Candidate for
Board Member; San Francisco Community College District

Higher education empowers the community and is a right. City College must be an accessible and inclusive path to economic opportunity. With leadership, creativity and foresight City College can be a community partner, building ties, decreasing violence in our neighborhoods, and increasing economic stability in San Francisco.

I have fought during most of this decade to ensure that all people have access to affordable and quality higher education. I instituted change as a leader at San Francisco State University by creating the first program to primarily focus on recruitment and retention of historically underserved communities throughout San Francisco. Project Connect provides many of these students their first contact with higher education. In addition, I expanded San Francisco State University's Project Rebound, a program which helps ex-offenders attend college. Since its expansion, the average amount of people Project Rebound assisted each year has doubled. After I graduated college, I worked in the California State Assembly and primarily focused higher education legislation and state-wide diversity plans.

I will continue to fight to ensure that everyone has access to SF City College's 100 career and technical programs. I will fight to ensure that no student is turned away from SF City College because of lack of resources. And, I will fight to ensure that SF City College continues to be a beacon of hope, opportunity and progress to all students.

Early Outreach Program

My vision for an early outreach program will be the foundation from wish I hope to implement change. An early outreach program will expose young students in historically under-represented to the higher education options that are available once they graduate high school. In collaboration with teachers, parents and San Francisco's community members, students will participate in annual visits to SF City College, thus exposing them to a higher educational institution that will start them on a road to success. Events during these visits will consist of a welcoming sessions and a series of workshops targeted to the students' age group. Some workshops will focus on self exploration and expression through arts and crafts. Academic workshops will be presented by university faculty, staff, and students. Outreach mentors will present testimonials at student panel presentations and assist with student life workshops and campus tours. If we can reach underrepresented students early and expose them to a higher education environment, we start on a path toward change in our community. I created a similar program at San Francisco State University which has now become a state-wide model for recruiting students from underserved communities. As a SF Community College board member, I wish to bring this similar program to SF City College.

Expand City College's Teacher Preparation Program

It is estimated that California will need 2.2 million teachers by 2010. With such a growing need, we will need more new teachers San Francisco's schools. It is crucial SF City College has a teacher training program that can accommodate all students who wish to enroll. I will work to create an improved teacher's preparation program which will provide vital services and training prospective teachers need to obtain their credentials. The current program is too small and too poorly funded to keep up with the current demand. If elected, I pledge by 2010 to expand SF City College's teacher preparation program.

Green Job Training and Sustainability Education

It is expected that during the next decade, 5,000 new jobs will be created in the solar industry and 1,900 of these jobs will be created in the Bay Area. These will be primarily union jobs and are expected to jumpstart the "Green Revolution" in San Francisco. SF City College needs to work with local building trades to identify ways we can create and support existing training programs to make City College and the City of San Francisco the primary source for job recruitment in the Green Industry.

Network of Cooperation

In order to implement my vision to improve SF Community College, participation and feedback from San Francisco's government and the San Francisco Unified School District is a necessity. As a SF Community College board member, I will propose the adoption of a permanent educational task-force to identify areas in higher education which we can work together to improve. The creation of such a task-force will place K-12 and higher education issues at the forefront San Francisco policy.

Neighborhood Planning Process

CCSF needs to expand and renovate its existing buildings to serve its growing student body. Yet, delays in the planning process have lead to late project completions, and increased costs.

We must expand City College responsibly by building consensus early. Therefore, I propose a Neighborhood Planning Process that incorporates the views of the CCSF community, the neighborhoods affected, and the city as a whole. Specifically, I want to incorporate a Project Area Committee for new developments made up of the following community members:

• Residents from the neighborhoods impacted

• A City planner from the San Francisco Planning Department

• The Supervisor who's district the development impacts (or a representative)

• A City College faculty member, a City College staff member, and a student representative