In hopes of securing a $100 million scholarship endowment for California’s community colleges, Bakersfield College, along with other community colleges across the state, will literally join hands April 17 for the first-ever Hands Across California.

Intended as a fundraiser for community college scholarships, the event is estimated to consist of 1.5 million people and extend 1,500 miles from San Diego to Sacramento and back down the coast, in a hand held connection linking California’s Community Colleges.

The event stems from an initial donation of $25 million, made roughly two and a half years ago by The Bernard Osher Foundation. A commitment was also made, to donate up to another $25 million to California’s community colleges, if the colleges obtained their share of the match within the given three-year deadline in June 2011.

Each community college was originally charged with obtaining a specific amount for the endowment based on their enrollment size. According to a Jan. 21 listing, 13 of 110 colleges in the state have met their target goal, with BC’s amount at $567,092, which it has secured in full.

But other schools in the state have acquired little or none of their funds. In total, $32 million still remains to be raised. Hands Across California will attempt to close that gap and obtain those remaining funds.

Operating much like a walkathon, the fundraiser will rely on participators who will obtain pledges for their involvement.

“The idea is, each one of those people is going to get a pledge,” said BC Foundation

Director Mike Stepanovich. “If everyone of those people got $20 in pledge, we’d complete our match.”

Donations from businesses and corporations will also be relied on to help obtain the amount.The attained earnings from the event, as well as the money obtained over the past three years will serve to provide an annually recurring general scholarship fund for community college students.

“The fact of the matter is, that we are going to have 56 of these $1000 scholarships, and however many more we raise for the rest of forever,” said Katrina Oldershaw, legislative liaison for BC’s Student Government Association.

“Every year we are always going to have these scholarships that we can give out to our students, so the more we raise the more money we can give out to our students.” said Oldershaw.

As far as the logistics go for the event, they remain in the planning stages, but it is anticipated that the line will travel down California State Route 58 and then down 99, but that is subject to change.

“I’m very excited about it,” said Stepanovich, “It’s going to be historical.”