Council Advocacy Helps Restore Calbright Funding

Funding for the California Online Community College District (Calbright College) has been restored after a strong advocacy campaign that the Bay Area Council helped push. The 2019-20 state budget included $20 million in operations funding over the next seven years and $100 million to build out the program. However, a proposal in the state Assembly would have stripped out all but $5 million of the operations funding and half of the startup funding. The Council partnered with The Institute for College Access and Success in a campaign to maintain the full funding.

The Council was an early advocate for creating Calbright College, which offers a fast, focused and free opportunity for underemployed working adults to upskill and obtain better jobs. The new college will serve over 8 million working adults who, by no fault of their own, are in jobs with limited future opportunities including wage gain, sustained employment and promotions. Education is important to keeping California’s workforce competitive in today’s changing nature of work landscape.

Beyond the policy advocacy work for the online college, the Council has been at forefront of providing thought leadership and partnership to Calbright College’s administration. The Council continues to support the growth and development of Calbright College and we are excited to see the launch of its first programs in Medical Coding, Employability Essentials, and I.T. Fundamentals. For more information on the Workforce of the Future Committee, please contact Senior Vice President Linda Bidrossian.