The “Pathways to Success” Program

Program Components

“Pathways” is a 4-year professional development program started in 2017 by Dr. Annette Besnilian and Dr. Merav Efrat, in collaboration with the Marilyn Magaram Center (MMC) at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and Los Angeles Mission College (LAMC) through grant funding provided by USDA NIFA. According to the 2020 Demographics Survey by the Commission on Dietetic Registration regarding ethnicity, registered dietitians in the United States identify as follows: 81.2% as White, 3.9% as Asian, 2.6 % as Black/African American, 3.1 % as Hispanic/Latino, 5.9 % prefer not to report, and 1.7 % as other or two or more ethnic groups.

The “Pathways to Success” program is comprised of the following activities and support for undergraduate and graduate Dietetics Fellows:
 

• Mentorship and Outreach: Each Undergraduate Dietetics Fellow (UDF) is assigned a Peer Mentor from the cohorts of CSUN Dietetic Interns (DIs) and assigned a Faculty Mentor who provides assistance and guidance regarding academic requirements of the undergraduate nutrition science program at CSUN to stay on track to graduate. CSUN DIs serve as Outreach Ambassadors, conducting outreach at local high schools and junior colleges.
   
• Professional Development Workshops: A variety of professional and skills development workshops are offered during the Fall and Spring Semesters. These workshops ensure skills development in areas not taught through major courses and prepares students to be strong candidates for Dietetic Internship positions.
   
• Lactation Education Training: The goal of the lactation education component is to equip students with knowledge and skills needed to promote and support breastfeeding as Registered Dietitians and qualify them as Certificated Lactation Educators in diverse communities.
   
• Research: Fellows are provided opportunities to participate and present research in areas of food, nutrition, agriculture, health and wellbeing in collaboration with the MMC. This program component ensures exposure to data collection and opportunities to be published as research assistants. Fellows also have the opportunity to attend and present at research conferences.

Scholarships or tuition reimbursement are awarded to help enhance retention of low-income students each year of involvement in the program.
 

Accomplishments and Impact

The “Pathways” program has had a tremendous impact on students and the surrounding community. From 2017-2020, there has been a significant increase in the diversity of applicants to the CSUN Dietetic Internship (DI) program within each DI cohort of those on track to becoming Registered Dietitians. Other successes are as follows:
 

• 3980 students reached via outreach by outreach ambassadors (CSUN DIs) in three years
• 23 presentations at Los Angeles Mission College and 21 outreach presentations at CSUN, reaching 520 students in Dietetics majors.
• 93 high school presentations at 12 local high schools, reaching 828 students
• Facilitated over 30 professional development workshops and training from 2017-2020
• Enabled 48 undergraduate and graduate fellows to earn the designation of Certificated Lactation Educators
• Graduated 40 fellows, both undergraduate and graduate levels

The “Pathways to Success” program was selected as a finalist in the University Economic Development Association's (UEDA) 2020 Awards of Excellence and the “Pathways” team presented the program virtually at the UEDA Digital Summit on September 24, 2020. On September 30, 2020, at UEDA Rally Day, the program was recognized as the 2020 Awards of Excellence winner for the Talent + Place category. 
 

Where We Are Now

The “Pathways to Success” program continues to run successfully in the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic. All workshops are virtually coordinated through the Zoom platform and have been well-attended and well-received by students. The biggest challenge has been coordinating outreach efforts at local high schools and junior colleges, which have also experienced massive infrastructure changes due to the COVID-19 crisis. As we have discovered how to navigate this crisis, it has been a tremendous team effort in continuing to provide a successful program for our fellows, which is now in its fourth and final year of funding. 

For more information, please see CSUN’s video: https://youtu.be/uLNAPZfjtjI
 
This post is the first in a series highlighting the accomplishments of grantees of the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Education Grants Program. This competitive grants program is intended to promote and strengthen the ability of Hispanic-Serving Institutions to carry out higher education programs in the food and agricultural sciences and attract outstanding students and produce graduates capable of enhancing the Nation's food and agricultural scientific and professional work force.