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
We here in the Peralta community welcome Dr. Rudy Besikof as Laney College’s Interim President. He has been at the college since 2018, when he was hired as its Vice President of Instruction, the same position he previously held at Mt. San Jacinto College for more than two years prior to joining Laney. Prior to becoming a Chief Instructional Officer in 2016, he served for five years as a dean, first at Woodland Community College as its Dean of Instruction and Learning Resources, and later at Los Angeles Valley College as a Dean of Academic Affairs. Prior to becoming an administrator in 2011, Dr. Besikof taught English and English as a Second/Foreign Language in two and four-year colleges not only in California, but also in Colorado, Japan, and France.
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.
.jpg)
These are challenging times for everyone. All of us have had to make adjustments in the way we work or study thanks to the ongoing shelter in place guidelines. As recently announced, all four of the Peralta college campuses as well as the district office are closed through the end of the year while the Fall 2020 semester will be taught online with just a few exceptions. Working at home is now the reality for most Peralta employees. Our homes are now our offices too.
In 2019, Peralta Community College District received $1.8 Million in grants awarded by the California Virtual Campus - Online Education Initiative (CVC-OEI). A grant in the amount of $400,370.00 for Improving Online CTE Pathways with a Focus on ESOL and Adult Students was awarded to Laney College in order to create and expand online opportunities in: Business Management and Supervision; Construction Management, California Green, and Sustainable Building Standards; Legal Community Interpreting; and provide wraparound support through counseling and tutoring.
On May 26, 2020, Peralta Community College District reported that Laney College and College of Alameda had formed partnerships with Steph and Aisha Curry's non-profit Eat.Learn.Play and the World Central Kitchen to provide free meals for students. Now all four colleges have solidified their partnership with these great nonprofits to serve our community. Merritt College started their program on May 28. Berkeley City College began their program on Friday June 5th.
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.
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.
We are pleased to introduce Ronnie Lewis as the new Laney College Director of Financial Aid. Ronnie joins Laney College with a breadth financial aid experience serving in both higher education and K-12 settings.
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.
