CPP Receives $600,000 Grant for Transfer Success Initiative
Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation (YSMN) has awarded Cal Poly Pomona (CPP) a $600,000 grant to strengthen the transfer process and help more students thrive on their path to a four-year degree and long-term success.
The funds will support the Inland Empire Transfer Success Initiative, a three-year project designed to increase the number of local community college students who successfully transfer to four-year universities. The initiative seeks to address historically low transfer rates in the area by expanding support programs and cohesive academic pathways that open doors to opportunity.
Cal Poly Pomona will use the grant funds to expand its outreach and transfer support, hiring a counselor in the Office of Outreach, Recruitment and Educational Partnerships dedicated to the Inland Empire, and a new staff member for PolyTransfer to strengthen its summer programs and support more community college students who want to transfer to CPP.
The initiative will also enhance staff capacity at partner community colleges — San Jacinto, Crafton Hills, Norco, and San Bernardino Valley College — equipping them to better guide students on their own campuses. While many students may choose CPP, the program is designed to improve transfer success across the region, ensuring more community college students reach four‑year universities of their choice.
Cal Poly Pomona has been recognized for building a strong transfer pipeline and was recently named a 2025 Pathway Champion for Excellence in Transfer Equity.
Cecilia Santiago-González, the associate vice president of student success, said she is grateful for the grant and excited for the momentum it will create.
“I think it is a great opportunity to expand on the important work that we've been doing in support of our transfer students,” Santiago-González said. “This will allow us to extend our reach further into the Inland Empire, and to support students from that region.”
Since 2015, CPP’s PolyTransfer has helped transfer students smoothly transition to the university and develop a sense of belonging. The program offers workshops, networking opportunities, social events for transfer students, campus resource info-sessions and one-on-one mentoring.
Its Summer Advantage Program focuses on building strong connections between community colleges and universities to streamline the transfer process.
“Transfer students can go wherever they want, but they chose us,” Santiago-González said. “And we have a responsibility to help them achieve their goals.”
Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation continues to focus giving efforts to benefit those living across their Serrano ancestral lands. The Tribe’s giving program, San Manuel Cares, is guided by the spirit of Yawa’ — a Serrano value meaning to act on one’s beliefs — and identifies direct-impact causes that align with YSMN’s giving pillars.
Over the last two decades, the Tribe has awarded more than $450 million to causes throughout the Inland Empire region and across Indian Country helping to lift underserved and under-funded communities
Priscilla Amezcua, a management and human resources junior who transferred from Mount San Jacinto College, participated in PolyTransfer’s Summer Transition Program and said it was a good way to get introduced to the campus and learn about resources for students.
Funds for programs like the Transfer Success Initiative and PolyTransfer are critical, especially for students who come from areas where there aren’t many four-year university options, said Amezcua, who previously lived in Temecula.
“Being from the Inland Empire, I feel like the area is isolated from most universities, especially the ones in LA County and the OC,” she said. “It’s important for transfer programs to receive the funding and support they need to continue because these programs allowed me to explore a college that I didn’t have exposure to before. The transfer programs at CPP gave me the exposure I needed to see that this is where I am supposed to be.”