SSCCC State of the Senate

Organizational Accomplishments - Danny Thirakul, President

The Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC) is strong! Last year’s Board of Directors set the SSCCC on a path of sustainability with a business plan, draft strategic plan, and introduced legislation to fund the SSCCC. The 2019 – 20 SSCCC Board of Directors continued strengthening the organization. This State of the Senate would have been provided by the SSCCC Executives at the recent General Assembly. However, since the General Assembly was held online, we provide this State of the Senate electronically.

Overall accomplishments are:

Successfully lobbied for the $2 Student Representation Bill, AB 1504 (Medina), which was signed into law by Governor Newsom and will provide the SSCCC with millions in funding to be used for statewide advocacy, organizational stability, leadership development, and much more;
Partnered with California Community College Student Affairs Association (CCCSAA) on their Student Leadership Conference and entered into an MOU with them to strengthen our work together;
Visited and engaged with students in person at over 70 colleges via Board of Directors meetings, Executive Committee meetings, and Region visits;
Participated in the annual LGBTQ+ CCC Summit, Economic Summit, and meetings of many of our system partners including the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges and Academic Senate for California Community Colleges;
Held the first SSCCC General Assembly online. More than 200 participants and 85 delegates engaged in the discussion and debate. During the General Assembly, the Delegates elected for the first time ever the Executive Officers, adopted a revised constitution, new bylaws, three-year strategic plan, and 23 resolutions;
Continued our partnership in the coalition with the California State Student Association and the University of California Student Association to continue the campaign to #FixFinancialAid, which has led to the first-ever Cal Grant Modernization proposal that will allow more CCC students to be eligible to receive the Cal Grant;
Worked with Assemblymember Weber to author the Trustee Enfranchisement bill (AB 2910), which is the first piece of legislation that truly empowers the student voice by removing the restrictions that prohibit local boards of trustees from giving their student trustees a full vote; and
Hired the SSCCC first professional staff – an Executive Director – who has begun to inventory and draft policies and procedures to sustain a nonprofit organization.

Resolutions Process - Lawrence Su, Vice President

The SSCCC Board of Directors began the year with a review of the adopted resolutions from past years, reclassified their dispositions, determined their feasibility, and drafted their action plans. Out of 82 resolutions dating back to Spring 2017, we completed or found infeasible 27 resolutions, we re-assigned 33 resolutions, and we continued to support the positions of 22 resolutions. In addition, the Board of Directors developed a new way of handling resolutions. Many resolutions encouraged the SSCCC to urge associated student bodies, the Board of Trustees or colleges to take action. While these resolutions are within the purview of the SSCCC, they require passive action such as communicating the position of the SSCCC. Rather than send individual correspondence to the colleges, the SSCCC will communicate positions via newsletter or local communication through local associated student bodies.

Part of our crusade of condensing and clarifying policies and procedures was the flawed and outdated Resolution Procedures that, now in its current form, will make the resolution process more comprehensible. We prepared the 2020 Resolutions Packet that had a total of 26 resolutions for the Delegate Assembly to review with 23 resolutions adopted at the 2020 General Assembly. Those 23 resolutions will be part of the work that the SSCCC works tirelessly on, making sure that we are serving our California Community College students to the best of our capacity.

This year you can now find the SSCCC resolutions on our website in the newly developed Resolution Repository. You can now search the resolutions by year or keyword. We will continue to build this repository by adding past resolutions so that we can begin to capture the SSCCC's past positions.

Regional Affairs - Van Dao Minh Anh, Vice President of Regional Affairs

The SSCCC Regional Affairs Committee worked tirelessly to ensure delegate representation from the 114 colleges, as well as, implement assigned resolutions, produced materials to strengthen institutional sustainability, and host webinars to assist delegates and regional officers in their roles. Some of the accomplishments include:

Activated 25 California Community Colleges to participate in Regional Delegate Assembly and Regional Committee Meetings;
Collaborated with the Chancellor’s Office to promote the Undocumented Student Week of Action;
Hosted an Effective Vice-Chair and two Effective Delegates Webinars.
Conducted surveys to address adopted resolutions on financial literacy programs for all students receiving financial aid, lactation stations, establishment of on-campus childcare center, and weekend library hours;
Drafted letters to student body associations, boards of trustees, college administrations, and other groups to address resolutions adopted by the Delegate Assembly;
Updated the Regional Affairs Director Information Packet;
Assisted Regions in hosting Regional Retreats;
Assisted in the preparation of the Spring 2020 General Assembly by producing an invitation video, outreaching to college delegates to ensure participation in the online event, and producing the Delegate Guide; and
Released the COVID-19 Student Need Survey to gather information about student challenges during this new learning environment.

Legislative Affairs - Amine El Moznine, Vice President of Legislative Affairs

The Legislative Affairs Committee worked through the legislative process to advance student concerns, empower the student's voice, and advocate for strong legislation that will help students in higher education and throughout the state. The SSCCC sponsored the following three pieces of legislation this year:

AB 2190 (Medina): Provides the second student member on the Board of Governors the right to vote;
AB 2910 (Weber): Entitles full voting rights for student members of local Boards of Trustees; and
AB 2388 (Berman): Addresses students' in higher education basic needs.

The SSCCC also co-sponsored AB 2884 (Berman) with the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. This bill provides that California State Lottery revenue funds be allocated to California community colleges. We also are co-sponsoring SB1232 (Glazer) with the University of California Student Association. This bill provides a standard allowance of $250 - $500 to CalWORKS eligible students participating in higher education.

This year, the SSCCC also engaged in budget advocacy for the first time. The Legislative Affairs Committee created resources to advocate for increased investments in mental health funding and incarcerated students—both current and formerly.

The Legislative Affairs Committee has communicated student concerns through coalitions, legislative hearings, and legislative advocacy at both a state and local level. Through these efforts, the Legislative Affairs Committee strengthened the SSCCC relationships in the Capitol and beyond, created and disseminated resources to aid local advocacy, and helped build coalitions that will continue to empower students across the state well beyond the end of this term.

Finances - Yongha Hwang, Vice President of Finance

The SSCCC currently receives its funds from local student associations that voluntarily donate to the organization and the California Community College Chancellor's Office. These funds cover the day-to-day operational expenses including the Board travel and meeting costs, the Board member stipends, and the salary for the newly hired executive director. The SSCCC is operating in the black but is limited in its ability to provide leadership development and training for regions and students at large. The SSCCC Board of Directors will begin the budgeting process for 2020 - 21 in the next month, which will inform a larger discussion about how the SSCCC can expand the resources available to our delegates and students at large.

In April 2021, the SSCCC will receive funding from the Student Representation Fee (SRF) because of the passage of AB 1504 (Medina). In preparation for this increased funding, the SSCCC has begun to reorganize the fiscal internal structure. First, the Finance Committee was split into three committees: Board Finance Committee, Regional Finance, and Fundraising Committee, and the Audit Committee. Each of these committees has different responsibilities in planning and guiding the finances of the organization. Second, the Finance and Fundraising Committee developed a fundraising policy "to provide a concise process to seek donations and other funds to provide additional resources for regions." Finally, the SSCCC Board of Directors adopted accounting policy and procedures, which will provide the staff, accountants, and auditors with processes that will be used in documenting the SSCCC finances.

Communications – Ya’Mese Alijé Johnson, Vice President of Communications

The Communications Committee developed a Communications Strategy Plan to aid the organization in establishing consistent messaging to engage students in the work of the SSCCC. The plan provides strategies for using the SSCCC website, listservs, and social media platforms. A Content Calendar was implemented to track announcements, social media posts, and listserv messaging. The Content Calendar has helped the Communications Committee provide the organization with a larger social media footprint. Now that a Communication Strategy is in place, the Communications Committee has begun to develop a Branding Guide, which will give a consistent look and feel to the messaging including social media posts, correspondence, and videos. Watch for more next year!