The original Burden Free Instructional Materials (BFIM) was assembled to provide guidance to the Chancellor’s Office and community colleges to explore opportunities where costs passed onto students could be eliminated or reduced. The Recommendations by the Taskforce (page 15) provided strategic efforts that could tangibly improve educational affordability in the California Community Colleges. Following the release of the original taskforce’s report, the Board of Governors' adoption of Resolution 2023-18 committed to pursue these recommendations which will "strengthen student financial stability, equitable student engagement and success by prioritizing the reduction and ultimately elimination of instructional material costs." 

Empowered by the Board of Governors’ supporting resolution, and informed by the original taskforce’s recommendations, the Chancellor's Office established the BFIM Implementation Task Force in 2024. This new taskforce was specifically charged with translating the original taskforce’s 19 recommendations into actionable strategies and coordinating a system-wide implementation effort across all 116 California community colleges. The implementation taskforce’s work was conducted over a two-year span, culminating in June 2026.

Mission & Charge

Mission: To implement comprehensive strategies that eliminate financial barriers to instructional materials, ensuring equitable access to high-quality educational resources for all California Community College students.

Charge: The Implementation Task Force was tasked with developing actionable strategies, providing technical assistance, and coordinating system-wide efforts to achieve the goal of burden-free instructional materials across all 116 colleges by 2030.

Work Groups

The Implementation Task Force was organized into three specialized Work Groups, each focused on critical aspects of implementing the original task force recommendations.

Through these three coordinated work groups, the Implementation Task Force endeavored to systematically address each of the original 19 recommendations while building the comprehensive support infrastructure needed to achieve the ambitious goal of burden-free instructional materials by 2030.

Lead: Lisa Cardoza, President, American River College

Focus on financial allocation solutions and sustainability models, including:

  • Current funding from federal, state, and local resources
  • Leveraging cost savings and CollegeBuys purchasing power
  • Solutions for supplies and materials not covered by traditional OER approaches
  • Leading sustainability solutions across the system, colleges, and students

Lead: Cristina Moon, Chabot College

Building infrastructure for sustainable business models and policies, including:

  • Policy and regulatory frameworks to support burden-free materials
  • Field guidance and best practices for implementation
  • Long-term sustainability infrastructure development
  • Student-centered policy development and transparency requirements

Lead: Suzanne Wakim, Butte College

Optimizing and expanding training and technical assistance infrastructure, including:

  • System and local professional development programs
  • Training and technical assistance capacity-building for colleges
  • Accessibility and Universal Design support for faculty and staff
  • Scaling OER adoption and addressing supplies and materials effectively

Implementation Taskforce Members

Co-Chairs

Michelle Pilati
 Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) Open Educational Resources (OER) Initiative
ASCCC and OER Representative, project Director and faculty

Christopher Sweeten
President, Chief Student Services Officers Association

Workgroup Leads

Lisa Cardoza
 President of American River College

Cristina Moon
 Faculty, Chabot College
ASCCC

Suzanne Wakim
 Faculty, Butte College
ASCCC

Workgroup Members

Jose Torres
Chief Business Officer
San Bernardino Community College District

Colleen Baker
 Chief Information Officer
Lassen Community College District

Mary-Catherine Oxford
 Dean of Learning Resources and Education Technology
Santa Rosa Junior College

Kevin Wutke
 Senior Director of CollegeBuys Business Innovation
Foundation for California Community Colleges

La Tanga Hardy
 Faculty, Los Angeles Trade Tech
ASCCC

Angela Thomas
Associate Faculty, Librarian, Computer Information Systems, and Applied Digital Media 
Riverside Community College District

Chad Funk
 Specialist
California Community College Chancellor’s Office

James Todd
 Assistant Vice Chancellor
California Community College Chancellor’s Office

Mike Tran
 Associate Government Program Analyst
California Community College Chancellor’s Office

Justine Pereira
 Associate Government Program Analyst
California Community College Chancellor’s Office

Barbara Endel
 Senior Advisor
Jobs for the Future

Erica Acevedo
 Director
Jobs for the Future

Holly Siino
 Senior Manager
Jobs for the Future