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Barrio Logan College Institute (BLCI) promotes the pursuit of higher education for students who are traditionally underrepresented in college through after-school programs that begin in third grade and extend through college completion. Located in Barrio Logan, a low-income Latino community in San Diego, BLCI prepares disadvantaged students and their families through free academic enrichment, skill building, self-esteem building, tutoring, mentoring, workshops, field trips, career exploration and application services.
BLCI's challenges include giving kids access to comparable resources and experiences typically available to college-bound communities. One hundred percent of the students BLCI serves will be the first generation in their families to attend college, and most will be the first in their families to graduate from high school. Only 38% of the residents have a high school diploma, and less than 3% have a bachelor's degree or higher. The average annual income for a family of four is less than $20,000. BLCI seeks progressive learning experiences for these students from grade school through high school and college and then to allow them to give back as alumni.
TalentSmart consultants worked with BLCI's executive director and staff to introduce emotional intelligence skills to BLCI students before they left for college. Phase I of the process took BLCI's executive director and staff through TalentSmart's Discovering and Developing EQ workshops and a Team EQ session to allow this high-performing team to assess the group's EQ and make agreements about how to interact with high EQ and provide intentional EQ role modeling for the students. Phase II included a one-day workshop for 23 high school and college students during their summer break. Students were provided the online assessment, group activities, and Emotional Intelligence 2.0. This was the first time graduates and high school seniors had gathered together for a day of learning together.
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