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Government yahks funding from Trio

A funding cut that shuts down a 30-year-old ASU program recently set the Valley’s Latino leader network buzzing.

Frank Granillo, a program coordinator with the Trio Educational Opportunity Center, sent out an e-mail Aug. 17 about the center’s demise on Aug. 31. The fatal weapon: an end to federal funding.

That resulted in a flurry of advocacy e-mails from Hispanic notables such as Margie Emmermann with the state tourism department, and Pete Garcia, president/CEO of Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc.

Garcia immediately shot off a letter to ASU President Michael Crow, asking for an explanation of the Trio funding cut.

"The news of this program not being funded is devastating to all of us…" wrote Garcia.

The EOC program focused on low-income, first-time college students. Its counselors served 3,600 high school students annually at 80 high schools and community centers around the state. About half of those students are Latinos. It also served disabled students and veterans.

Bob Mena, director of the EOC program, says ASU’s five-year proposal didn’t make the funding cut. He adds that ASU is appealing the decision, but that overturning the decision was a "distant chance."

The TRIO programs were established in 1965 because most states were blatantly ignoring students from low-income families who needed services to successfully finish high school and prepare for college. Since then, about 2 million students have graduated because of the program.

"Our major concern is, now what’s going to happen to the kids?" Mena says.