A community made to help students by providing resources, counseling and networking opportunities has been at El Camino College since the 2023 spring semester.

The Men of Color Action Network held its third and final “Dr. Parrish Geary’s Barbershop Talks” event for this semester which provided participants with free food, haircuts and an opportunity to converse with each other.

Local barbers came to the event on Wednesday, May 22 in the Student Equity Achievement Center and provided free haircuts along with homemade food made by family members of those who are a part of the MOCAN program.

“The reason why I come here for these barbershop talks is so I can get a connection with brotherhood and network with others,… a free space where we can share emotions, any struggles, any hardships just so we can have men of color feel safe,” psychology major Lee Lopez said.

Machinist major, Anthony Martinez, found out about the event after seeing a previous one and found out how to RSVP for the event and got the first haircut.

Martinez said he liked his haircut because it had a good line, his only criticism was that he should have gone for a skin fade.

Extended Opportunity Program Services Counselor Brandon Douglas said MOCAN offers several benefits to eligible students: priority registration, prioritized counseling appointments, free merchandise and career-specific headshots, resume workshops and help with financial aid and careers.

“It’s important because it brings people together I think oftentimes life makes us so busy that we don’t know how to pause and be intentional with our time,” Douglas said. “A lot of reasons drop out or don’t persist is cause they don’t feel a sense of belonging on campus they don’t feel like they matter,… so for MOCAN we’re saying that ‘yall do matter.’”

MOCAN at El Camino will be planning and hosting more workshops and events for the fall semester and the next academic year including the barbershop talks events.

“It’s really just to build a sense of brotherhood on campus, right, we want to allow and enable a safe space for our men to meet up, connect with other men of color in a safe space, where they feel like they can talk whatever it is they wanna talk,” MOCAN adviser Chris Marroquin said.

More information about MOCAN can be found on their website.