About City College of San Francisco

The City College of San Francisco is a large, urban community college made up of 10 campuses, offering Associate Degrees as well as non-credit educational experiences to more than 100,000 students each year.

CCSF's Approach

Within the Asian Pacific American Student Success program, CCSF has used its AANAPISI funds to implement the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) program. STEM is a 2-year outreach and educational support program. In collaboration with MESA (and other departments or programs), the goal is to increase the number of students traditionally underrepresented in the calculus-based science majors (e.g.: Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Math, Physics, pre-med, etc.) and their transfer rates. 

Preparing students in the fields of STEM is critical in remaining competitive in our global economy. STEM-focused occupations require a highly skilled and trained workforce and they are projected to grow faster than many other areas. Being educated in the STEM fields could provide a gateway to economic stability, rewarding career paths and lifelong success.

About CCSF's AANAPISI program - APASS STEM

The STEM program targets Asian/Pacific Islanders, particularly Filipinos, and other students who are educationally and economically disadvantaged. "Target" members have access to all services. Other "General" members can benefit from some services as well.

Students have access to the following:

South Seattle Community College (South) is one of the first institutions to be designated as an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).

This program provides programs and resources designed to improve student transition, retention, graduation, and transfer to four year institutions.  AANAPISI funding provides resources for the development of new programs to support the student's success and experience at South, including:

• Workshops to educate the family and to improve the student's first year experience
• Linked developmental math or developmental English with a college success course with a peer navigator to provide a community for students and connects them with campus resources
• Two new degree programs:
  • Associate of Arts degree with an Asian Pacific Islander (API) Studies emphasis
  • Associate in Elementary Education
• Access to higher education resources through the Asian American Pacific Islander Higher Education Resource Center (AAPIHERC) website.  This website will house the Making Achievement Possible (MAP) college success video series, Transition Portfolio and other resources.

These programs are available to all students through this U.S. Department of Education AANAPISI funding.

For a list of other AANAPISI institutions, please click here.

When the notice in the Federal Register inviting applicants for the brand new AANAPISI designation was released in May 2008, interested applicants had just six weeks to demonstrate eligiblity and write and submit their grant proposal. While many in the Asian American and Pacific Islander higher education community had been eagerly anticipating the announcement of AANAPISI funding, to pull together an operational plan that would be executed in just two fiscal years was certainly a challenge.

Initial funding through the 2008 CCRAA: College Cost Reduction and Access Act allowed for just two years of program implementation. The following is a list of institutions receiving the inaugural AANAPISI grant for 2008-2010.

• City College of San Francisco, CA
  • Learn more about CCSF's AANAPISI efforts here.
• Foothill-De Anza Community College District, Cupertino, CA
  • Learn more about De Anza College's AANAPISI efforts here.
• Guam Community College, GU
• South Seattle Community College, Seattle, WA
  • Learn more about South Seattle's AANAPISI efforts here.
• University of Hawaii at Hilo, HI
• University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs, preferably pronounced ANA-pee-zee) are federally-designated colleges and universities recognized for having at least a 10% Asian American and Pacific Islander student population as well as a significant percentage of low income students. AANAPISI institutions are eligible to apply for grant funds from the Department of Education to develop programs and services that improve the retention and success rates of Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander students. In turn, this strengthens the institution as a whole.

Throught the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, $5 million per year from 2010 to 2020 has been allocated for new AANAPISI designations.

For a listing of all pilot and current AANAPISIs, please see the "Current AANAPISIs" page.

Other Resources about the AANAPISI Program:

• U.S. Department of Education

• AANAPISI Fact Sheet from the U.S. Department of Education.

• AANAPISI Brief, "Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions: Areas of Growth, Innovation, and Collaboration" from the National Commission on Asian American Pacific Islander Researcher in Education (CARE)

• White House's Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Higher education professionals, including faculty and those in student affairs, will find a variety of information about and resources for supporting the success of all Asian American and Pacific Islander students (AAPIs). You will find that many of the strategies, programs, and initiatives listed here will be applicable to other students at your institution as well.

Here's what you can do:

• Strategies
  • Browse what other institutions are doing to serve their AAPI students well.
  • Submit what you or your colleagues are doing to promote what your institution or program is doing to promote retention and student success.
• Research
  • Browse links to or titles of the latest scholarly writing, research and dissertations about AAPIs in higher education.
  • View government- and foundation-produced reports about AAPIs in higher education.
• Professional Development
  • Browse links to annual and upcoming conferences of interest to those working with AAPIs in higher education.
  • Find links to other professional development resources.
  • View or attend past or current webinars pertaining to AAPIs in higher education, AANAPISI designation, and AAPI higher Ed coalition development.

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