Candidate for
Board Member; San Mateo County Community College District

Having served as the President of Caņada College in Redwood City for six years, I understand the needs of our community college students. Our three community colleges in San Mateo County should provide access to the finest transfer-level courses possible to give students the unmitigted opportunity to enter the best universities in America. Our career technical courses should be linked to the economic engines of San Mateo County to provide an educated workforce for our businesses and good paying jobs for our citizens. As a community college district trustee, my priorities would be to create policy and programs that advance the economic, social and personal well being of our students through the following:

• Increasing substantially the completion and graduation rates of the three colleges. We can and must do better in this area of need.
• Increasing substantially the numbers of students entering and having success in the areas of engineering, science, mathematics and technology.
• The application of technology innovations that broaden the opportunity for access to new areas of knowledge, research and expertise and which enable higher levels of problem solving and collaboration within all of the educational process.
• Connecting and weaving together wherever possible the curriculum of career and technical programs with the dynamic challenges and practices of the businesses and commerce of the county.
• Implementing measures to overcome transportation problems experienced by many students due to very limited bus availability and distance from the three campuses. Courses taught in satellite locations in the most distant communities is one good alternative and shuttle service would be another.

During the past two months I have met at least five times with community leaders in East Palo Alto. The most prominent topic of discussion in all of these meetings was the obvious need for bringing the college into the community so that many of the problems resulting from the considerable distance from the community college campuses can be relieved or ameliorated in substantial ways. Public transportation is woefully inadequate and it is known that most students wanting to study at the community colleges do not possess cars and have difficulty accommodating the fuel costs if they do have access to an automobile. This is, by the way, the same problem frequently enunciated in Half Moon Bay and much of the San Mateo County Coast-side.

There is also the need to have a substantial college presence in the midst of the community because so many students need immediate access to college advising, college preparation and opportunities to take college classes close to their homes. When those opportunities are immediately available and obvious to all, It is more likely that the college going culture, so necessary in a progressive, fully functional community, will take a firmer hold and integrated into every aspect of the local commonweal.

Appropriate, necessary discussions have begun, but there needs to be an expansive and committed partnership involving community leaders, high school and college district leaders, student leaders and business leaders. Looking at the data that relates to college readiness, retention and graduation rates and the more abstract but meaningful data about perceived access to college enrollment and eventual academic success for disadvantaged and underrepresented citizens, addressing the need to have college on "main street", becomes an absolute imperative....and that imperative is present also in the communities of the coast side.

Our colleges are striving to provide a full-service resource hub for entrepreneurs in all stages of the business development spectrum from idea to growth and expansion. They want to offer business coaching, business planning assistance, funding preparation assistance, business incubation, and entrepreneurial educational opportunities for both regular students interested in business development and citizens already engaged in business endeavors. board members need to be certain that the colleges have the necessary support to keep this special effort moving forward and genuinely connected with every component of the labor market and concomitant commerce.

With your help, I can be an important force in bringing these matters to fruition.