What happens when you plan a gathering with various stakeholders around closing the college participation gap for more youth of color and low-income youth in Minnesota? Over 200 stakeholders on this issue respond and attend to answer the call and plan their strategies to close the gap!  The theme of the first MCAN conference was “MCAN’07 Promising College Access Strategies Conference:  Meeting the College-Going Aspirations of All Communities”.  Attendees of MCAN’07 represented higher education institutions, college access program practitioners, K-12 educators, Funders, policymakers, and community advocates. Over 30 presenters from local and national organizations touching on themes such as: financial aid and diverse families, social marketing, access for immigrant youth, parent involvement, and K-12 and higher education partnerships participated in this day-and-a-half-long gathering which occurred November 15 and November 16th. 

Keynote speaker, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, president, Bennett College for Women, emphasized the purpose of the gathering—that a global economy requiring a very different American workforce could no longer sustain underinvestment in college access programs and pathways for youth of color and low-income youth in particular. Some of the comments heard about this keynote address included, “She touched on a lot of issues that are important for everyone to keep in mind and she described how to make adjustments in each program’s work to meet their goals,” and, “Thank you for bringing this wonderful speaker.” 

As participants gained the message of “Access for All,” they broke out into smaller sessions to discuss strategies with 30 national and local experts on the topic of college access development. Experts from national institutions such as the University of Arizona, Ohio College Access Network (OCAN), and The Educational Research Institute (TERI), joined experts from local programs such as: TRiO, Latino Economic Development Center, and Minnesota State College and Universities to share how they provided more access to youth of color by shifting from a “college for some” to a “college for all” framework in their respective communities.