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August 3, 2017
Vol. 4, Issue 14
Board of Trustees

Chairman of the Board
Dr. Yvonne Katz
District 7

Vice Chair
Marcelo Casillas
District 4

Secretary
Dr. Gene Sprague
District 6

Asst. Secretary
Denver McClendon
District 2

Joe Alderete, Jr.
District 1

Anna U. Bustamante
District 3

Roberto Zarate
District 5

Clint Kingsbery
District 8

James Rindfuss
District 9

Alicia Moreno
Student Trustee

Chancellor

Dr. Bruce Leslie
Alamo Colleges
Alamo Colleges District Awarded $100,000 Chase Grant To Enhance District's I-BEST Program
The Alamo Colleges District has been awarded $100,000 from Chase to enhance the district's I-BEST workforce training program.

Chase, one of the largest employers in San Antonio with 5,000 local workers, has awarded a $100,000 grant to the Alamo Colleges District to develop a career pathway model and accompanying curriculum for the District's award-winning I-BEST (Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training) program. The grant will allow the I-BEST program to build structured career pathways that align with three of the District's AlamoINSTITUTES: manufacturing; health/certified nursing assistant to medical assisting; and information technology.

The grant also will fund contextualized curriculum in reading, writing and math relevant to students' career pathways. For example, in reading, an instructor might include books or articles related to the medical field rather than traditional literature. This helps the students stay focused while improving their essential skills in order to be successful in the coursework.

I-BEST provides a customized, fast-track approach to learning that allows adults with low levels of education and skills to increase their skills quickly and increase their earnings. 
I-BEST students enroll in career and technology education certificate programs while receiving the adult basic education training they need to succeed in their coursework and careers. 

Alamo Colleges District - St. Philip's College Solar Arrays Help Surpass $20 Million in Utility Savings
SPC's Southwest Campus is home to the largest customer-owned solar array in the CPS Energy portfolio.


Two seven-year-old solar power arrays at Alamo Colleges District - St. Philip's College Southwest Campus have helped the district surpass the $20.06 million utility savings mark in a 15-year-old sustainability initiative.
In 2002, Alamo Colleges District adopted building services systems methods known as Continuous Commissioning (CC) in partnership with the Energy Systems Laboratory division of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station at Texas A&M University. Fifteen years later, cumulative Alamo Colleges District energy savings under the CC partnership reached $20.06 million in February. 

Halfway between 2002 and 2017, the largest non-commercial rooftop solar installation in San Antonio was installed on a 1940s-era shopping mall-sized building at Southwest Campus. The array was funded in by a $2 million grant through the U.S. Department of Energy.

In 2016, Alamo Colleges District leadership recognized the college for earning Environmental Protection Agency Green Power Partnership status as a result of owning the 2,315 panel solar array that produced significant renewable energy credits during the agency's July 1, 2015-June 30, 2016 award and recognition reporting period. The array produces more than 500,000 kilowatt-hours of green power annually, representing more than 10 percent of the electricity used daily at Southwest Campus. The solar panel installation is also the largest customer-owned solar array in the CPS Energy portfolio.

The Jessie Ball duPont Fund has donated $74,819
to San Antonio College's SAC Men Empowerment Network
to expand the program for minority male students.

Men Empowerment Network Receives $74,819 from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund for Expansion

Alamo Colleges District - San Antonio College (SAC) has received $74,819 from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund to expand the SAC Men Empowerment Network (SACMEN) to serve 50 minority male students and to train faculty and peer mentors.

The funding will help SAC improve college retention, graduation and transfer rates for young men of color. Men of color (MOCs) are not succeeding in higher education at the same rate as women of color; demographer Tom Mortenson of Postsecondary Education Opportunity reported in 2011 that for every 100 Latina women who earned a bachelor's degree in 2010-11 only 65 Latino men earned a degree, and that for African-Americans, the female/male ratio was 100 to 52.

SACMEN will use the duPont funds to provide SAC male students of color with leadership education and peer and faculty mentorship, and to connect them with academic support and leadership opportunities.

The funds will also be used to purchase training from the Center for Organizational Responsibility and Advancement (CORA) to certify SAC faculty/staff to help male students of color understand the advantages of staying in college and completing their degree.

Peer and faculty mentorship will be a cornerstone of the program, and SACMEN members will use the leadership skills they learn in the program to help at-risk young men in area high schools to seek college as an option for their future. 


Let us hear from you! Send your comments on our newsletter to   khendricks@alamo.edu. 

The Alamo Colleges District's mission is: empowering our diverse communities for success. Our vision is: the Alamo Colleges District will be the best in the nation in student success and performance excellence. The Alamo Colleges District is one district with five community colleges serving more than 80,000 students annually from Bexar County and seven other counties in our service area. We provide an affordable, quality college education that leads to associate degrees, certificates and transfers to four-year universities. Hundreds of thousands of Bexar County residents have come through the Alamo Colleges District education programs are major contributors to the economy and culture of Sa
n Antonio.