March 01, 2017
ECMC is reaffirming its strong commitment to the college dreams of Oregon's Latino students by ensuring more of them have the tools they need to successfully navigate the college application and financial aid process. Marking its 10th year as a key sponsor of the César E. Chávez Leadership Conference (CECLC), ECMC representatives will gather this Friday with nearly 2,000 Latino students from 70 high schools across Oregon to emphasize the importance of higher education and share free college planning resources, including Spanish language workbooks for students from bilingual families. ECMC will also provide a $25,000 grant to support the CECLC, the premier statewide developmental event for Latino high school students in Oregon.
Oregon has one of the fastest-growing Latino populations in the country, with nearly a quarter of the state's K-12 students identifying as Latino. In 2014, 9.7% of Hispanic adults 18-52 in Oregon were enrolled in postsecondary institutions. ECMC has spent more than a decade working to support our Latino families, through College Nights events offered free of charge at high schools around the state, ECMC Scholars Program with pledges of more than $5.7 million over 12 years, and The College Place, which provides free individualized college counseling and annual sponsorship of the CECLC event.
"As a state with one of the fastest-growing Latino populations in the country, the future of Oregon's workforce and economy depends on Latino students having the resources and support they need to reach their full potential," said Jennifer Satalino, director of ECMC's The College Place–Oregon. "ECMC is proud to play a role in making higher education more accessible for Latino students by providing college planning and financial literacy tools in both English and Spanish, and supporting CECLC's work to encourage and celebrate Latino students' leadership in Oregon."
ECMC knows that researching and understanding the college application and financial aid process can be challenging for first-generation students and for families who are non-native English speakers. It offers an array of college planning and financial literacy tools in both English and Spanish that are designed to help families have fully informed conversations about planning and paying for college. These include ECMC's Opportunities booklets, which offer timelines and checklists for college applications as well as tips on applying for federal and Oregon financial aid, and the free resource guides on topics ranging from Why Go To College to What To Do When You Get To Campus. ECMC also provides free online tools College Ábaco and Pell Ábaco, which allow families throughout the country to calculate and compare their personalized financial aid estimates for 5,600 U.S. schools in Spanish.
"ECMC's Spanish-language resources have helped thousands of students and families learn more about their postsecondary education financial aid options and make college more accessible for all, regardless of their native language," said David McDonald, associate provost at Western Oregon University. "We are happy to celebrate ECMC's 10th year as a sponsor of this event and are touched by their continued support."