Delta College has recently introduced the African American Male Education Network & Development (A2MEND) mentorship program exclusive to African American men to help them achieve their academic goals and improve their enrollment at Delta.
“What got the program started is that we had a Memorium of Understanding (MOU) last year it comprised of me and four other of my colleagues to come up with a plan to increase the retention rate of African Americans,” said Counselor and Advisor of Delta’s A2MEND Johnathan Harris.
The enrollment of African American men at Delta is 5.5 percent, and the opportunities A2MEND can provide will look to increase the number of African American men attending Delta.
“Delta severely needs a program like this, especially being in Stockton,” said Harris.
The goal of A2MEND is to provide a sense of belonging, and include more access to faculty and counseling services for its members.
“When a student feels more connected, they’re going to be more successful,” said Harris.
A2MEND is state-funded and with the funding available to them students can look forward to scholarship opportunities, networking, and training, as well as workshops and university tours. Harris mentioned a trip to Africa as well.
“The fundings not a lot … I think it depends on how many students are involved. The minimum is supposed to be $10 (thousand),” said Harris.
According to Harris, there have been about 20 students attending each meeting, and they are working in conjunction with Delta’s Black Student Union (BSU) and Black Excellence and Enrichment Academy (B.E.E).
“We partnered with BSU and Lauryn [Seales], on this last trip. We had a couple of BSU members go as well, so it’s not mutually exclusive…even though A2MEND is strictly African American males, some of our males are from BSU and B.E.E,” said Harris.
Although A2MEND is in its early stages, the program has already hit the ground running with two meetings, another coming on Oct. 22 and one field trip at Sacramento City College’s “Rock the Schools Bells” annual Hip Hop conference on Oct. 18.
Harris had five years of experience working with the A2MEND at Cosumnes River College (CRC) where he worked alongside CRC President and A2MEND Co-founder Dr. Edward Bush. Harris attributes this to giving the program a great head start in integrating into Delta.
“Being that I was already connected – I don’t want to say it was an easy process, but it definitely helped that I was already connected,” said Harris.
To be an official club on campus, Harris mentioned that they had to appoint a Student President, Vice President, and Treasurer.
While they have an idea of who will fill those roles, Harris was unable to provide the names of those students as nothing is set in stone yet.
The meetings are hosted every other Tuesday in the DeRicco room 275 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
