Baba Clyde Phillips

Baba Clyde Phillips

Baba Clyde Phillips is a retired professor of Counseling, a co-founder of the Umoja Community Education Foundation, and today serves as an Elder on the Umoja Council of Elders. A graduate of Cal State Long Beach, he committed his life's work to uplifting African diasporic students within California's community colleges.

Clyde served through Educational Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) at Cypress, Santa Ana, El Camino, Long Beach City, Irvine Valley, and Orange Coast Colleges, and served as regional coordinator for several years. He built community at every stop — starting Black Student Unions, mentoring student leaders, and reminding young people that they stood on the shoulders of their ancestors.

At Orange Coast College, where he served more than 30 years, he brought Umoja to campus in 2010, shaping it into a space of belonging and excellence for Black students. His "porch talks" and deliberate, culturally grounded counseling gave students not only academic guidance but also healing, affirmation, and purpose. He was told it could NOT be done at OCC — and he did it anyway, leaving a legacy that continues to this day.

On a statewide level, Phillips helped expand Umoja from a handful of colleges to more than 50, carrying forward the principle of unity. He abides by the proverb: "To go fast we may go alone, but to go far we must go together." Baba Clyde is a proud father of two, a Buffalo Soldier Historian, and a Black Cowboy of the Golden West.