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Dr. Mary Bitterman, Bernard Osher, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on May 6, 2008
Image courtesy Sharpe Photography |
On May 6, 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, then-Chancellor Diane Woodruff, and Foundation for California Community Colleges President Paul Lanning joined dozens of other California Community College system representatives and students for a historic announcement: the launch of the Osher Initiative for California Community College Students, and the creation of the California Community Colleges Scholarship Endowment.
The Bernard Osher Foundation committed $70 million to benefit California's community college students through both a statewide scholarship endowment and a $20 million commitment for transfer students entering 19 UC and CSU campuses. Of the $50 million earmarked for the California Community Colleges, $25 million was gifted at the outset, creating the statewide endowment, and an additional $25 million was pledged, predicated on the system's ability to raise an additional $50 million to ultimately create a $100 million fund.
Since that time, the Foundation has worked with local college foundations and administrators throughout California to raise funds, creating an ever-increasing scholarship endowment that will provide meaningful aid to community college students statewide every year in perpetuity.
Encapsulated here are the stories of the campaign for the California Commmunity Colleges Scholarship Endowment, a campaign that continues until June 30, 2011. The clock is ticking as our system works to meet the Osher challenge to create this historic endowment for students in need.