The Oregon Community College Association represents the seventeen publicly chartered community colleges and their locally elected board members as well as the interests of the faculty, staff, administration and nearly 350,000 students in those colleges. Founded in 1962, OCCA is an association whose purpose is to support the colleges before policy-makers and partners whose actions affect the well-being of community colleges across the state. The Association does this through a variety of services. OCCA is governed by a 34-member Board of Directors which includes each president and one board member from each of the seventeen colleges. The board member representatives are chosen by their own local boards and they, with the presidents, elect the Association’s Executive Committee to provide OCCA leadership each year. OCCA staff provides the services and information that support the Association’s mission. Staff members are knowledgeable about issues ranging from appropriations and the community college funding formula to governance and educational policy. OCCA works closely with the state’s Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development, the Oregon Student Assistance Commission, the State Board of Education, and the State Board of Higher Education.