News Release
Contact:
ccc.undocu@gmail.com
https://www.ccc-uss.org

November 19, 2020

City of San Luis Obispo Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Funding Received for High-Impact Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program for the 2020-2021 Funding Year

San Luis Obispo, Calif.,⸺The Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success (CCC-USS) is pleased to announce that we have been awarded $10,200 in funding from the City of San Luis Obispo for programming that advances diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in the City. 
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With this funding, CCC-USS will be convening an Undocu Community Summit in the fall of 2021. The Summit will bring together college dream centers, K-12 educators, organizations, and community members within the city of San Luis Obispo and neighboring communities including north and south county partners.  

The Undocu Community Summit will be a phased event beginning in Spring 2021 where the coalition will bring together key stakeholders for discussing and developing the full program for the summit. The one-day summit will take place in fall of 2021, either virtually or in-person at a sensitive location such as Cal Poly, Cuesta College, or another educational facility depending on COVID guidelines.

Goals of the summit: 

1. Raise awareness of and address issues facing the undocumented community in San Luis Obispo
2. Celebrate undocujoy and hear from the undocumented community directly
3. Bring together the undocumented community and allies in one place (virtual or physical) in order to collaborate, build community, and help all organizations and individuals working with the undocumented community to achieve goals that will have a lasting impact on community
4. Explore opportunities to integrate organizational data and community knowledge to form a more holistic understanding of the range of undocumented experiences in our community, as well as specific barriers that we can collectively address in future work together

The coalition building that the Undocu Community Summit will afford, provides us a moment to gather and form strategic partnerships to collectively identify solutions to best support and address the needs of the undocumented community. 

Look for updates on this work on our website: https://www.ccc-uss.org 
 
About CCC-USS
Founded in 2015, the Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success (CCC-USS) is a collective of advocates and educators that challenge anti-immigrant and oppressive ideologies, institutional practices, and everyday actions that threaten undocumented and historically marginalized communities. Through our work together, our vision is to create social change to ensure educational equity for all students and build capacity to support undocumented students in our region. CCC-USS was founded by staff and faculty from Allan Hancock College, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), and Cuesta College and includes K-12 representatives and other community partners in San Luis Obispo and Northern Santa Barbara counties. 
 

UPDATE (11/10):

Thanks to your efforts, a special meeting was called for Thursday, November 12th at 1 pm. John via zoom at: 
https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/8055463100

Attend and speak during public comment requesting the Board of Trustees to censure Trustee Sysak and for Sysak's resignation. 



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Board President Peter Sysak is facing public pressure to resign in light of his racist social media posts. Over 150 Cuesta faculty, staff, students, and SLO County community members attended the November 4th board meeting calling for Trustee Sysak's resignation during a public comments session that lasted over an hour. (SLO Tribune Article here).

Trustee Sysak's disparaging comments targeted the undocumented community, trans people, Black people, and Muslims, in addition to supporting known white supremacists groups. It is unacceptable. 

We continue to support the students, faculty, and staff of Cuesta College and their right to a Board of Trustees that respects them. 

ACTION:  E-mail the Board of Trustees to request a special meeting to publicly address Peter Sysak's behavior and demand his immediate resignation. 

E-MAILS:

psysak@cuesta.edu (Peter Sysak District 4) 

bgeorge@cuesta.edu (Dr. Barbara George District 2) 

patrick_mullen@cuesta.edu (Patrick Mullen District 3)

angela@mitchella.com (Angela Mitchell District 1)

mstrobridge@sbcglobal.net (Mary Strobridge District 5) 

ASCCPres@cuesta.edu (Student Representative) 

president@cuesta.edu (Jill Stearns, Cuesta College President)

tfrederi@cuesta.edu  (Executive Assistant to the Cuesta President)

elopez@cccco.edu (Ebony Lopez, Assistant to California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Oakley)

TEMPLATE:

Dear Board of Trustees,
As a member of this community, I e-mail you with deep concern about Peter Sysak’s racist behavior and the damaging impact it has on the BIPOC community in San Luis Obispo county. There is a lack of faith for Cuesta College's ability to continue being a safe and equitable space for students from marginalized backgrounds. I demand a special meeting to address the abundant public concern regarding board President Peter Sysak’s recent actions. Board President Peter Sysak must resign. 

(You may choose to include any connection with Cuesta or your district)