From Ujima to emergence: An historical case study of a community college learning community

For centuries in North America African Americans have suffered from a lingering educational apartheid---characterized by segregation and a lack of access. Despite the open access mission of the California Community colleges and the opportunities that the community college system provides, the history of African Americans in the system is consistent with educational stratification. This historical case study takes seriously the proposition that community colleges play a role in maintaining relative competitive advantage for some and asks if history has imbued the colleges with this implicit proclivity, and if African American history is one of exclusion and stratification, then what makes community college innovators think that their intervention will buck the trend of intractability? This historical case study examined the implementation and institutionalization of the Ujima Project at Diablo Valley College (DVC). Ujima is a learning community designed to promote the retention and transfer of African American students. The study found that DVC maintained a commitment to tradition and stratification that worked against the successful institutionalization of Ujima. In an effort to build a theory and practice of successful program implementation at the community colleges, the study offers a framework created from the Umoja Community, a California statewide program that promotes the success of African American students especially.