Super Sunday, a California State University program that reaches out to African-American students through various community churches in Northern and Southern California, kicked off Feb. 6 and will continue for the next two weeks.
The program, which is in its sixth year and held at approximately 100 churches, features CSU leaders and administrators spreading information about the application process and how to gain admission into universities.
“The goal of this event is to get students the information that they need to start preparing for college,” said Erik Fallis, CSU media relations specialist.
Fallis said it was important for students from African-American communities to understand that college is attainable.
Super Sunday developed from the CSU African-American initiative, which was started by CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed and Charles Blake, Bishop of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ.
The program initiates meetings with members and leaders of local California communities in hopes of creating a channel to reach out to students and give them information about higher education.
“There is a population that’s underserved in African-American communities,” Fallis said. “There was a need to look at ways to do that outreach. Super Sunday has educational leaders going to the churches, speaking from the pulpit, talking directly to the students and their families.”
The three-weekend event spreads across California.
Chancellor Reed was at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Bakersfield Feb. 6, and was scheduled to speak at Christ Our Redeemer Church in Irvine Feb. 20.
Fallis said it’s important for the educational leaders to get out and try to connect with young people.
“We hope that [having the chancellor and other leaders] demonstrates that the commitment to diversity and access starts at the top of our universities,” Fallis said. “The chancellor gets very energized for the whole process and gets a very positive response from the church community.”
Four Long Beach churches are hosting Super Sunday speeches on Feb. 27.
In addition to Super Sunday, a Super Saturday college fair was also created through the CSU African-American initiative.
The event took place in August at CSU Dominguez Hills last year.
Fallis said the Super Sunday program’s six years of existence have resulted in positive benefits.
“Our application numbers from African-American students have gone up,” he said. “There was a need to look at ways to do that outreach. It has received a tremendous response from the church.”
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