Our Work

The Campaign for College Opportunity is focused on a single mission: to ensure that the next generation of California students has the chance to attend college and succeed in order to keep our workforce and economy strong. 

What We Do:

The Campaign for College Opportunity is a California non-profit organization co-founded in 2003 by the unique alliance of prominent organizations including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the California Business Roundtable, and the Community College League of California.  This alliance believed strongly in the power of Californians to preserve the historic promise of the 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education to provide an opportunity to go to college for every eligible student in the state.  

Our work is even more critical today when thousands of students who have worked hard are being turned away from our community colleges and four-year universities or are unable to get the classes they need.  In addition, we know that securing that spot in college is only the first step; we must make sure that students succeed in realizing their college dreams, if we are to meet the workforce needs of the future and keep the California dream of opportunity and success alive in an increasingly diverse state.  

How We Do It:

The Campaign’s work is guided by three main priorities: to engage a broad coalition of California leaders and organizations in support of higher education access and success; to raise public awareness and share research highlighting the challenges and opportunities facing California; and to support policy solutions and reforms to our higher education system so that we can produce the one million additional college graduates our state needs.  

At the forefront of our work is an ambitious policy agenda. First, we call on the Governor and the Legislature to articulate statewide goals for college access and completion and prioritize funding and policy reforms to help meet these goals.

This is critical to ensuring that the next generation of Californians is not LESS educated than our current generation. In addition, we encourage our state policymakers and higher education leaders  to: 

1) Invest in higher education 
2) Increase access and preparation for college
3) Meet capacity and ensure a spot for all eligible students 
4) Maintain affordability for low-income students  
5) Improve the transfer pathway from two-year colleges to four-year universities
6) Promote policy and finance reforms that support improved student outcomes. 

The Campaign has a small professional staff and is headquartered in Los Angeles with a second office in Sacramento. Michele Siqueiros serves as the Executive Director.