The University’s Vice Chancellors for Undergraduate and Student Affairs organized the UC Systemwide Outreach Retreat to help develop outreach strategies best suited for new and emerging circumstances. The retreat focused on identification of specific outreach problems and development of new and more ambitious outreach strategies for the University of California.

Retreat participants were individuals from K-12, community-based organizations, and representatives from the nine UC campuses. Together these individuals formed an experienced, knowledgeable group on outreach to, and preparation of, underrepresented and educationally disadvantaged students for postsecondary education. Eight groups of 10 - 13 individuals, under the guidance of trained facilitators, devoted eight hours to the discussion of underlying causes of low eligibility and academic competitiveness rates of underrepresented students for UC admission, and strategies to address these two issues.

Nine major themes emerged from the UC Systemwide Outreach Retreat:

1. Distinguish eligibility from academic competitiveness, but also recognize the similarities between the two.
2. Evaluate and reform, where necessary, UC eligibility criteria.
3. Raise expectations of underrepresented and educationally disadvantaged students and their teachers and families.
4. Reach out to students and families by disseminating user-friendly information earlier in the child’s school career.
5. Institute K-12 systemic changes, school reform, and professional and curricular development.
6. Expand effective and efficient outreach and preparation programs.
7. Evaluate existing outreach and preparation programs.
8. Foster collaboration with UC campuses, K-12 schools, community-based organizations, and other interested parties.
9. Examine, expose and eliminate institutional racism and discriminatory practices (i.e., unfair tracking practices)

The problem and strategies discussed at the Retreat have been organized into a set of matrices which appear as appendices A, B, and C at the end of the report. These matrices are the result of eight hours of intensive discussions by a diverse group of knowledgeable individuals with different perspectives regarding outreach to underrepresented and disadvantaged students. As such, they represent the views of no particular institution or individual. Instead, they represent the collective knowledge and understanding of educators, students, parents, and community activists committed to a single goal: increasing the college-going rates of underrepresented students. These documents will be used to inform the work of the Regents’ Outreach Task Force, the Board of Admissions & Relations with Schools (BOARS), and others. The matrices can also be used as a framework for further discussions and in the planning and development of future outreach efforts