Our Spotlight video series is highlighting each of our network research teams and their projects. In this video, Rashida Welbeck, a project director at MDRC, describes the Men of Color College Achievement project.

Male students of color bring strengths and assets to their college experience, but research indicates they face three primary hurdles that can inhibit college completion: inadequate social, emotional, and campus support; insufficient college preparation and academic achievement; and nonacademic barriers to persistence. To provide causal evidence on what programs best support degree completion among male college students of color, the Men of Color College Achievement project, a partnership between MDRC and the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), is studying an integrated intervention consisting of a culturally relevant student success course, mentorship and academic coaching, and academic and professional activities designed to bolster academic success.