This is the official history of Nairobi College, documenting its founding and mission from the perspective of the institution itself and its alumni community.

The Call to Action

In mid-April 1969, a CALL TO ACTION was issued to San Francisco Bay Area educators in response to an educational crisis in local colleges and universities. The crisis stemmed from the inappropriateness and inadequacy of existing educational programs for members of ethnic communities on the San Francisco Peninsula. There was a critical need for a community/student-oriented college designed to serve ethnic communities and to educate people of color.

College Founding and Growth

In the fall of 1969, Nairobi College opened as a Third World College in the communities of Nairobi (East Palo Alto) and Redwood City, California. The members of the Third World communities committed themselves, at the time, to establishing an educational system to meet the needs of people of color. On July 1, 1971, the two campuses became legally independent and were established as separate colleges.

The Nairobi Concept of Education

The Nairobi concept of education is a family oriented concept. Consistent with our belief that the family unit is the basis for, and is essential to, the educational process; and founded on our cultural heritage of living in an extended family, the Nairobi concept is a natural consequence of the African experience. The primary concern of Nairobi College is to facilitate the emergence of the contemporary African person.

Purpose and Mission

Nairobi College is designed to develop those skills so desperately needed within Black communities: leadership skills as well as knowledge and awareness for general survival for all people of the community.

In order to get quality education, we must provide it for ourselves. In order to build strong communities, we must have the skills and knowledge to build them ourselves.

Innovative Programs

Many programs initiated by Nairobi College in the late 60's and early 70's are now being replicated in communities across the country, some of which include:

• Nairobi College Prisoner Community Re-Entry Project
• Nairobi College Development Centers (Children's and Infant Center)
• Nairobi Teen Summer Project

Legacy and Continuing Impact

Although the college closed in the early 1980's, the Board of Trustees is still active and making a contribution to the community in the name of the college. Some of the efforts include:

• The Wilhelmenia Anthony Scholar Endowment
• Support for the Summer Algebra Academy
• College Scholarships

The Board is planning to have a documentary video developed to preserve the Nairobi College Legacy.

This groundbreaking article explores the racial and economic history of East Palo Alto, the community where Nairobi College was founded in 1969. The piece examines how residential segregation shaped Silicon Valley's development and continues to impact the tech industry today.

East Palo Alto has been portrayed as a haven of affordability for a low-income and primarily black and Latino community and alternately as a stubbornly intractable core of poverty and violence amid Silicon Valley's glittering wealth. In 1992, the city earned the moniker "Murder Capital of the U.S.A." after having the highest homicide per capita rate in the country.

The article reveals how seemingly small policy choices can have enduring, multi-generational consequences. It tells the story of how two neighboring communities followed entirely different trajectories in post-war California — one of enormous wealth and power, and the other of resilience amid deprivation.

Key Historical Context for Nairobi College

The piece documents how East Palo Alto's existence as a predominantly black community probably began around 1954, when a man named William A. Bailey and his family became the first blacks to move into a new subdivision called Palo Alto Gardens. The Bailey family's arrival touched off protests from neighboring white homeowners, leading to a "gentlemen's agreement" requiring that all prospective buyers be approved by the association.

This historical context is crucial for understanding why Nairobi College was founded in 1969 as a community-run college for "people of color," dedicated to making education "relevant to the ghetto community." The college emerged as a response to the systemic barriers and segregation that the TechCrunch article documents.

Relevance to Modern Tech Industry

The article concludes with a powerful observation: "It's also a huge reason contributing to why there are so few minorities in the tech industry." It notes that Silicon Valley loves to celebrate exceptional black and Latino entrepreneurs, but fails to see the structural problems that make these people the exceptions.

This historical perspective helps explain why Nairobi College's mission remains relevant today, as the tech industry continues to struggle with diversity and inclusion issues that stem from decades of residential segregation and systemic inequality.