Oregon Community Table outlines trainings, policy priorities to House Higher Education committee

The Oregon Community Table on Postsecondary Education and Training, known as OCPD, presented an overview of its statewide advocacy, training and policy work to the House Committee on Higher Education and Workforce Development on April 24.

OCPD program lead Teresa Alonso Leon, a former state representative and former chair of the House Higher Education Committee, told lawmakers the volunteer-run group was formed in 2023 to center the experiences of underserved and underrepresented postsecondary students. "Our students expressed challenges with access, retention, student wrap around services, graduation rates, and finding family wage jobs post graduation," Alonso Leon said.

The group described three core activities: recruiting a statewide membership ("over a hundred members," according to testimony), providing civic-engagement training for students, and developing policy priorities for the 2025 legislative session that include funding requests now before Ways and Means. Alonso Leon said OCPD also established a paid internship program and an "education champions" training to teach students how to write and deliver testimony and engage…