Debra Vinson challenges incumbent Fernando Sandoval in the race for a ward five seat on the Contra Costa Community College governing board. The governing board is in charge of making important decisions that affect the county community college system. From balancing budgets to enacting diversity initiatives, the board holds influence and power over the community college experience for students.
Vinson’s motivation for running for the community college board is to inspire middle school students to attend college.
“Many of them don’t know what they want to do with their future, and they don’t know how to access that information,” Vinson said. “But I believe that middle school students, high school students, I believe they want to go to college.”
Another one of her motivations is to make information about community colleges more accessible to families.
“ Most families don’t know how affordable community college is,” Vinson said, adding that, “it is way more affordable than going to a four-year school.”
Vinson has secured campaign endorsements from Carlyn Obringer, the vice mayor for Concord; Anamarie Avila Farias, a board member at the Contra Costa County Board of Education, East Contra Costa Democratic club; Michael Kap, a DNC member and the Contra Costa County Firefighters Local 1230.
“These are people that know me on a personal level, and they know my integrity,” Vinson said.
Vinson started her political career by volunteering for organizations that support and advocate for the youth.
“I served as a California State-appointed advocate, meaning that I serve children. I’ve served in different scenarios with churches,” Vinson said.
After researching California’s standing in the educational ranking system, she decided to pursue a political career in education.
“You look at the rankings; I don’t know if you’ve ever looked at the rankings for the 50 states. California was at one point at the bottom. And rather than sitting on the sideline as a parent, I thought, you know what, go out. Help other families. Help other families obtain resources,” Vinson said.
When she served on the Antioch School Board, she quickly noticed that her unconventional methods caused friction among the group’s members, who tended to keep things status quo.
“The school board was an environment that likes the status quo. I’m sort of an out-of-the-box outlying thinker, and so I work closely with teachers, closely with principals, and people in the background who didn’t want to be seen, but they want change,” Vinson said.
She helped promote transparent, ethical standards regarding how much parents knew about board decisions and budget spending.
“Before I was on the board, they didn’t have televised meetings. The parents didn’t have access to a lot of the information, so myself and a couple of other people that I served with worked really hard to make and humanize information and education for families,” Vinson said.
If Vinson is elected as Ward 5 board trustee, she will review existing policies and budget before making changes.
“I want to review policies that are in place. I want to see where we are with the budget. I want to see how we align with the other community colleges all over California. See how far we are from what they have in terms of skill-based careers and studies that are being offered, and then see what resources we need to align and bring those opportunities to our community,” Vinson said.
After reviewing those policies, she wants to enact one significant change: encourage dual enrollment and foster a middle school-to-college pipeline.
She also wants to encourage job skill training on campus and connect with companies to determine the skills Community colleges should teach to prepare their students for the workforce.
“I would work with companies that are tech companies and see how they can work with the community college to create a career challenge,” Vinson said. “You know, what is required for this job that you have? I think we have enough companies to really just ask and find out.”
If elected, Vinson said she would focus most on dual enrollment and spreading information about community colleges to underserved families.
“I want to help parents access the resources of information that’s already there because parents can’t afford a four-year college,” Vinson said.
To learn more about Vinson, visit her campaign website on Facebook, DebraVinson24. To learn more about Sandoval, visit the Fernando 4 College Board website. Please sign up on the Vote to Register CA website to register to vote.
