New project seeks to improve retention and graduation rates for students of color at University of Illinois: ‘They have a platform, they have the resources.’

The 18-month effort, funded by the Joyce Foundation, will focus on the state’s flagship public university, where just under 6% of students are Black, 11% are Latino and well under 1% identify as Native American or Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, under-representations of the state’s population, according to school data. The largest demographic groups are white students at 41% and Asian American students at 16%.