Earlier this month, the City College of San Francisco opened The Village, a new resource center focused on fostering Black student success, according to a report from The Guardsman, a dedicated news outlet for the community college system.
“We did surveys with our students in African American studies,” said Andrew King, interim dean of social sciences behavioral sciences, ethnic studies, and social justice. “Students didn’t know where the resource centers were, who did what, and from that data we developed a model of The Village.”
The Village will serve as the new central hub for City College’s African American studies program, counseling services with UMOJA/African American Scholastic Programs, and the African American Resource Center. Students can come to The Village to meet with African American studies professors, draft an academic plan, grab a snack or hygiene product, and do homework all in one location.
“There was a desire to have folks all under one roof, but more of a desire to provide consistency” said Tanea Lunsford Lynx, chair of the African American studies department “Consistent open hours, student workers, and ability to deliver resources. It’s a model that is really bringing together [everything] rather than duplicating and separating programs.”
