May 19, 2022 – Tuesday evening, the first 17 students and their children enrolled in Santa Fe College’s ACB Excel celebrated program completion with college officials. For the past seven months, the students and their school-aged children would meet three times a week and were trained in Facilities Maintenance. While receiving the training, their children would be engaged in STEM-focued academic enrichment activities.
“I commend you all for being the first class to complete this program,” SF President Paul Broadie II, Ph.D. told those in attendance. “Taking this step, not just for yourselves, but also for your children can provide that stability you need to support your family, and it puts your children on a course of life-long learning and discovery. You should all be tremendously proud of yourselves.”
ACB Excel launched last year under the leadership of President Broadie and ACB Excel program director Jen Homard. The community-funded initiative is designed to empower entire families by providing parents and their school-aged children with access to academic programs and services, simultaneously. This two-generational approach, which is free for all participants, improves economic stability and strengthens individual families.
“The skills learned in this first class of ACB Excel will provide families the opportunity for economic mobility,” added Jen Homard. “By having both parents and their children involved in the educational process, we have the chance to end cycles of poverty that have impacted so many communities for so long.”
Many of those who completed the Facilities Maintenance program have already secured jobs here in the community. Other students plan to enter the apprenticeship programs at SF to enhance their skills.
The college plans to launch other ACB Excel programs several times a year with the subject matter of each course based on needs of local employers. Plans are getting finalized for the next ACB Excel classes, which should begin in the spring of 2023.