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University of San Diego developing Black student initiative for rising 6th graders

“I needed someone to invest in my genius at a very young age. And that's how I arrived here today,” said Novien Yarber, Ph.D.

SAN DIEGO — To uplift Black students in San Diego County, the University of San Diego is developing an initiative to better pave the way towards higher education.

Starting next summer, USD’s School of Learning and Education Sciences is launching its Black Ingenious Initiative known as BiGI.

“I wish I had a program like this when I was younger, mine was so much more of fitting the pieces," said Novien Yarber, PhD.

Fortunately, Yarber's parents laid down that foundation to help him fit those pieces together.

“I needed someone to invest in my genius at a very young age. And that's how I arrived here today,” said Yarber.

Today, he has his PhD and is a senior fellow for Leadership, Philanthropy and Social Impact at the Nonprofit Institute at USD where he is assisting the school’s development of BiGI.

“Offer an opportunity for Black youth to recognize their own genius, and ingenious,” said Yarber.

USD says opportunities are often overshadowed in a school system that targets Black students in ways that doesn't support their academic achievement.

“We also see this disproportionately in the number of African Americans that are expelled from school. And we see that they are three times more likely to be expelled from school or kicked out of the classroom than their peers,” said Kimberly White-Smith, Ed.D., USD Dean of School of Learning and Education Sciences (SOLES).

She wants to close that achievement gap by developing the BiGI initiative.

The school received a $1.5 million grant from the San Diego Foundation's Black Community Investment Fund to develop BiGI and pave the way towards higher education for 60 African American rising sixth graders in San Diego County.

“We're going to have summer programs, we're going to have Saturday programs and the students that are chosen to become part of the cohort will be experiencing this starting from sixth grade all the way up through 12th grade,” said White-Smith.

The program will focus on engaging and recognizing Black students, mental health services for families and supporting educators by developing a Center of Teaching.

“So that they can leverage what they know in order to really experience the genius of African American students and allow them to be full participants in their educational experience,” said White-Smith.

BiGI will be modeled after a 31-year-old program at the University of Southern California, the Leslie and William McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative.

If BiGi students are accepted to USD, the college will provide 100 percent financial aid if needed.

“Our goal is to create an ecosystem that is deeply rooted,” said Yarber.

With continued fundraising the goal is to have 420 students by 2030.

WATCH RELATED: SDSU Diamonds bring majorette dance from historically Black colleges to San Diego (Nov. 2022).

    

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