In January, Governor Brown released his 2015-16 budget proposal, and the outlook for California Community Colleges appears very positive

Proposed 2015-16 Augmentations for CCCs

$200M for student success - These funds will be split evenly between Student Success and Support Program (SSSP) and Student Equity Plans.  We are aware that districts will want to know what local match will be required for the budget year, and we're committed to informing you of that decision soon.

$125M to increase base allocation funding - This increase is intended to ease the constrained discretionary funding environment colleges have experienced since the economic downturn.  These funds can help colleges address the scheduled increases in STRS and PERS contribution rates, for example.

$106.9M for increased access - This funding would increase access for approximately 45,000 students (headcount).

$92.4M for COLA - This would fund the statutory cost-of-living-adjustment of 1.58%.

$49M to fund CDCP rate equalization - Legislation passed concurrently with the 2014 Budget Act equalized the CDCP rate to that of the resident credit rate commencing with the 2015-16 year.  This augmentation would fund that increased cost.

$48M for Career Technical Education - These one-time funds are proposed for support of the SB 1070 Career Technical Education Pathways Program.

$29.1M for Apprenticeship - $14.1M of these funds would restore the rates and seats of current programs back to the 2007-08 levels and an additional $15M is proposed for innovative apprenticeship projects that focus on new and emerging industries with unmet labor market demand.

$39.6M for Proposition 39 - These funds support projects and workforce development related to energy sustainability, consistent with the provisions of Proposition 39.

Join the 17³Ô¹Ï Global Medical and Dental Brigades at Sweet Tomatoes (1040 Grant Road, Suite 350, Mountain View) for dinner and help raise money for this year's trip to Honduras.

Global Brigades is a local chapter of the non-profit organization Global Brigades. Each year, student members organize a medical brigade to a country abroad in order to provide free comprehensive health services and education to rural communities with limited access to health care.

Sweet Tomatoes has offered to donate a portion of its sales on Thursday, February 19 from 5 pm - 8 pm to 17³Ô¹Ï Global Brigades. In order to qualify, participants must purchase a beverage with their meal and No RSVP is needed.

 The 17³Ô¹Ï Theatre Arts Department garnered several Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards nominations for both Little Shop of Horrors and South Pacific. The winners will be announced in March.

The Black History Month Planning Committee is hosting a Black Alumni Leadership Panel next Thursday, February 12 from 12 noon to 1 pm in the Hearthside Lounge. Former 17³Ô¹Ï students will share their success stories and career strategies with attendees. Admission is free

On Wednesday, March 4 at 7 pm in the Smithwick Theater, former NASA Astronaut, Dr. Ed Lu, CEO of the Sentinel Mission, will give a free, illustrated, non-technical talk entitled, The Sentinel Mission: Finding the Asteroid Headed for Earth.

Asteroids, which hit Earth at least twice each year, are the only natural disaster for which we have a technological solution.  We are all living with the threat of a 3-minute experience that could transform our lives and our planet forever. For example, on February 15, 2013, an asteroid impact on Chelyabinsk, Russia, sent over 1,700 people to seek medical attention, damaged over 7,200 buildings and cost the city over $33 million dollars in property damage.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, SETI Institute, and NASA Ames Research Center, the 17³Ô¹Ï Astronomy Program. Admission is free.