Mar 10

Stockton Scholars

Source: Janae Aptaker, Director of Program & Strategy, Steering Committee Vice Chair

Organization: Stockton Scholars, a member of the NCCPC, provides support, resources, and mentorship to make the college process simple and achievable for the young people of Stockton. 

Mission: We aim to guide young people in Stockton towards an impactful life through education.
Vision: A world where all young people pursue limitless aspirations; completing higher education, obtaining meaningful careers, and contributing to a more equitable society.

AN OVERVIEW

Stockton Scholars, a program of the Reinvent Stockton Foundation, is dedicated to guiding young people to higher education and an impactful life. Founded in 2018 by Michael Tubbs as a college promise scholarship program, Stockton Scholars has grown to partner with students, families, and the local community to create a clear path through higher education for all Stockton youth. By providing support, resources, and mentorship to make the college process simple and achievable, Stockton Scholars will change lives in Stockton— for young people, their families, and their city. 

Stockton Scholars is part of the support system through education and beyond.

We know that students can often feel confused, overwhelmed, and alone through the higher education journey.

Our goal is to share simple, clear messages about our intentions to help guide the path for their future success.

Every service we offer in addition to our scholarship, is designed to lead students to live fulfilling impactful lives through higher education.

Photo credit: Stockton Scholars

“Every service we offer in addition to our scholarship, is designed to lead students to live fulfilling impactful lives through higher education.”
— Janae Aptaker, Director of Program & Strategy

A FOUNDING STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER

OUR WORK WITH NCCPC

Stockton Scholars joined NCCPC as a founding member in 2019 because for Stockton Scholars and the Reinvent Stockton Foundation, the opportunity to shape a formal collaborative space between higher education institutions and practitioners has been empowering.

Through participating in the Partnerships Committee and having a seat at the table to share some of the real time challenges and concerns of our students with higher education change makers, we have been able to play an active role in creating pathways around persistent roadblocks for our region’s most marginalized students. Professionally and personally it has been rewarding to be part of the village needed to support students from Stockton and Northern CA in this particularly challenging time in our world.

We are grateful that the Communities of Practice Committee was launched this past year and look forward to promoting Let’s Go To College Bay Area (https://letsgotocollegeca.org/bayarea), a student-led virtual hub launched by committee members in partnership with high school and college students across Northern California.

Last, we appreciate the efforts of the Policy Committee and are proud that Stockton Scholar Mackenzi Gil had the opportunity to share her story and advocate for college affordability with legislators as an NCAN Federal Advocacy Student Fellow (2020-21). As Mackenzi shared with NCAN, “If it wasn’t for the support of my counselor, success coaches, professors, NCAN, and Stockton Scholars for guiding me throughout my success in college, I wouldn’t have come as far as I have.”

WHAT COLLABORATION LOOKS LIKE

As a newer foundation and program, we benefit from the networking opportunities presented through NCCPC’s diverse membership roster. If Stockton Scholars and the Reinvent Stockton Foundation were not involved in NCCPC within our first 3 years of inception, it would’ve been a much slower process to access such a vast network of thought partners and practitioners who have served as a resource or a model for us to not “reinvent the wheel” with some of our strategy and program design. 

Another additional benefit is that we’ve been able to fast track our conversations with multiple higher education institutions due to NCCPC’s strategic approach to engage with institutions as a collective versus one at a time as many of us were doing in the past. Prior to NCCPC it took us 1.5 years to establish two formal partnership agreements with higher education partners.

Photo credit: Stockton Scholars

GOALS FOR 2022 AND BEYOND

Our goals for the next few years are:

  1. Expand staffing capacity to properly harness the momentum of the incredible accomplishments already taking place
  2. Recruit 2-3 more influential change makers to join our advisory board
  3. Ensure all NCCPC students have a clear understanding of the organization, the benefits available to them and the opportunities to get involved at a deeper level
  4. Coordinate an annual or bi-annual collective event such as College Signing Day or a College & Career Success Conference for all NCCPC students

WHY NCCPC AND WHY NOW

If NCCPC didn’t exist, we wouldn’t have the powerful collective voice to advocate for all BIPOC students pursuing higher education degrees throughout Northern California. Similarly, the statewide conversation to address policies that are ultimately harmful to our students would not be as far along as it is. We love how NCCPC is inclusive, even collaborating with the Southern California College Access Network (SoCal CAN) to strengthen our advocacy efforts even more. 

Collaboration between like minded higher education practitioners and organizations is urgent if we are going to ensure that as many BIPOC students as possible have the support they need to navigate and complete higher education during these times where the world, life and academic pressures are at even more challenging levels than they’ve ever been in the past.

Now is the time to be a part of the movement. We will continue to go farther and faster together in advancing equitable policies, best practices and partnership agreements and we invite you to join our dynamic collective.  

The participation of funders and allies in this movement is critical to ensure equitable access to education and opportunities are readily available for students across Northern CA. Your expertise, your voice and your networks are needed to extend those benefits to our community. What makes NCCPC work is the diversity in individuals and expertise working together to strategically affect change on a community, regional and statewide scale. We are thankful to be part of such a dynamic organization and can’t wait to see all of the brave new spaces and worlds we will create together for our students!

LEARN MORE!

Want to learn more about Stockton Scholars? Visit their website, or follow them at the social media handles below! 

Website: stocktonscholars.org 

Twitter: @stocktonscholars

Facebook: facebook.com/stocktonscholars

Instagram: @stocktonscholars

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/reinvent-stockton-foundation