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WASHINGTON, DC - Excelencia in Education today announced the next step in the national initiative, Ensuring America's Future by Increasing Latino College Completion, at a press conference highlighting the start of a new capital campaign-a human capital campaign. The national initiative is focused on increasing Latino college completion.  

The objective is to help reach the country's college completion goals now through 2025 by increasing Latino college completion.

The campaign will unfold in tandem with the development of an innovative roadmap to help reach the college completion goals articulated by the Obama Administration as well as major national foundations.

"In today's knowledge driven economy, a college degree is critical to the success of a competitive and high earning worker," said Sarita Brown, President of Excelencia in Education.  According to the U.S. Census, only 19% of Hispanics in the United States had earned an associate degree or higher in 2008. In comparison 59% of Asians, 39% of whites, and 28% of blacks had earned an associate or higher in the same year.

Given the current educational attainment levels for Latinos, the current and projected national Latino demographic growth and the intense challenge to increase U.S. economic competitiveness, increasing American college degree attainment requires a policy focused on young adults generally, and Hispanic students specifically.

Excelencia has taken the lead in organizing a wide array of organizations representing multiple sectors in common cause, accelerating Latino college completion.  Those fifty inaugural signatories have committed to work with Excelencia to increase Latino college completion through:

• Intentionality in serving this group of students;
• Delineation of degree completion goals and measures of progress;
• Commitment to practices and policies that produce positive results; and,
• Clarity about the federal, state and institutional policy environments that affect Latino student success.

To further the campaign Excelencia announced it will expand its information role to track progress toward Latino college degree completion, as well as engage stakeholders at the national, state and institutional levels to develop and deploy a policy roadmap to accelerate Latino college degree completion. Two reports supporting investment in Latino college completion were also released at the press conference.  For more information, visit www.edexcelencia.org/initiatives/EAF/full

About Excelencia in Education

Excelencia in Education is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization whose mission is to accelerate Latino student success in higher education.

Ensuring America's Future by Increasing Latino College Completion

Inaugural signatories: 

ACT

American Council on Education

Alliance for Excellent Education

ASPIRA

Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund

Association of American Colleges and Universities

Business Champions

California State University System

Campaign for College Opportunity

CEOs for Cities

College Board

Complete College America

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce

Edwin Gould Foundation

Florida ENLACE

Helios Foundation

Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities

Hispanic College Fund

Hispanic Heritage Foundation

Hispanic Scholarship Fund

Institute for Higher Education Policy

Intercultural Development Research Association

W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Kresge Foundation

Manufacturing Institute

Maricopa Community Colleges

Midwestern Higher Education Compact

Miami Dade College

National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials

National Center for Family Literacy

National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education

National Conference of State Legislators

National College Access Network

National Council of La Raza

National Governors Association

National Hispana Leadership Institute

Nexus Research & Policy Center

Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education

Project Grad USA

Southern Regional Education Board

State Higher Education Executive Officers

Texas House of Representatives, Rep. Joaquin Castro

TG

University of California System

University of Texas System

University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College

University of Texas at El Paso

Univision Communications

USA Funds

Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education

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