By Michael Dominguez
The Delloro program is a two-year program for a transfer degree in Social Justice.
The program is run by professor Raeanna Gleason, the director of the program.
Gleason has also gotten help from history professor Michael Collings and sociology professor Eileen Ie, to create the program.
“In this program, students will learn to to become powerful scholars, community organizers and advocates for social justice,” Gleason said.
Within the first semester, students meet with a Delloro program counselor to help create an education program on how to transfer and how to write personal statements.
They also provide help with selecting schools that create a personal interest for the student.
Once in the program, students must maintain a 3.0 GPA and must be eligible for English 101.
They must also be committed to taking general classes.
The program offers a four day trip to all northern California schools each Spring.
The program saw its first graduating class last year.
“ELAC students often come from communities that are under-represented in higher education because they are from low-income communities, people of color, undocumented, student parents and sometimes formerly incarcerated. We strongly believe that each person has the right to access an equitable education,” Gleason said.
Giselle Cervantes, who is the third Cohort of the program, said she joined because she wants to be a professor.
She said she feels that being in the Delloro program has opened new gateways to hear about others outside of the community.
“I think the injustice is in the educational system. The system is failing. If you look at communities like Beverly Hills and look at Boyle Heights, there is definitely a decrease in academic scores and we see that from schools not getting the proper funding. Why do schools like Beverly Hills get more funding? Every student deserves equal opportunity,” Cervantes said.
Daniela Gomez, who is a second cohort, said that she was approached to join after being out of school for six years.
She said she felt that the program allowed her to bond with professors and other peers, and gave her strength to continue.
“Social justice was the icing on the cake,” Gomez said.
She also said Gleason helped her find the power in her words; power within herself that she didn’t know was there.
She said she feels that Gleason supports the students like professors should, and how some professors are lacking.
Gomez said that she hopes, once she’s done with the program, that she transfers and becomes a professor for ELAC and the Delloro program. She said she hopes she can be what Gleason is to other students.
The Delloro program is currently taking applications for fall semester and students can apply via the ELAC website under the index for the Delloro program.
The program will hold a meeting on May 17 at noon at E3-311 for anybody interested in joining the program. For any more inquiries, students can contact Gleason at gleasorl@elac.edu