A task force is quietly working to expand higher education offerings in Oakland by bringing a historically Black college or university here. And Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee is central to the effort.There are a little over 100 recognized HBCUs in the country, but they are concentrated in the southeast since many were established in the years following the Civil War, when African Americans were barred from most colleges and universities. The West Coast has only one historically Black educational institution — the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, one of only a handful of historically Black medical schools in the nation. If an HBCU lands in Oakland, it could offer the first opportunity for undergraduate students in California to get a culturally relevant education closer to home. When students head east to enroll at an HBCU, they often don’t come back, said Kim Thompson, a member of the Oakland HBCU task force. She described that as a loss for California’s workforce.
