What is the Puente Project?
Santa Rosa Junior College's Puente Project (Spanish for "bridge") is a national award-winning program that has helped prepare thousands of students for success in university studies. The Puente Project's mission is to increase the number of educationally underserved students who enroll in four-year colleges and universities, earn college degrees, and return to the community as mentors and leaders to future generations.
Puente Students participate in a year-long learning community. The English sequence focuses on Multicultural Literature and experiences. The Counseling sequence focuses on transition to college and the transfer process. The dedicated Puente Counselor will work with you beyond the first year until you graduate and transfer. In addition, students are matched with a professionally and academically successful mentor from the community.
Outstanding Results
- Puente's training and support services have been studied and replicated nationally and internationally.
- In 1998 the program was one of 10 selected from a pool of more than 1,400 organizations nationwide to receive the National Innovations in American Excellence in Government and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
- Over 2,000 professionals donate more than 18,000 hours annually to Puente Students.
- Community colleges with Puente programs transfer significantly more Latino students to the University of California than colleges without Puente. It is estimated that approximately 43,000 students have benefited directly from participating in the program.
