Highline College Umoja Black Scholars Program

Umoja (a Kiswahili word meaning unity) is a program dedicated to the academic success and personal growth of African Americans and other students. Our Learning Community is designed to enrich the cultural and educational experiences of African American students and all who value the African diaspora.

Our program empowers students to achieve academic and personal success through a curriculum that celebrates the history, legacy, and global contributions of African and African American communities.

Umoja Mission and Vision statements: https://www.umojacommunity.org/mission-and-vision-statements

In Umoja, we:

• Support your growth inside and outside the classroom.
• Focus on the whole student: body, mind, and spirit.
• Celebrate African and African-American culture and contributions.
• Build leadership, community, and civic engagement.
• Empower students to create positive change in their lives and communities.

The Umoja Community offers culturally relevant:

• Academics – accelerated, transferable, and aligned with your academic goal(s).
• Advising and counseling – both academic and personal, we help you plan your success and stay motivated.
• Tutoring – Individual and group tutoring connections to keep you on top of your game.
• Financial aid/scholarships – assistance completing applications and connecting you to resources to make your academic dreams a reality.

Umoja Community At-A-Glance

• 71 participating colleges in California and 3 in Washington State, Highline College was the 1st College outside of California to have an Umoja Program, established in Fall 2015
• Serving over 5,000 students annually

Learn more about the Umoja Community.

The Umoja Community Practices

All Umoja Community programs adopt 18 Core practices to support student success:

Raising “Intentional & Deliberate”, Ethic of Love- the Affective Domain, Manifesting, Umoja Counseling: Affirming, Integrated, Intentional, The Porch, Live Learning, Language as Power, Tapping African American Intellectual, Spiritual, and Artistic Voices, Awareness of Connectedness to African Diaspora, Community-building Communal Intelligence, Acceleration- English, Math, ESL, and Counseling, Occupy Study Spaces on Campus, Mentoring, Mattering, Umoja as Power Base, Encircling Diversity, Gifting, Everybody’s Business.

Learn more about each integral practice.