Established by the Sycuan Band to support Kumeyaay cultural identity, sovereignty and self-determination, while meeting the educational needs of Native and non-Native students, KCC places a special focus on the Kumeyaay language, Kumeyaay Philosophy, and traditional Indigenous arts such as Kumeyaay basketry. Additional areas of focus are Kumeyaay history, federal Indian law and policy, and computer skills.

The Sycuan Resolution initiating KCC (No. 2003-11), states in part: “Sycuan recognizes the importance of the achievement and maintenance of the highest…social, economic, and cultural standards for the Kumeyaay Nation…Sycuan recognizes the crucial role of indigenous knowledge and lifestyle as an integral part of Nation building in the [present] and future education of its Tribal members and the Kumeyaay Nation at large.”

A primary focus of KCC is to strike a healthy balance between traditional Indigenous and Western systems of knowledge.

Kumeyaay Community College is a tribal institution dedicated to the research of Kumeyaay traditional knowledge. Kumeyaay Community College is created and maintained by the sovereign power of the Kumeyaay people as an educational organization designed to teach the younger generations of the People as well and the non-Kumeyaay population at large.

Kumeyaay Community College is dedicated to creating a program of superior education and academic training through Native people's worldview with an emphasis on the Kumeyaay perspective.

Tribally defined educational needs are unique and embrace a variety of topics: language, culture, history, Indian law, political science, tribal and state relations, models of citizenship from around the world, Indigenous studies, models that foster direct youth participation in the social, economic, and political affairs of the nation.
Kumeyaay Community College will engage in research, education, publishing, and linguistic preservation in order to continue the traditional knowledge of the Kumeyaay Nation.

KCC primarily serves and relies on resources from the thirteen reservations of the Kumeyaay Nation situated in San Diego county: San Pasqual, Santa Ysabel, Mesa Grande, Inaja-Cosmit, Captain Grande, Barona, Viejas, Ewiiaapaayp, Sycuan, Jamul, Manzanita, La Posta, and Campo, as well as four principle Kumeyaay reservations on the opposite side of the U.S. – Mexican border: Juntas de Neji, San Jose de la Zorra, San Antonio Necua, and La Huerta.