In the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery and others, educators are determining options for a thoughtful response. At first, school principals and college presidents responded by releasing public statements to their campus communities. See Peralta Community College District's Executive Leadership statement as well as statements by Chancellor Stanback Stroud, President Gilkerson at Laney College, President Johnson at Merritt College, President Garcia at Berkeley City College, and President Karas at College of Alameda. 

On June 10, 2020, the Peralta Community College District (PCCD) Department of Marketing, Communication and Public Relations (MCPR) received recognition from the Community College Public Relations Organization (CCPRO) as part of the 2020 CCPRO Awards Ceremony. The District earned Third Place in the highly competitive Social Media Marketing category. We received the award for "Become a Champion" - a Twitter post by Faiza Ali that included a 17 second video produced by AC Hunter that was then "boosted" by Mark Johnson to maximize the audience reach for the video here in the Bay Area. It was a real team effort! Click the photo below to visit the Tweet and watch the video.

On Tuesday June 23, 2020, the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees took an historic step by unanimously voting to terminate the District’s contract with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) after a six-month extension ending December 31, 2020.

Due to the continuing Alameda County directive to shelter in place, the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees met via Zoom on June 23, 2020. This meeting was epic. Clocking in at 5 hours and 40 minutes or so, the meeting included a landmark vote on the District's relationship with Alameda County Sheriff's Office (ACSO) which helped draw 100 speakers for the public comment section of the meeting. Additionally, this meeting was the last for Dr. Tammeil Gilkerson, Laney College President, and Dr. Timothy Karas, College of Alameda President. The full video recording of the meeting is available on the Peralta YouTube channel here. 

On June 23, 2020, Peralta Community College District hosted a Community Forum to discuss the intersection of race with security and policing service. Community input is very important to Peralta Community College District as we reimagine and update the way campus security and law enforcement is managed by the District.  Speakers included:

As President of the Peralta Board of Trustees, I want to acknowledge that the Peralta Community College Board of Trustees is aware of the allegation of racist remarks by an instructor to a student at Laney College regarding the pronunciation of the student’s name. Consistent with his rights to due process, the instructor has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into this matter.

What does Juneteenth mean to you? For Juneteenth (June 19th), also known as "Freedom Day," Chancellor Stanback Stroud gathered Peralta Colleges employees including faculty, classified professionals and administrators in this salon-style panel to discuss Juneteenth, what it means to the African American Community, and the educational implications. You can watch the video on YouTube here. It is one hour and seventeen minutes well spent.

Peralta Community College District is partnering with Urban Leaders Fellowship (ULF) to host five ULF fellows. The Urban Leaders Fellowship is a paid seven-week fellowship experience implemented in eight cities across the country. The fellows are leaders interested in impacting real and lasting change by working with partner organizations on policy advancement, leadership development, and community impact.

OAKAND, CA – The Peralta Community College District (PCCD) Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution entitled Affirming Our Commitment To Student Success For African American Students. As an institution that has long fostered and embodied social justice teachings, the district’s “commitment to diversity and inclusion also requires advocating and employing our collective voice to identify and eliminate barriers to equity.”

In response to dramatically increased food insecurity from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Peralta Colleges forged partnerships with two nonprofits – Oakland’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation and the World Central Kitchen – to provide thousands of meals to students at three of its four campus locations. The Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation underwrites the cost of the meals, while the World Central Kitchen helps provide food delivery and distribution logistics. Special thanks to Peralta Colleges Foundation Executive Director LaNiece Jones for helping make this new venture possible.