SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon lawmakers want to ensure more underrepresented students are successful in higher education.

At the end of the 2021 session, a bill was passed to create a task force to find out how to accomplish the goal. The Senate President and House Speaker will appoint members to the task force later this summer.

Rep. Teresa Alonso León, D-Woodburn, was one of House Bill 2590's chief sponsors. She wants to reimagine higher education.

"We're going to travel around the state and talk to all of our students, and hear about what's working, what we can do better," Alonso León explained. "How can we improve things? I just have a vision for really transforming our postsecondary institutions through the lens of our students."

Alonso León has a history working for colleges and was the first Latina GED administrator for the state. The task force will work with students of color and those from rural communities, LGBTQ+ students and other groups traditionally underrepresented in colleges and universities.

Ben Cannon, executive director of the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission, which will assist with the task force's work, said affordability and complex applications can be barriers for people applying for college, especially if they're first-generation students.

He pointed out it's important to work with individual schools, and at the statewide level, to make postsecondary education attainable for all.

"The institution-by-institution work to identify the particular things they can do to better support these students, and the type of systemic look that the legislative task force will likely take to these issues," Cannon outlined.

Alonso León argued college campuses should foster a sense of belonging. That can be hard for some students of color when schools don't have a dedicated space for diversity, equity and inclusion.

"Not all campuses have a DEI office or a multicultural center, and those are things that are really important to students," Alonso León contended. "They need to connect. They need to find ways to connect with other students and other like-minded students, whether it's their culture or an area of interest."

The task force is slated to work through December 2023.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

AMARILLO, Texas - The American Farm Bureau Federation hosts more than 100 college level chapters across 35 states, but this is the first time its program has been introduced in Texas - to attract a new generation to farming.

Junior Kaysi LaPoint knew her favorite childhood moments were spent on a farm, and she's leveraging that insight to lead one of the first chapters of the Collegiate Farm Bureau at West Texas A&M University.

A Colorado native, LaPoint visited a farm owned by her extended family as a child. She's now studying animal science and agriculture business and economics, and attending conferences to learn as much as possible.

"I got to talk to peanut farmers, rice farmers," said LaPoint. "You know, these commodities we don't grow in Colorado. So, hearing from those different producers and getting their perspective is really neat."

In addition to West Texas A&M in the panhandle, Sam Houston State University in Huntsville has launched a Collegiate Farm Bureau - with Midwestern State University, Tarleton State University and Vernon College also planning to launch chapters.

Whit Weems, director of organization with the Texas Farm Bureau, said the program is valuable because college students can network with others who like the idea of farming, or finding an ag-related job that fits their skills.

"You don't have to be an ag major to be in the Collegiate Farm Bureau program," said Weems. "There's opportunities in agriculture beyond just the farm. There's so many different sectors to agriculture and supporting roles."

LaPoint said it still surprises her when people her age don't know where their food comes from.

"I had a classmate in middle school who said, 'Wait! Raisins and grapes are the same thing? I thought raisins were their own plant,'" said LaPoint. "And people who think pickles and cucumbers are two different things."

As older producers on farms and ranches retire, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says only about 2% of Americans now work in the agriculture industry - and the average age of an American farmer is about 57.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

BOSTON - Educators' unions are calling on the state to support their efforts to ensure in-person learning in the fall keeps students, teachers, families and staff safe.

With the Delta variant making its way through the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidance this week recommending that all teachers, students and staff in K-12 schools wear masks, even if they've received a COVID vaccine.

Merrie Najimy, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said this guidance is welcome. With kids under 12 still not approved to receive the vaccine and the vaccination rate among 12 to 15-year-olds still low, Najimy said she thinks other strategies are needed.

"We can have full, in-person learning as safely as possible this fall," said Najimy. "Masking was one of three or four critical mitigation strategies that really helped control transmission in the school buildings."

She added that another critical piece is school buildings' ventilation systems - she said many districts have schools that need upgrades.

The union is also is urging the Commonwealth to provide continued free and accessible COVID testing.

Najimy noted that while being vaccinated is enough to protect most people, COVID still poses a risk to children under 12 or people whose immune systems don't respond to the vaccine.

She added communities of color have been hit the hardest by the pandemic, and feels there is a collective responsibility to ensure that everybody is safe.

"We have the right formula to do that in schools," said Najimy. "It's ventilation, masking, distancing, hand-washing, and testing. So, there's no reason why the state can't step up and provide the leadership that we need at this moment."

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education had been planning to lift all COVID restrictions in schools this fall, and Gov. Charlie Baker said prior to the updated recommendations that he wasn't considering a mask mandate.

This week, his office said it will review the updated CDC guidance.

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- With many Virginians still experiencing pandemic-related unemployment, students at a state community college were able to get certifications for industry jobs despite COVID shutdowns.

Martha O'Keefe, associate vice president of workforce and professional development at Germanna Community College, said a state workforce grant program supported some students at the right time.

When COVID hit, the school got creative and quickly moved classes online. Then, for highway construction courses, instructors and administrators collaborated with the Virginia Department of Transportation to give students the required work-skills assessments by teleconferencing.

"We actually worked with some of the employers where the students were employed, and the employers were willing to do the skill checks at their work sites," O'Keefe recounted. "So that was a real plus for the students and the programs."

Some highway construction certifications required pencil- and-paper exams, so Germanna began offering drive-in testing. Some students were able to attend with help from Virginia's New Economy Workforce Grant Program, which provides partial tuition for short-term training courses.

More than 24,000 Virginians have tapped into the grant program since 2016, according to O'Keefe. It offers help with tuition for non-credit training credentials in a range of high-demand fields, including construction, health-care support and transportation.

She pointed out Germanna focuses on helping students get credentials to make better wages.

"For example, in health care we train individuals to become phlebotomists, clinical medical assistants, nurse aides; we are starting with the EMT certification," O'Keefe outlined. "And those certifications in and of themselves will help individuals to land jobs."

The workforce grant program had more than 7,400 students enrolled across the state last year. Germanna had the most, with more than 1,700 enrollments. Of those, about 1,100 students earned credentials for new jobs.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.