P-12 Students
UC Links serves low-income, ethnically and linguistically diverse preschool-through-twelfth grade (P-12) students.
During the 2022-2023 academic year, UC Links continued to engage P-12 students. In 2022-23, 4,075 P-12 students participated in UC Links programs located at 33 sites. During the transition back to in-person learning, in 2021-22, 2,168 P-12 students participated in UC Links programs located at 26 sites. UC Links primarily serves students in the elementary and middle-school grades and in 2022-23 partnered with 27 public, private, and charter schools and 8 community-based organizations.
UC Links serves a highly diverse population of P-12 students, primarily of Latinx (65.9%), African American (6.1%), Asian (8.4%), and White (5.4%) backgrounds. Approximately 39.4% of UC Links P-12 students are English Language Learners and 57.9% would be first-generation college-going students if they pursue college.
University Students
UC Links also serves both undergraduate and graduate students. UC Links programs enable undergraduates to connect theory and real-world experience by taking practicum academic coursework that places them in community settings to interact with diverse P-12 students.
UC Links graduate students gain opportunities to teach undergraduate courses, coordinate community-based programs, and conduct research related to their academic interests.
In 2022-23, there were 732 undergraduate and 81 graduate student participants from diverse backgrounds at university campuses throughout California. The vast majority of all undergraduates (97.7%) received sustained mentoring from UC Links faculty and graduate students; 95.5% engaged in community-based research (including participant observation in UC Links activities with P-12 students and final research papers for their UC Links coursework); 0.7% had internships related to UC Links; and 87.4% received course credit and a grade for fulfillment of their UC Links-related academic coursework for each semester or quarter that they participated. All of the 81 graduate students participating in UC Links were engaged in research in local communities, and all received extensive mentoring in the areas of research, teaching, program organization and coordination, evaluation, and assessment.
