Education
BLCI
Building on 100 percent
Jose Angel Cruz
One hundred percent of the students served
by the Barrio Logan College Institute’s
programs enroll in college, and José Angel
Cruz, the new CEO of BLCI, and incoming
BLCI board chair Susy Villegas want to
do more. “COVID-19 and the community
protests have brought to light that we
live in an inequitable society that repeats poverty generation
after generation unless we intervene,” Cruz shared with GB
Magazine. “For 24 years, BLCI has been that intervention,
helping disadvantaged students to be the first in their families to
go to college. It is an amazing record made possible through the
continued support of dedicated students, parents, donors, staff,
and everyday San Diegans.”
Born in Mexico City and raised in Santa Ana, California,
Cruz recently moved from Atlanta, Georgia to lead BLCI. He
brings decades of experience building dozens of Boys and
Girls Clubs and youth development organizations nationally
and internationally. “Building great organizations starts with
developing leaders that can consistently make good decisions
18 GBSAN.COM | AUGUST 2020
and build trust from the ground up with families, donors and
other stakeholders to serve as many people as possible with
transparency, clear outcomes and impact,” Cruz stated.
“The BLCI family-based model continues to be one of the best
investments in fighting poverty in San Diego through the power
of higher education,” said incoming chair Villegas, who is also
president of SVPR Communications. The model starts with
first generation students and families in the third grade and
moves them, grade by grade, into and through college. BLCI
parents are often not fluent in English and are unfamiliar with the
K-12 educational system, testing, and other college entrance
requirements. BLCI serves these families at its headquarters in
Barrio Logan, though the Chula Vista Promise Neighborhood
and in the El Cajon area through the YALLA program serving
refugee and other disadvantaged youth.
“With José Angel’s leadership, we are building a new BLCI with
a goal to get as many students as we can into the best colleges
possible because we know what that means for the future of
their families and for the future of San Diego,” said Villegas.
www/blci.org