This project involves a cooperative effort among the following institutions and organizations in the Los Angeles Basin: six California State Universities--Los Angeles, Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Long Beach, Northridge, and Pomona; Community Colleges in East Los Angeles, Los Angeles, and Pasadena; and, several school districts in the Basin-- Garvey-Alhambra-San Gabriel, Los Angeles, Pasadena. The project consists of a set of coordinated activities, targeted throughout Metropolitan Los Angeles, designed to significantly increase the representation of minorities in careers in science, engineering and technology. The broad- based approach taken to solve the underrepresentation problem centers on the establishment of coalitions among colleges and universities, business and industry, public schools and community organizations. Minority enrollment at the six CSU campuses totals 25,000, with percentage of minority enrollment ranging from 13% (CSU-Fullerton) to 47% (CSU-Dominguez Hills). The largest minority enrollment, nearly 6,400 (39%), is at CSU-Los Angeles. Minority enrollment in the Los Angeles Unified School District is 351,000 which is 59% of the total. Each CSU campus in the Center acts as a node for a variety of activities which take place to ensure that the goals and objectives of the Center are carried out in a coherent manner. Taken as a whole, the Center functions as a bond that links together all levels of the educational pipeline, as a unique catalyst to develop synergism, as a context within which to develop and evaluate new ideas, as an exporter and facilitator in helping campuses to implement activities, and as the major node of a network of Southern California institutions and people. The Center also serves as the stimulus to coordinate and enhance the many valuable minority programs already in place at CSU campuses and their linkages with precollege levels. It will forge new levels of effective communication and of "horizontal" action pathways among participating institutions and organizations. The administrative structure for the Center provides an effective combination of focused leadership, distributed planning and flexible implementation through an Advisory Council which is the governing body for the Center, an Executive Committee, an Executive Director, four Task Forces, and a Corporate Advisory Board. Elementary School Projects involve the development of Science Skills Centers in school districts contiguous to CSU- Los Angeles; a Summer Science Institute at CSU-Los Angeles; and a Student Aides for Science in Elementary Schools Program at CSU-Northridge.
