By Francisco Padilla
Staff Writer
About 15 miles lies between California State University, Dominguez Hills and Los Angeles, and in between are communities like Compton, Watts and South Central Los Angeles, all of which are predominately dominated by people of color. Those demographics are reflected in the student body at CSUDH, which is one of the most ethnically diverse California State University campuses, with over 88 percent of the student body identifying as a person of color, according to the university website.
“The fact that California State University, Dominguez Hills was born out of social justice, out of the Watts Rebellion, to serve the people from the community, is what sets 
Dominguez Hills apart from other campuses,” said Frank Rojas, vice president of one organization on campus designed to help people of color, the Male Success Alliance.
Specifically, the MSA is an organization that focuses on improving the educational goals and outcomes of men of color. However, despite the name, it is open to all students, including women.
“We’re open to students of all colors, they don’t even have to identify themselves as male,” said Vince Flowers, the MSA’s project coordinator. “We just target men of color, particularly black and brown males because historically those populations have had the lowest graduation rates.”
Along with improving the educational outcomes of its members, MSA impact lives outside of the university with its peer mentor program. The program aims to build partnerships with schools around the community.
Members from MSA partner with local middle schools and high schools to help mentor students in underprivileged neighborhoods. By participating in this program, MSA members are able to reach out to young students in areas where a college education may be something they have never considered.
“We want to change those [graduation] numbers and change that narrative,” said Rojas.
“It starts with the work student mentors do, just because we’ve been in their shoes and we need to help guide the students and show them what is possible.”
The MSA recently hosted its annual spring summit in March, where the program welcomed over 700 students from over 20 schools in the South Bay area. The goal of the summit is to bring together and fortify the relationship between schools and organizations, to prepare young students for future successes and to discuss solutions for socio-economic issues young men of color might face.
“The power of MSA is we’re young men of color helping young men of color,” said Flowers. “We’ve walked that journey and we are countering the narrative that male students of color don’t succeed.”
