River Ridge Institute

Tulare is California's 7th largest county, yet it has no 4-year college. So, how do high schoolers get an idea of what higher education is about?

River Ridge Institute already hosts college classes; we will bring local high school students out simultaneously so they can 'take' a college class, meet college students and discover that (most) faculty are human.

We work with high school students who might never have thought of going on with their education; we open closed doors.

We work with California State University, Long Beach and UC Merced, Porterville School District and the Tulare County Office of Education, plus many local non-profit organizations such as California Native Plant Society, Audubon, Sequoia Riverlands Trust, Latino Outdoors, the Tule River Tribe, UC Cooperative Extension, US Fish and Wildlife Service, etc.

Funds will be used to increase River Ridge's capacity to house students and faculty on the ranch so we can provide local youth with more visits to college classes.