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SIAC About SIAC

About SIAC

 

The Student Initiated Access Center (SIAC) was created in the spring of 1998 as a means of funding student-initiated, student run outreach and access programs.

Philosophy

The impetus for its creation came in the wake of the dramatic drop of underrepresented students in the UC system, due to the passage of Proposition 209 and UC Regent Standing Policy 1 (SP1). Organizations from the historically underserved communities at UCLA pressured the University of California office of the President to allocate funding to all UC campuses for the creation of a funding source for student-initiated, student-run programs. Resulting from this pressure, the SIAC was created on the UCLA campus.

 

History

Although the SIAC was created only a decade ago, student-run, student-initiated efforts have been ongoing at UCLA for over 30 years. For students living in underserved communities, there has historically been a lack of adequate college outreach services and relevant educational support for the K-12 education system. Hence, UCLA students from historically underserved communities have consistently addressed those needs by providing relevant, culturally sensitive and institutionally challenging services. The SIAC is the result of a long line of collaborative student-initiated programs such as those provided by the Community Programs Office (CPO) and the Student Retention Center (SRC).

The SIAC provides an alternative to traditional university outreach efforts. The SIAC projects accepts all students who seek to participate by encouraging students from the most challenging backgrounds to participate. The program works at the student's individual levels to empower them to take their academic and life goals into their own hands. There are seven projects in the Student Initiated Access Center that administer services to over a thousand service recipients in the Los Angeles metropolitan region. The project receives funding through successful referendum measures approved in 1999, 2005, and 2009. The Student Initiated Access Committee administers funding, evaluates projects, and oversees operations for its Center.