Community
President Dixon’s Vision for College of Alameda
We seek to center community as the central tenet of our mission. Recognizing our role in creating access to educational opportunities and driving the economy is our geographic area. We have an obligation to communities historically and presently disproportionately impacted within and outside of the educational setting.
We seek to center community as the central tenet of our mission. Recognizing our role in creating access to educational opportunities and driving the economy is our geographic area. We have an obligation to communities historically and presently disproportionately impacted within and outside of the educational setting. Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) require greater attention from educational systems from primary through post-secondary. CoA is committed to anchoring our work in data, which informs priorities in educational offerings and support programming. Our data suggests we can no longer hold the “business as usual” mentality and the poverty, crime and housing insecurity rates in our service area would suggest the same.
With 58% of Peralta Community College District students taking classes at two or more colleges CoA is invested in serving all students irrespective of zip code. We’re strengthening our partnership with the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD), Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), and the charter and independent schools within our geographic area. Our focus with K-12 partners is expanding Dual Enrollment, which is intended to create access opportunities for black, brown and low-income communities. We’re also laser focused on industry partnerships to create career pathways for our students that lead to a promising or high wage career. Engaging the Alameda Chamber and the associated business community will be an ongoing activity in my role as the President. CoA knows, When We Collaborate, We Win for students, their families and community.
CoA is taking active steps to engage our most vulnerable students to fulfill our commitment to social and educational justice. Recently, CoA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Sacramento State University to build a transfer pipeline to the Black Honors College, which is the first of its kind in the Nation. Our students deserve this access and transfer pathway is an area of focus for our institution. We were recently awarded a Rising Scholars Grant to support justice impacted youth through educational pathways that lead to career. Our interest is to disrupt the school to prison pipeline with the knowledge that men of color are underrepresented in higher education and overrepresented in prisons across the nation. We recently held a STEM Pilot – Summer Bridge Program, which was a partnership with Oakland Unified School District and CoA faculty, staff and leadership.
CoA will continue developing and refining programs to not only create access for disproportionately impacted students, but also nurturing their journey through completion. Below are some programs and serves available to our students:
- Umoja Program – The Umoja Community gains meaning through its connection to the African Diaspora.
- A2mend Chapter – African American Male Education Network Development
- EOPS– Extended Opportunities Program & Services – For Low Income/First Generation Students
- CalWorks – California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids program
- NextUp – Foster Youth Program
- CARE – Cooperative Agencies Resources for Education Program
- MESA -Math Engineering Science and Achievement – for first-generation, low-income, and under-represented college students.
- SAS – Student Accessibility Services
