Publications & Research
Celebrating Exemplary Student Support Leaders
Stories and Practical Advice from California Community College Faculty and Staff
At a time when our country was paralyzed by a global pandemic, student support leaders took action. As the related economic recession and racial reckoning unfolded and the pandemic kept us away from campuses, student support leaders leaned into the challenges, created places of refuge for students, and figured out creative and necessary ways to support them in achieving their higher education dreams.
As part of the California Guided Pathways Project, College Futures Foundation, in partnership with The Ada Center and Phase Two Advisory, has supported the development of resources for institutions pursuing holistic student supports approaches (HSS). HSS seeks to provide students with the essential and individually relevant academic, social, and personal supports they need, when they need them.
Recently, as a part of this work, The Ada Center recognized and celebrated 46 exemplary HSS leaders from 25 California community colleges whose bold and extraordinary work created more student-centered, equitable, accessible, and navigable pathways and spaces for students. The Center’s new report highlights these leaders, who found a way to form a constellation of hope and care for students in profoundly challenging times, and captures their ideas and candid perspectives about the implementation of holistic student supports.