By Cynthia Hubert

July 06, 2022

Sacramento State students, faculty, and staff will collaborate with a wide range of partners across the region in the fall on new and ongoing projects receiving funding from the University’s Anchor Grants program.

In its second year, the program recently awarded more than $100,000 for projects designed to improve student success, advance equity and inclusion, and further community engagement.

The program, supported by the University’s general fund, received a $31,000 boost this year from University Enterprises Inc., said Nathan Dietrich, Sac State’s associate vice president for Public Affairs and Advocacy.

Each of the 15 selected projects will receive from $2,000 to $15,000 for efforts that promise to “have a lasting impact on our community” through education, environmental work, mentoring, counseling, and other factors, Dietrich said.

“This year’s expanded Anchor Grants are remarkably diverse,” said Samantha Blackburn, a nursing professor and co-chair of the Anchor University Advisory Council. The projects “truly anchor Sac State in the region.”  

One of the grants will fund work by the School of Nursing and My Sister’s House, a local nonprofit group that serves women who have suffered abuse.

“I look forward to continuing my work with My Sister’s House, an amazing organization that has provided care to underserved women and children impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking,” Nursing Professor Joyce Mikal-Flynn said.

This year’s grant recipients are:

• Dreamer Resource Center and FUEL Network, to connect students at Sac State with undocumented high school students and encourage them to attend college.
• College of Education and Natomas Pacific Pathways, to help high school students in Natomas affected psychologically by distance learning and COVID disruptions.
• Environmental Studies and United Latinos, to test the suitability of equipment for monitoring air quality in low-income communities in Sacramento.
• Male Empowerment Collaborative and Martin Luther King Jr. Technology Academy, to further develop a Sac State mentoring program with male junior high students within the Twin Rivers Unified School District.
• Environmental Studies and Sacramento County Regional Parks, to continue a project restoring the habitat within the Bushy Lake area of the American River and encouraging public access and education about the natural world.
• Communication Studies and FourthWave, to create a student employment program pairing Communications students with local startups to apply their classroom knowledge to help advance local businesses owned by women.
• Communication Studies and Sacramento County Office of Education, to provide a journalism workshop at Sac State for high school students. Participants will learn how to report stories about school districts around the region.
• Civil Engineering and city of Sacramento, to allow civil engineering students to connect with industry partners and community organizations to install pavers designed to curb flooding in a disadvantaged neighborhood.
• ASI Challenge Center and Sacramento City College’s Puente Project, to bring community college students to visit Sac State and introduce them to the Challenge Center, which promotes physical and mental health through climbing, critical thinking, and other challenges.
• Mathematics and Statistics department and Hiram Johnson High School, for the Pi Math Project, a mentoring and learning program pairing Sac State Mathematics students with high school scholars and teachers.
• Music department and Robla School District, to expand on a project in which Sac State Music students teach elementary school students to play a variety of instruments, and help to develop an updated and diverse music curriculum.
• School of Nursing and My Sister’s House, to further work in providing recovery workshops to women affected by domestic violence, sexual assault, and sex trafficking.
• Communication Sciences and Disorders and San Juan School District, to allow Communications students to work with students and young adults on the autism spectrum.
• College of Education Social Justice Lab and Sol Collective, to partner with a nonprofit to inspire students of color to pursue a career in teaching. The project will incorporate artistic, cultural, and educational programming, and will promote social justice.
• Graphic Design department and Folsom Boulevard Collaborative, in which Sac State students will help design an artistic wrap to be printed and affixed to utility boxes along Folsom Boulevard as a means of beautifying the neighborhood and inspiring a sense of unity.