”I can’t believe I’m here.”—Rosa Manriquez, UC Berkeley freshman and participant in the California Student Opportunity and Access Program in Oakland, who is the first in her family to complete high school.

“We don’t have to take your bid. There’s no more good faith effort.”—response to contractor Lisa Campbell, after the passage of Proposition 209.

With the passage of Proposition 209, California achieved the dubious distinction of leading the nation in attacks on affirmative action. Now Governor Pete Wilson has targeted 31 programs for elimination or revision citing their “apparent” violation of the new law. Reaching for the Dream: Profiles in Affirmative Action introduces you to these programs and to people whose lives they changed. You’ll hear from:

Cecelia Blanks, a former welfare recipient and single mother who got her master’s degree and now teaches college and counsels students facing hardships. Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) helped make her transition possible.

Children from the American Indian Early Childhood Education Program (ECE)—credited with helping reduce the high school dropout rate of Native American students through an innovative mix of computer training and native American arts and crafts. You’ll meet 13 year-old Amber Noel as she enthusiastically describes her college plans and her career choice—a physician.

Fred Lau, who passed the tough written exam but was told that a 5’ 7 ^¼’’ man couldn’t be a police officer because his baton would “drag on the ground.” Today he is the Police Chief of San Francisco, one of the state’s most diverse departments, thanks to affirmative action.

These moving and colorful profiles were written by Peter Sussman, past president of the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Reaching for the Dream also includes descriptions of each of the targeted programs and a comprehensive legal and public policy analysis of why these programs are still necessary and fair-- helping community leaders to speak knowledgeably and authoritatively on affirmative action and to spread the word to friends, neighbors and colleagues.

Reaching for the Dream: Profiles in Affirmative Action is a project of a coalition of civil rights organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, Equal Rights Advocates, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, California Women’s law Center, Employment Law center, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Asian Pacific America Legal Foundation, and Mexican American Legal defense and Education Fund with generous assistance from the Van Loben Sels Foundation.

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