University leaders joined forces for the fourth annual Super Sunday education outreach event at the St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Oak Park on Sunday. It was an effort to inform the community about options available for black students interested in attending Sacramento State.

Guest speaker President Alexander Gonzalez said “the goal in the CSU and at Sac State is to provide members of the African American community a fulfilling campus experience.”

The number of applications to the CSU from blacks has gone up 15 percent and enrollments by 8.5 percent since the Super Sunday outreach program was started four years ago. Gonzalez said enrollment still has not gone up enough, and the university’s goal is to increase enrollment among black students to 10 percent. Currently, black students make up 7 percent of the Sac State student body.

Gonzalez noted that women make up two-thirds of the black population attending colleges and universities, making recruiting males a definite priority for Sac State. Janet Bassett, social worker and CSU alumna at the event, who has a son attending Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md., said she thinks male enrollment among blacks will be more difficult.

“I think there are a lot of barriers to males,” she said.

Bassett said that the barriers include fewer opportunities to excel and more gender discrimination than their female counterparts.

Fourteen-year-old Jakai Mask does not see those barriers in the same way. Mask wants to major in art studies some day.

He said black men are enrolled at a lower rate than their female counterparts because “they’re not trying to do what people say they can’t do.”

With the recent inauguration of President Barack Obama, Mask thinks that may cause some change.

“I’m sure black males are going to encourage other males to reach their goals,” he said.

Event speakers emphasized the need to recruit at the local level, including visiting local elementary and high schools and picking a school close to home to help ease some of the financial stress.

Chanel Bailey, a 25-year-old pharmacy technician, said she is interested in attending Sac State because it is closer, but she will probably have to attend the University of the Pacific, since Sac State lacks its own pharmacy program. That could be a potential problem for Bailey if she has to attend UOP.

“I may not be able to work as much as I’d like to,” she said.

Chevelle Newsome, Graduate dean and event organizer, explained that the recruiting efforts extend beyond the work done Sunday and include Educational Opportunity Program and Education Abroad Programs.

“(The programs) are really big initiatives to help with early assessment,” Newsome said.

She said “there are other avenues” for attending school, and Sac State is determined to help make that happen for students.

Teresa Lerma, office manager for the Financial Aid Office, said that the office is providing one-on-one help for those concerned about tuition costs.

“There is financial aid ? the resources are out there,” Lerma said.

Lerma also said that March 2 is the deadline for Cal Grant and FAFSA applications for the 2009-10 school year.

“We are there for the students,” Gonzalez said. “We want everyone to be successful.”

Julia Baum can be reached at [email protected]