Amidst the growing diverse student population, community colleges are enrolling an increasing number of adult immigrant-background students. However, recent research trends tend to focus on students who enter community colleges from the U.S. K-12 system (Generation 1.5 learners), leaving a significant gap in the research and a lack of cohesion in…

This article argues for the importance of integrating a focus on language, literacy, and academic development for United States-educated language minority (US-LM) students, sometimes called "Generation 1.5." It describes four initiatives at community colleges in California that aim to do so. US-LM students have completed some K-12…