Student Support Integration Survey

Our Guided Pathways (GP) efforts are focused on three areas guided by three taskforces: Explore, Connect & Support and Learn.

The Explore GP taskforce focuses on initiatives that will help students explore areas of study, majors, and careers. This aligns closely with the Equity Plan work targeting first-year first generation students in both the retention and completion metrics. Both of these metrics target connecting students to the necessary resources to feel connected to the college and invested in their goals at the college.

The Connect & Support GP taskforce focuses on getting each student connected to an academic counselor, other students and instructors so they feel supported on their academic journey. The Equity Plan Retention Metric has exactly this focus for our first-year first generation students.

Finally, the Learn GP taskforce focuses on helping faculty build culturally relevant, active and experiential curriculum. Our Equity Plan’s Successful Completion of Transfer-Level Math & English actions focus on the identical goal for Math and English Faculty. Our Equity Plan’s Completion action plan also focuses on creating classrooms where students see their lived experiences reflected in what they’re learning.

Signalvine, a texting platform, has been adopted by West Valley for group messaging. The application has already shown to be a valuable tool in reaching out to students in the registration and onboarding process. Messaging is now used to reach first-time and returning financial aid students. FAFSA, Dream Act, grant and scholarship application deadlines are disseminated widely. Information is also sent more narrowly to specific student groups about financial aid requirements for specific programs. For example, Community Grant requirements can be sent to all Community Grant students, and tailored messages can be sent to subsets of students who have outstanding items to complete. Financial Aid information is also posted on WVC social media.

Weekly Financial Aid workshops provide opportunities for students to drop in and receive assistance with timely Financial Aid requirements, such as submitting FAFSA and CADAA applications. Going forward there are plans to hold “themed” holiday workshops to encourage student participation. In collaboration with special programs on campus, there will be a push to encourage students to finish their FAFSA and CADAA early, with a wrap-up month in December for CADAA and another round of activities for FAFSA of “Finish FAFSA February” by the Financial Aid Office.

The Financial Aid Office assists in planning and coordinating activities for new students prior to each semester. The staff present information for new student orientations, WOW sessions, and for the new-parent orientation sessions. Faculty can also request Financial Aid presentations in their classes and the office currently presents to non-credit classes for students in the process of transitioning to credit courses.

Westly, the new Ocelot chat bot on the WVC homepage was just launched in 2022 and now provides answers to questions posed in five languages. Students can get general financial aid answers and are directed to office contacts.

The Financial Aid office will use college data to identify two student groups who have reached a barrier in the application process. Using email, Signalvine and phone calls, staff will reach out to students who have unfinished financial aid files. Another group, students with rejected FAFSA and CADAA applications can be identified through a search. Both groups require 1:1 assistance to complete the process to be eligible for aid. Special programs will also collaborate to identify low-income students who need 1:1 assistance to identify problems with and complete financial aid forms.

Fresh Start is a new program for Federal Student Loan borrowers in default. This program requires students in default to act prior to the Covid-19 payment pause which ends on December 31, 2022. The Financial Aid office will work to identify eligible students who can take advantage of the program which will help to restore students to good standing and restore eligibility to federal aid.

WVC will reach out to incarcerated individuals who will now be eligible for a PELL award. Although there isn’t a prison or jail in the WVC area, Mission College, the other campus in our district draws from the San Jose Jail. These incarcerated individuals will have access to WVC classes and information online.

HEERF/CARES emergency grants will continue to be awarded to students through spring 2023 based on units enrolled. CARES student Emergency Fund will continue to award students with unexpected emergencies up to $1,000.

Unspent Federal Work Study funding was transferred to use for additional SEOG awards in 21/22. This will be repeated in future semesters as a way to assist more students.

The WVC Community Grant and Viking Promise are two ongoing programs that provide high school graduates who meet eligibility criteria two years of free tuition and fees, and funds that can be used for textbooks, transportation, and other educational expenses. The Community Grant is funded by the WVMCCD Land Corp, and awards first year students a $3,000 grant. The Second Year Viking Grant awards $2,000 per year.

The WVMCCD Foundation awards hundreds of scholarships and provides student assistance each year. The Advancement Office awarded the following in the last three years:

The 2021-22 Budget Act included ongoing funding of $30 million to support basic needs centers and coordinators, and an additional $100 million one-time for colleges to support basic needs. The trailer bill requires colleges to establish a Basic Needs Center, designate a Basic Needs Coordinator, and improve access to and utilization of basic needs support.

Has your college established a Basic Needs Center and designated a staff person as a coordinator?

☒ Yes ☐ No

What services are you providing or do you plan to provide in your college’s Basic Needs Center?

The Office of Student Needs was established in 2019 to address the growing number of students experiencing food and housing insecurities. The Office of Student Needs also oversees Foster Youth and Dream Center activities. The center, managed by the Director of Student Needs, quickly pivoted in March 2020 to address many of the emergency needs of students brought on by the Covid-19 campus shutdown. The food distribution partnership with West Valley Community Services expanded to serve several hundred students and community members per week. A permanent location for Roots, the new food pantry, was identified in 2021 and the Grand Opening was celebrated on Monday, October 11, 2022.

Students in need have a menu of services available in the Office of Student Needs. Using an application process, students can apply for assistance with Transportation Services (bus passes, bus tokens, parking permits, gas cards), Book Vouchers, Emergency Funds and Housing Emergency Funds. A new service at the center is The Closet, which provides basic clothing necessities and career clothing.

West Valley provides resources and partnerships to Foster Youth on campus. Our mission is to help students remove obstacles that prevent them from pursuing their educational goals. Our goal is to provide personalized assistance to ensure students can take full advantage of college life and student resources. The Office of Student Needs connects students to off-campus resources, including The John Burton Foundation, the Silicon Valley Children’s Fund, The Bill Wilson Center, Family and Children Services, HomeFirst and Pivotal.

The Dreamers Resource Office was recently established, and a part-time coordinator will be hired in fall 2022. The office was moved to the EOPS area on campus to provide an office space that will allow for 1:1 meetings with the Coordinator, Financial Aid and Admission staff.

Marketing the Office of Student Needs has been intentional and consistent. The services offered are included in weekly campus emails and text messages using Signalvine. An “advertisement” is included on the homepage of Student Services website. Campus Connect, the Student Services online forum, is updated with Center activities, events, and services. The services are included in the Schedule of Classes and college catalog.

The Office of Student Needs is consistently featured on Instagram, Tik Tok, and Facebook.

WVC has adopted Starfish and referrals to the Office of Student Needs are expected to increase. Referrals from special programs (EOPS, CARE, CalWORKs, TRiO, FYE, Umoja, Puente, and DESP) continue to identify students in need.

Student ambassadors have been hired to participate in and coordinate Office of Student Needs events and to put a student face to the services offered. Ambassadors regularly table for the office at campus events and are available to present to classes. They assist with food distribution, staff the office, and coordinate The Closet.

The 2020-21 California state budget enacted through Senate Bill (SB) 74 and Assembly Bill (AB) 94 added a requirement that districts must support or establish on-campus food pantries or regular food distribution programs to receive SEA program funds. Please describe your Food Pantry efforts. If you do not have one, please describe your plans to establish a program.

A permanent location for Roots, the new food pantry, was identified in 2021 and the Grand Opening was celebrated on Monday, October 11, 2022. Students can apply for additional emergency services including food vouchers for the campus cafeteria.

A permanent location for Roots, the new food pantry, was identified in 2021 and the Grand Opening was celebrated on Monday, October 11, 2022. Students can apply for additional emergency services including food vouchers for the campus cafeteria.

Another partnership with Catholic Charities will bring CC representatives to campus to assist students in applying for CalFresh. A frequent problem with the CalFresh process is the follow-through required to maintain the service. Catholic Charities assists and tracks the student applicant from start to finish.

The 2021-22 Budget Act provided $115 million one-time for grants to community college districts for developing zero-textbook-cost degrees and certificates that can be earned entirely by completing courses that eliminate textbook costs by using alternative instructional materials. Please discuss your plans, if any, for integrating a Zero-Textbook Cost Program on your campus.

For the last three years, the West Valley-Mission District Land Corporation has been providing grants to support faculty writing and adopting OER materials for their classrooms. We’ve encouraged departments to develop ZTC sections. We also just added an LTC (low textbook cost) notation for classes with low-cost materials. We clearly identify both ZTC and LTC classes in our schedule.

With the new state funding, we will start focusing on encouraging programs to offer ZTC certificates and degrees as well as working with faculty to adopt ZTC materials across all sections of classes.

In 2011, Assembly Bill 620 amended California's Education Code and requests "governing board[s] of each community college district to designate an employee at each of their respective campuses as a point of contact to address the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender faculty, staff, and students." The law, California Education Code Section 66271.2 also states that, "at a minimum, the name and contact information of that designated employee shall be published on the Internet Web site for the respective campus and shall be included in any printed and Internet-based campus directories." Additionally, the 2021-22 Budget Act appropriated $10 million in one-time funding to support LGBTQ+ students. Please discuss your plans or current efforts to support the LGBTQ+ population on your campus.

We opened our Pride Center in Fall 2022. We are planning to hire a graduate student intern, a student ambassador and Faculty Fellow to run the center and create innovative programming that will connect LGBTQIA+ students to the variety of support services on the campus and the community at large.

The 2021-22 Budget Act included ongoing funding of $30 million to provide student mental health resources. Please discuss your plans or current efforts to create mental health-related programs to serve hard to reach, underserved populations.

Under Student Health Services, the well-established Behavioral Health (BH) program will continue to offer at least 8 sessions per semester, crisis intervention, risk-assessment, and verification of disability services (in collaboration with DESP) to all enrolled students.

The Mental Health Services Advisory Committee (MHSAC) will continue to convene weekly as a multi-disciplinary and integrated behavioral health entity, working in collaboration with our Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) to address the needs of Students of Concern (SOC’s), and will continue our longstanding efforts to address issues of stigma and access endemic to the provision of BH Services on a Community College campus.

Student Health Services will continue to identify opportunities to partner with multiple student service entities and academic programs to support student retention and success. Health Services staff will continue to facilitate monthly tabling events focused on key BH topics (e.g., suicide awareness and prevention, disordered eating, drug & alcohol abuse and dependency, sexual health, and others), as well as the annual “Wheel of Wellness” event in the spring.

To elevate the student voice, the Student Health Services will continue to partner with student leadership programs and raise awareness of on and off-campus resources. Partnerships will continue by being active in local groups such as the Community College Collaborative (through Santa Clara County Behavioral Health).

Summarize key initiatives/projects/activities your college plans to implement and/or are focused on improving to support accessibility of all curriculum and technology across the campus.

Three major projects the college is committed to are the Accessible Warm Syllabus project, the Check Your Flyer project, and ongoing accessibility trainings.

The Accessible Warm Syllabus was developed by faculty as part of the work of the Anti-Racism and Inclusion Action Plan, and our goal is to ensure that every faculty creates accessible syllabi for their courses. We are starting with an audit of current syllabi to get baseline data, and then we will partner with Department Chairs to establish and support practices that ensure all WVC syllabi are accessible.

In the Check Your Flyer project, we are developing a system to ensure the accessibility of any flyers or other materials that are emailed to students from the college.

Finally, we are committed to ongoing accessibility trainings for faculty and staff. These have been and will continue to be offered by the WVC Online team and by the district to support faculty and staff knowledge of UDL principles and to support the work of the initiatives above.

Please describe any efforts you Board will take to ensure ongoing engagement in student equity planning efforts for the 2022-25 period.

Upon completion of our 2022-25 Student Equity Plan, we will integrate overarching Equity Plan initiatives into our WVC Strategic Initiatives Plan that outlines tasks to achieve the goals of WVC’s Educational Master Plan. We will also weave our Equity Plan action plans into our Anti-Racism & Inclusion Plan taskforce work. At the same time, we will ensure that the faculty, classified professionals, and administrators who wrote the Equity Plan become engaged in the work of the Anti-Racism & Inclusion taskforces. We will also make more of an effort to integrate students into our Anti-Racism & Inclusion Action Plan groups to ensure ongoing student engagement with equity efforts.

Please describe any strategies you will deploy to leverage funding beyond the SEA program to advance your institutional equity goals.

Our college’s budget resource allocation process prioritizes projects that further specific goals in our Anti-Racism and Inclusion Action and Equity plans. It also prioritizes projects that support underserved and disproportionately impacted students. This process distributes general and categorical funds. Many of the projects identified in our Equity Plan will go through this allocation process.

Historically, projects recommended through the equity plans have received funds from outside the SEA program. Here are some examples:

• Our Puente, Umoja, and TRiO programs get general fund baseline funding.
• Our Identity Spaces (Latinx, Black, and LGBTQIA+) received Landcorp and Teaching and Learning Innovations funds from the district.

Please describe any strategies you will deploy to leverage student voice to advance your institutional equity goals.

At West Valley, students are included on all participatory governance and CTE advisory committees. The student government, Associated Students of West Valley College (ASWVC) also contributed to the Equity Plan. ASWVC students pushed us to improve our outreach to high schools earlier and more often. Students can become some of our most effective recruiters when they return to their home high schools to talk about West Valley College.

We currently have an Anti-Racism and Inclusion Action Plan President’s Task Force composed of the President and students who help analyze our progress for our Anti-Racism Action Plan. This group will also help advise our progress on this Equity Plan.

Student ambassadors work closely with the Director of Student Needs to support all students on campus. These students also are part of the lead team for our New Student Convocation.

We recently administered the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) and included customized questions related to race and ethnicity. These results will advise our actions to advance our equity goals.

In the last two semesters, we have held focus groups with students, led by our Anti -Racism Action Plan taskforces and EOPS, focused on uncovering institutional racism, looking at processes for students to access services, and surveying students about what they need. These results will also inform our actions.