Berkeley City College just announced that it has selected student Yanelit Madriz Zarate as this year's awardee of a $750 California Community College EOPS Association (CCCEOPSA) scholarship. A first generation Chicana student who is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, Zarate was selected as this year's recipient due to her outstanding commitment not only to her studies, but to her community.

How do you offer mental health support and therapy during a pandemic? You have to pivot!

While traditional ways of doing therapy have shifted, the Berkeley City College Wellness Center is offering mental health services to students via Zoom. BCC is fortunate to have a four mental health providers, three trainees, and a licensed supervisor, a team that is committed to being in service to our most vulnerable students. 

Over 100 BCC faculty, staff, and administrators came together for a day of professional learning centered around “Building Community and Advancing Equity and Racial Justice.” The event took place on August 21, 2020 and began with community-building activities first thing in the morning, followed by a greeting from the shared governance leads. Lasana Hotep, anti-racist educator and Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at the University of California, Berkeley, delivered a rousing and informative keynote presentation on the subject, “Antiracism is a Marathon, Not a Sprint: Core Competencies for Equity Advancing Educators.”

Back on the afternoon of August 18th, 2020, the Berkeley City College Society of Scholars (SoS) team welcomed over 100 in-coming students, through an engaging and entertaining Virtual Orientation. The SoS Orientation was designed and led by the BCC SoS Student Staff team, and supported by SoS Counselors and campus Administrators. The Virtual Orientation included a warm, enthusiastic and thoughtful “Welcome” by BCC President, Dr. Angelica Garcia, followed by inspirational words from Vice President of Student Services, Dr. Stacey Shears, and a positive and upbeat message from Associate Dean of Educational Success, Martin de Mucha Flores.

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.

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:

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

The free food giveaway programs at the Peralta Colleges we first announced in May and which now include all four colleges are certainly good news for students and the community.  And now the program is in the news!  Maaziq Madyun, a reporter for KRON TV Channel 4 recently stopped by the College of Alameda and filmed the following story, "East Bay grab-and-go lunch program helps fight food insecurity during pandemic," which was broadcast across the Bay area. The story is also available online here:  https://gems.peralta.edu/all-four-colleges-now-offering-free-meals

The Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees were extremely busy in July following the unexpected resignation of Chancellor Dr. Regina Stanback Stroud on July 16, 2020. 

Dr. Angélica Garcia, who started as President of Berkeley City College in May, was featured in the June 25, 2020 issue of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, a national publication based in Virginia. With more than 30 years of experience covering education, Diverse has a monthly print and digital readership well over 100,000. That makes it one of the largest higher education trade publications in the country, and the largest audience of educators of color from more than 4,800 U.S. colleges and universities. The feature in Diverse provides excellent national exposure for Dr. Garcia, Berkeley City College, and the Peralta Community College District.