The North Carolina General Assembly has ended funding for a program designed to improve outcomes for community college students. The 20-year old “Minority Male Success Initiative” originally supported efforts to close opportunity gaps for historically underserved students.
Anti-DEI efforts forced a name and focus change last year. With the release last week of the state budget, funding has been cut altogether.
A history of successful student retention
The “Minority Male Success Initiative” began in 2003. The goal was to help marginalized male students stay in and graduate from community colleges across North Carolina. State legislators allocated money for the program in four-year cycles beginning in 2007.
By all accounts, the program was a rousing success. In fiscal year 2024-2025, counselors helped more than 27,000 students and persistence and completion rates rose to nearly 54%.
"If this program never existed, I would have never made the connections that I have today," former Durham Tech student Jeremiah Artacho told WUNC last February. "Without MCSI, I'm not sure where I would be … through being in that group at Durham Tech, I've been able to meet a lot of different people and create relationships that I know will last for a long time."
A four-year, $3.2 million grant funded MMSI from 2022-2026. Last year, as anti-DEI efforts extended from the federal to state governments, community college leaders in North Carolina renamed and refocused the program.
The “Minority Male Success Initiative” became the “Student Success Initiative.” The program expanded to supporting "historically underachieving students” and included "targeted interventions" like financial aid literacy, student wellness, and career preparation.
In a state board of community colleges meeting earlier this year, board members highlighted the importance of state funding to continue the Student Success Initiative. The Community College System wanted to grow the program statewide and explore how it could strengthen workforce pipelines.
"By supporting historically underachieving students to completion in their respective area of enrollment, the SSI is essential in meeting North Carolina’s workforce needs and credential attainment goals," read a report the Community College System sent to state legislators.
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