Berkeley City College (BCC) announced that it has been awarded a highly-competitive nearly $3 million Developing Hispanic Serving Institution grant from the Department of Education to expand supportive services for Latinx and marginalized students. This is the College’s first grant since being named a Developing Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) by the US Department of Education in 2020. As a population that has been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, these additional academic and student support services come at a critical time.

Feke Tutuila, a second year student athlete and secretary of Wayfinder, the Pacific Islander student club at Laney College, was an invited panelist on a CalMatters webinar in August with state chancellor Dr. Eloy Oakley. Feke, a member of the Laney College football team recently featured in the Netflix series Last Chance U, asked Oakley how he plans to improve language accessibility for students who do not speak English well. Oakley said the number one priority is to hire more faculty of color, including those who speak other languages.

Since April, the Office of International Education (OIE) received $34,500 in funding to support fourteen F-1 international students thanks to the Institute of International Education’s (IIE) Emergency Student Funding (ESF) relief! The ESF provides financial support to international students when emergencies in their home countries, or globally such as COVID-19, threaten to jeopardize the completion of their studies.  

Oakland, CA – Laney College’s APASS (Asian Pacific American Student Success) program was awarded a prestigious $1.5 million U.S. Department of Education AANAPISI (Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution) grant to support job training, job placement and career pathways for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and Asian American Pacific Islander students. While Laney College has received two previous AANAPISI grants, this is the first grant that specifically supports job training and placement for AAPI and ESOL students.

Berkeley City College President Angélica Garcia kicked off the first of her campus community check-ins in her “Cafécito “Zoom, on Thursday, August 27, 2020. Faculty, staff, and students joined the President in this question and answer session focused on BCC updates and what to expect for the 2020 – 2021 academic year. Some of the questions from the event centered on getting to know President Garcia and the goals of the college. Some of the highlighted questions:

Peralta TV, which celebrated its 40th Anniversary earlier this year (see Peralta Gems #9), continues to broadcast educational and Peralta community content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Peralta TV is available on Comcast (Channel 27 in Alameda and Berkeley, and Channel 28 in Oakland, Emeryville and Piedmont) and on AT&T U-Verse (Channel 99). Here are some upcoming program highlights in September. 

The Fall 2020 semester has begun at all four Peralta Colleges and we are excited to welcome students to classes again. Online learning can be challenging but there are many resources available for students from each of the colleges.

Student Services

Each college offers a wide variety of student services.
Here are links to each campus's student resources:

Berkeley City College
College of Alameda
Laney College
Merritt College

Welcome students and educators to the Fall 2020 Semester at the Peralta Community College District!