General Info

Due to COVID-19, students are facing new challenges in meeting their basic needs. Responding to those challenges has become even more difficult with budgetary constraints and working remotely. To support your efforts, the 2020 #RealCollegeCalifornia Basic Needs Summit is focused on providing a space for practitioners at California Community Colleges to come together to network and learn how best to serve our students with the greatest needs during a pandemic.
 
The summit will include workshops and panel presentations covering topics such as food security, housing, remote learning technology, fundraising efforts, and community partnerships. Participants will leave the summit with strategies and best practices to implement as well as a network of colleagues to support one another during these unprecedented times
 
This year’s summit will be held virtually via Zoom due to current statewide health and safety regulations. We are pleased to be joined by Soledad O'Brien, broadcast journalist and host of Matter of Fact. Mark your calendars for Friday, December 4, 2020, and register today.

#RealCollegeCalifornia Coalition

#RealCollege is a national movement created by the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice. Focused on the struggles, triumphs, and realities of what it means to be in college today, #RealCollege seeks to change the landscape of higher education so that all students can afford and complete their studies.

Historically disempowered students and colleges become more powerful when they work together, pooling resources to alter the future of higher education. #RealCollege coalitions form the basis of the movement. In these coalitions, members work together toward common goals in order to increase their effectiveness. All of the coalitions commit to a single fundamental premise:  Secure access to food and housing is essential to academic success in higher education and must, therefore, be treated as a top educational priority.

The inaugural #RealCollegeCalifornia was instigated by the Chief Executive Officers of the California Community Colleges Affordability, Food & Housing Access Taskforce. In its second year, participating institutions have access to engage in the coalition's programming and technical assistance to:

• Create an institutional culture that recognizes that securing access to food and housing is essential to students' academic success and that it should be treated as a top educational priority.
• Increase the institutional effectiveness to advance basic needs work.
• Build internal capacity to implement and advocate for policy change, enhancing the operationalization of programs designed to support students.

"Addressing students' basic needs is hard and necessary work. We need to do it as a community and #RealCollegeCA brings us together as allies in support of our students."

- Keith Curry, Ed.D., President & CEO, Compton College

Benefits of joining the #RealCollegeCalifornia Coalition:

• Engage in the latest state of the arts practices to connect students with basic needs supports.
• Use the latest evidence, integrated with hands-on guidance to information implementation, and help members develop a cutting-edge mindset.
• Build the capacity of all teams involved in advancing basic needs (unlimited participation!)
• Flexible access to learning tools: the Coalition's asynchronous learning approach accommodates members' busy schedules and interests, where they engage in an exclusive channel to access useful materials, articles, submit questions to the Hope Center staff, and communicate with our members.
• Free registration to the #RealCollegeCalifornia Basic Needs Summit: Fostering Resiliency During A Pandemic.
• Participate in learning sessions and get informed about new practices and efficient tools.

This is your chance to join! Check out this infographic with the overview of the support we offer and sign up by November 30, 2020 (extended) to participate.

#RealCollegeCalifornia Membership

Any California Community College may apply to become a member of the #RealCollegeCalifornia for one year. To do so, institutions should complete the below membership application, including affirming the commitment statement and pay the #RealCollegeCalifornia membership fee to the Community College League of California. As part of this process, institutions will share information on their current #RealCollege efforts in five areas:  food security, housing security, communications and education, data, and policy.

Continued Membership
Continued membership requires that institutions demonstrate annual progress in their #RealCollege work in at least two of the five areas or by adding at least one new area of work to their portfolio. In addition, by end of year one institutions must have completed the #RealCollege survey or a comparable survey approved by the Hope Center.

Membership Pricing
Membership fees are based on the institutions' student headcount and include individualized technical assistance for their teams involved in basic needs work and a 50% discount to participate in the #RealCollege Survey (district pricing varies according to the number of colleges and their student count).

• 10,000 students or less                        $3,000
• 10,000- 20,000 students                     $4,000
• 20,001- 30,000 students                     $5,000
• 30,001 students or more                     $6,000

A portion of each membership fee ($300) will be used to support the annual #RealCollegeCalifornia Conference.

Note: The Coalition offers individualized support to institutions. Therefore, district pricing depends on the number of colleges in the district and their student headcount. For special invoicing arrangements, please contact realcolleca@temple.edu. 

Membership Cycle
The membership cycle covers September through August and payments are processed by the Community College League of California.

To become a member, Apply Today!

Call for Proposals

The #RealCollegeCalifornia Basic Needs Summit Planning Committee is accepting proposals from October 12th - October 30th. 

Learning Strands
Proposals are invited for summit presentations that celebrate and share community partnerships, college programs, and innovative solutions for addressing:

• Housing insecurity
• Food insecurity
• Technology
• Mental Health
• Fundraising and community partnerships

The goal of the summit is to provide attendees with practical strategies that they can take back to their campuses. Attendees will adopt a strategy for further exploration, discussion, or implementation when they return to their campuses and connect with colleagues 3-6-9 months after the summit for support.

Participants
The summit is geared toward administrators, faculty, classified staff and student leaders from all areas of the colleges that are working on or interested in helping alleviate basic needs insecurity in our communities. Proposals should target specific interests as well as cross boundaries between all segments of the colleges

Criteria for Selection
The #RealCollegeCalifornia Basic Needs Summit Committee will use the following criteria to select sessions for the program.

The proposal:

• is innovative, thought-provoking and stimulates discussion;
• is relevant to helping alleviate challenges related to student basic needs;
• is of interest to a cross-section of people;
• has a diverse array of presenters, including presenters of different levels of experience;
• models good teaching and learning strategies; and
• provides practical strategies attendees can take back to their campuses