News & Events

CCA, CTA, NEA, with other public employee groups

CCA creates ‘Did You Know’ PSA series

Effort aimed at promoting community colleges

CCA board member Dorothy Reina
records a CCA PSA message.

"Did you know?” is the title of a series of public service announcements created by the CCA Board of Directors to get the word out about the good things happening in California’s Community Colleges. For example:

Did You Know 24 percent of all the community college students nationwide are enrolled in a California community college? The California Community College System is the largest higher education system in the world. We have 112 colleges, 54 established centers, and 42 Emerging Centers, and we educate over 2,758,000 students each year.

Did you know that transfer students from California community colleges to the University of California account for 48 percent of UC’s Bachelor’s degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics?

Did you know that slightly over 80 percent of California’s first responders—firefighters, law enforcement officers, and EMTs—are credentialed at the California community colleges?

Did you know that 70 percent of the nurses practicing in California received their education in the California Community Colleges?

Did you know our community college students who earn an AA/AS and then go on and earn a Bachelor’s earn substantially more than those who don’t go to college?

A degree from our community colleges increases the earning capacity of our students by 63 percent in just three years. For every one dollar California invests helping our community college students complete their degree, the state receives a $3 return on that investment in wage enhancement.

With former CCA board member Andre Sims behind the camera, CCA Board members took turns delivering the video messages for what will hopefully be seen on local broadcast and cable stations as well as on YouTube and of course our CCA website. You can view samples on our Media Center page.

After three years of discussions, merger to go forward

Merger about to progress to input from CCA Board and local chapter members

After three years of merger discussions, it looks like it is about to progress to having input from the CCA Board and local chapter members. The NEA (National Education Association), AFT (American Federation of Teachers), CTA, CFT,CCA, and CCC have agreed to allow both sides to inform and ask input regarding the potential merger between CCA and CCC. Please ask for a date and time for the merger discussion presentation to be provided to your local chapter for your members .An informed membership will make an informed decision!

The CCA-CCC unification process started out because leaders of both organizations were deeply concerned about preserving access in addition to maintaining and improving the high quality of education provided in California’s community colleges. Both sides are enthusiastic over the prospect of establishing an even stronger voice for higher education. We have attached six key documents for you to download, view, and distribute to stay fully informed on this dramatically important topic.

How does the merger affect you? Commonly asked questions about the merger (PPT)
The proposed governance structure for the merged association, CCU (MS Word)
Proposed regions for the merger (XLS)
Draft of the Community Colleges United (CCU) brochure (PDF)

White House summit on community colleges

On October 5, 2010, Dr. Jill Biden served as chair of the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges. President Obama asked Dr. Biden to convene this event to highlight the critical role that community colleges play in developing America's workforce and reaching our educational goals. You can view or download a copy of the summit briefs here.

The summit was an opportunity to bring together community colleges, business, philanthropy, federal and state policy leaders, and students to discuss how community colleges can help meet the job training and education needs of the nation's evolving workforce, as well as the critical role these institutions play in achieving the President's goal to lead the world with the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.