This position paper discusses the existent research focused on STEM centers at colleges and universities, focusing on their critical role to support students from racially minoritized backgrounds. The objective of this work is to present a potential framework to recast the role of these institutional STEM centers at both community colleges and four-year institutions to ensure effective support and transfer of students, especially those from historically marginalized backgrounds. We discuss the importance of these STEM centers as access points, articulate specific actions these centers should take, and advocate for more robust STEM center networks. We utilize data from a recent Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Pre-Alliance Planning grant to provide some additional evidence for our argument and posit that STEM centers on campuses can be hubs for connection, facilitate engagement in diverse areas of STEM work, and help establish integral relationships for historically marginalized students' success. We will also discuss critical resources needed when developing STEM centers to help serve traditionally marginalized students. Further, STEM centers can serve as pivotal points in a network, especially between community colleges and four-year institutions to assist in successfully transferring students and conferring bachelor's degrees to underrepresented students. As part of a network, STEM centers can facilitate cross-institutional partnerships, support students through the transfer process, and meaningfully address some of the systemic challenges historically marginalized students face.