WoCA was founded in the spring of 2016 as Women of Color Academics of Social Work. It started of as a group led by Dr. Annie Isabel Fukushima and 15 other WoCAs that comprised of graduate students and faculty in social work. Recognizing the wider campus need for a broader community, in the fall of 2016, WoCA was renamed to the WoCA Collective.

WoCA Collective activities are driven by collective members.