The Jessie Ball duPont Fund (Jacksonville, Fla.) has awarded a grant to Berea College to extend the Jessie Ball duPont Fund Postdoctoral Fellowship in Latino Male Academic Success. The grant of $54,060 supports Berea’s Latino Male Initiative, a program to enhance first-to-second-year retention and encourage a sense of belonging among Latino male students at the College.
The renewed grant funding allows Berea to retain a postdoctoral position and continue to explore the effectiveness of a combined academic and co-curricular approach in supporting male persistence through college. The Latino Male Initiative addresses gaps in retention and graduation that can otherwise disproportionately impact male students and students of color, both at Berea and nationally.
A previous grant in 2017 allowed Berea to hire a faculty member to teach and mentor Latino men in their first year of studies at Berea. This initial grant included support for programming, provided a point person for DACA-related concerns, and bolstered campus-wide efforts to create an even more supportive environment for Latinx students.
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund is a national foundation that works to expand access and create opportunity by investing in the work of organizations that were important to Jessie Ball duPont. The Fund uses its resources to build the capacity of organizations it supports; build the assets of people, families and communities; and promote civil society.