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Four Central Coast colleges are celebrating today after learning that they'd collectively been awarded $4.9 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s Hispanic Institutions STEM Program.

Cabrillo College, Gavilan Joint Community College District, Hartnell Community College District (which received two separate grants) and University Corporation of Monterey Bay received the funds to improve college access for underserved Latino youth and help community college students successfully transition to four-year universities.

Congressman Sam Farr (D-Carmel), who announced the awards, said that the STEM grants will provide promising students in low-income communities alternatives to gang life.

“I am proud to support these investments in our local students, and in the tools that allow them to reach their full potential and extent of their dreams,” Farr said in a statement.

Erica Padilla-Chavez, who chairs the Hartnell College Board of Trustees, is excited about the grant's potential to broaden math and science opportunities at the college for its many low-income Latinos. "We need to continue to decrease income and education disparities in the Hispanic community," says Padilla-Chavez.

Here's a list of who got what:

Cabrillo College - $868,509

Gavilan Joint Community College District - $1,200,000

Hartnell Community College District - $1,200,000

Hartnell Community College District - $860,000

University Corporation at Monterey Bay - $870,000