On Wednesday, April 10-12, the annual Community College Public Relations Organization (CCPRO) Conference was held in Santa Cruz. CCPRO is focused on professional development and the sharing of best practices among the California Community Colleges' marketing and communications teams across the state. Peralta was represented at the conference by Chancellor Tammeil Gilkerson and Laney College Web Content Developer Chanda Brewer, as well as members of the district Marketing, Communication & Public Relations team: Visual & Digital Media Specialist Faiza Ali, Graphic Design Specialist Marcus Creel, District Web Content Developer Aaron Harbour, and MCPR Executive Director Mark Johnson.

On Wednesday, Chancellor Gilkerson and Dr. Matthew Wetstein, President and Superintendent of Cabrillo College gave a presentation about the CCLC/CEO Affordability, Food, and Housing Task Force which advocates for California’s neediest college students. They talked about some of the accomplishments and strategies that are elevating the voice of real community college students and shared how a mixture of timing, strategy, and political acumen helped launch the Real College California movement.

Later that afternoon, the Peralta team led a discussion about staying aligned during the ebb and flow of centralization and decentralized marketing activities in a multi-college district.

The MCPR team's "Chancellor Search" brochure took first place in the brochure category. In the Semester Schedule Cover competition, Peralta took second place for the "Spring is Free" semester schedule covers created by Marcus Creel. Peralta also took second place in the Wild Card category for an episode of the "President's Desk" podcast focusing on Veteran services, so congratulations to Laney College President Dr. Rudy Besikof, District Radio Program Specialist Dr. Felicia Bridges, and the KGPC Radio team for their accomplishment.

Mark Johnson was also unanimously re-elected to serve another year on the CCPRO Board of Directors as the Bay Area regional rep.

Chancellor Gilkerson expressed great appreciation for Peralta's accolades at the conference. "It is nice to have peers across the state recognize the great work coming out of the Peralta Colleges!"