OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — A task force is working to expand higher education offerings in Oakland by bringing a historically Black college or university to the city. Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee is central to the effort to bring an HBCU to Oakland.

The volunteer task force is composed of Mayor Lee and individuals from business, higher education, civic, and philanthropic communities in Oakland. The group has toured the former Holy Names University campus in the Oakland hills as a potential location and has also toured locations in downtown Oakland as potential sites.

The task force undertook a feasibility study in 2025 to explore the potential economic impacts of a campus for Oakland. The group plans to publish the results of the feasibility study within a month of the report date.

The task force identified technology, entrepreneurship, life sciences, artificial intelligence, logistics, and transportation as areas of focus for the potential campus. The group is exploring ideas including a satellite campus for a single college, a hub center for multiple colleges, and a partnership with the Peralta Community Colleges District.

Kim Thompson is a member of the Oakland HBCU task force. She said the current lack of local options represents a loss for the region.

"That’s a big brain drain and loss of students who could be staying here and gaining access to high-wage STEM careers that the Bay Area has to offer," she said. "There’s a lot of students we think could benefit from the culturally affirming education that an HBCU could provide."

Taína Knox is a member of the Oakland HBCU task force. She noted that distance and cost remain barriers for many local students interested in these institutions.

"Students are still hesitant to transfer to out-of-state schools and having an HBCU school here in California would have an impact," Knox said. "We think that an HBCU partnership could bolster what is already happening and hopefully increase students’ resiliency to continue through with the process that they start."

The West Coast has only one historically Black educational institution, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles. Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science is one of a handful of historically Black medical schools in the nation.

There are slightly more than 100 recognized historically Black colleges and universities in the United States. Historically Black colleges and universities are concentrated in the southeastern United States. Many historically Black colleges and universities were established in the years following the Civil War.

California’s community colleges have a transfer pathway that guarantees admission to more than 30 historically Black colleges and universities. The California community college transfer pathway to HBCUs includes a $5,000 scholarship.

Five students received the Cal-HBCU transfer grant in the 2024-2025 academic year. Five Cal-HBCU transfer grant payments are in progress for the current academic year.

The task force held listening sessions with students in fall 2024 to gauge interest in an HBCU in Oakland. She reported that first-generation students expressed strong interest but cited financial constraints.

"A lot of students said, ‘It’d be great to go to an HBCU, but I’m the first in my family to go to college and it’s expensive to travel out of state,’" she said. "But if it were here, that would be a great alternative opportunity to go to an HBCU, which many students had an interest in attending."

Howard University conducted a site visit in Oakland and held ongoing conversations with the task force for several months. She provided details on the status of those discussions.

"They came out for a site visit, we had ongoing conversations with them for several months," she said. "Currently, they have an interim leader in place, so now is not perfect timing for them to be making a definitive decision on something like this, but we continue to keep them in mind."

Lee discussed demographic shifts in the city during an interview. She stated that 40% of Oakland's population was Black when she was elected to Congress. She stated that approximately 20% of Oakland's population is currently Black.

"Here in Oakland, gentrification, redlining, and systemic discrimination has been a driver of bringing our population down," Lee said. "This would give some stability in many ways to the Black population and for everyone in Oakland to see that we still care about the Black community and Black students." Kim Thompson and others, including then-deputy mayor Kimberly Mayfield, attended the annual conference of the United Negro College Fund in July 2024.

Timeline

In 2022, Paul Quinn College, an HBCU in Dallas, was in talks to establish a campus in Oakland. The Oakland HBCU initiative officially launched in 2024. Lee became mayor of Oakland in 2024. Lee received an honorary doctorate from Howard University in 2024.

Why It Matters

The initiative addresses a regional disparity in higher education access, as the West Coast has only one historically Black educational institution. Task force members argue that bringing an HBCU to Oakland would retain students who might otherwise leave the state, allowing them to access high-wage STEM careers available in the Bay Area.

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