It Begins with Us: The Case for Student Equity. League's CCCT & CEOCCC Board Meetings (June 19-20, 2015)

January 2014, Governor Jerry Brown announced in his budget proposal an unprecedented line-item designation for student equity in community colleges. His proposal of $100 million for student equity set the stage for the past year and a half of enhanced activities locally and statewide on student equity issues. Most prominently, the 112 community colleges updated their equity plans as required under Title 5 in order to receive the funding. The Community College League of California ("League") also enhanced its own activities statewide both to advocate for funding and to support the colleges in their efforts to develop and implement their student equity plans. Now is the time for California community colleges, with guidance from the State Chancellor's Office and support from organizations such as the League, to fulfill their mission of student success for all -- that is, student equity. This paper aims to reflect on the League's own institutions and how their employees and trustees of the "system" need to see their own role (intentionally or unintentionally) in perpetuating the inequities, or more importantly, in helping to achieve student equity -- especially now with an unprecedented amount of funding. The goals of this policy paper are the following: (1) Make the case for continued, focused funding for student equity; (2) Provide some tools and recommendations for colleges to implement, integrate, and institutionalize their equity plans to achieve groundbreaking outcomes; and (3) Encourage a statewide, open and honest conversation about student equity. In addition, this paper: (1) Provides a historical perspective of the circumstances in law and policy as they relate to community colleges that have led us to this point; (2) Describes the League activities over the past 5 years; (3) Identifies some partner organizations' activities over the past year on student equity; (4) Provides some observations made by the State Chancellor's Office, leadership (Trustees and CEOs), League membership (colleges), and League Staff on student equity funding and activities; and (5) Provides some recommendations for the League and our colleges in achieving outcomes to justify the expenditure of funds.