City Colleges of Chicago’s (CCC) partnership with One Million Degrees (OMD) will begin at Malcolm X College this fall, providing students at the college dedicated support towards academic and career success.
CCC’s partnership with the community college student success organization comes in the form of a four-year pilot program, which began last academic year at another CCC school, Olive-Harvey College.
The multimillion-dollar program provides “holistic wrap-around support model,” said Aneesh Sohoni, CEO of OMD. It includes support for academic and non-academic challenges via an OMD program coordinator; life skills training; a mentor; and financial support up to $1,000 a year for students who meet expectations.
"It's the availability of all these supports that a student can tap into in a way that makes sense for them,” said Sohoni. “That is the power of what we do. It creates real community around a student. And it creates real hope for a student."
The financial assistance portion of the program works partially as a retention tool by helping students through financial emergencies and needs that might prompt them to drop out, Sohoni said.
And the mentor is there to give advice, wisdom, and encouragement, said Sohoni and Malcom X President David A. Sanders.
“Sometimes there is a lack of confidence because they're not familiar with the material,” said Sanders, who was previously a mentor with OMD himself. “But our job as a mentor was to ensure that they knew that we would be there behind them, pushing them, encouraging them, making sure that they knew we had confidence in their ability to achieve that objective. Many times, that's what students need in order to be successful."
