, but we have so much more work to do to really support the people of color in our region.