Adult education partnership for career pathway programs

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) is designed to help job seekers who experience barriers accessing education, training, employment and support services to succeed in the labor market. In 2016-17, the Los Angeles Unified School District Division of Adult and Career Education (LAUSD DACE) and the City of Los Angeles Economic and Workforce Development Department (EWDD) launched a partnership to co-locate WIOA Navigators at 10 DACE Schools and 12 City of L.A. WorkSource Centers. These positions are co-funded by DACE and EWDD and co-located to assist high-barrier WorkSource Center clients enroll in and complete career pathway programs at DACE schools.

In classic L.A. Compact style, EWDD and DACE invested significant face-time in building a solid relationship before hammering out a work plan or implementing any interventions. Those early conversations focused on information sharing to understand the capacity of each partner.

During the 2018-19 program year, this team referred over 6,000 clients for WorkSource Center services or for training at one of the LAUSD adult schools. In addition to working directly out of the WorkSource Center and DACE school locations, the Navigators participate at local community events and job fairs and conduct ongoing community outreach to promote the opportunities available at the schools and WorkSource Centers. Beyond the career technical education training provided to clients, the Navigators offer soft skills and employability training as part of the job preparation process.

A Success Story

One of many noteworthy student success stories is Tomas Luna, an immigrant from Mexcio who started studying ESL at Evans Community Adult School in Chinatown in 2016. Before moving to the United States, he completed training as a Lab Technician and two years of medical school in his home country. After arriving in the U.S., Tomas worked in Quality Control for a meat company for 20 years and as a lifeguard and swimming instructor for L.A. County. After taking ESL classes, Tomas participated in a First Aid class where he realized he never lost his desire to work in the medical field and help people live healthier lives and set a goal to enroll in the Medical Assistant program.

Tomas’ greatest challenge was his English language skills; he began his ESL studies at the Intermediate Low A level. But through hard work and the support of his instructors, Tomas eventually attained the reading score needed to be eligible for the program and received funding for the program from the Downtown/Pico-Union WorkSource Center. Recently, Tomas passed the National Health Career Association’s Medical Assistant Certification exam, polished his resume and is starting to apply for Medical Assistant positions.

From taking ESL classes to being poised to launch a career in the highest demand industry in L.A., this would not have been possible without the dedication of DACE and EWDD staff to a partnership built on mutual understanding and trust to ensure successes for job seekers with high barriers to employment and employers alike.

(Tomas Luna)

Public sector collaboration to improve postsecondary outcomes for foster youth

In May, the OYC Foster Youth College Advancement Project (FYCAP) partners presented a session at the Collective Impact Forum in Chicago, titled “Driving Public Sector Systems Change: Lessons from Los Angeles County.” The session described the process that FYCAP co-conveners, John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY) and UNITE-LA, undertook in order to build buy-in from the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and to co-design College Bound Antelope Valley, a project that is training social workers to initiate college exploration and planning activities with middle and high school aged youth. FYCAP also supported DCFS in launching two new higher education courses this past April that will increase the capacity of Resource Parents to assist youth with college exploration and planning. To learn more about this new postsecondary education curriculum for caregivers, register for this webinar on June 5.

Further illustrating their deep commitment to increasing postsecondary attainment for foster youth, DCFS  launched two new higher education courses this past April that will increase the capacity of Resource Parents to assist youth with college exploration and planning. Developed in collaboration with DCFS, JBAY, UNITE-LA, and the local Foster and Kinship Care Education program, each course is approximately 3 hours in length and covers essential college planning steps, as well as resources that are available to assist youth in paying for and succeeding in college. DCFS requires that all Resource Parents with children in their care ages 12-19 complete at least one of these courses as part of the Resource Family Approval process.

Ariana Oliva joins Child Care Planning Committee

Ariana Oliva, the Compact’s Early Childhood Manager, is now serving a three-year term as a member of the Los Angeles County Child Care Planning Committee. The committee engages in collaborative planning efforts to improve the overall child care infrastructure in the county, including the quality and continuity, affordability, and accessibility of child care and development services for all families.  She attended her first planning committee meeting on Sept. 4.

Gov. Gavin Newsom names Alma Salazar to the Board of Governors

The L.A. Compact applauds Alma Salazar, Ed.D., on her recent gubernatorial appointment to serve on the California Community Colleges (CCC) Board of Governors, which sets policy and provides guidance for the 73 districts and 115 colleges within the system. Dr. Salazar leads the convening of the L.A. Compact’s Workforce Systems Collaborative in her role as Senior Vice President of the L.A. Area Chamber’s Center for Education Excellence and Talent Development.

L.A. Compact Student Success Workgroup focuses on community college transfers & reverse transfers

UNITE-LA staff and representatives from the CSUN Connections reverse transfer partnership traveled to Detroit, MI at the end of April to participate in the Lumina Foundation’s national Talent Hubs convening to think about how to support and scale reverse transfer through state and system-wide policy development. The partners, including project leaders from CSUN, L.A. Mission College, L.A. Valley College, L.A. Pierce College, and California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office participated in a half-day institute on reverse transfer that was facilitated by the Institute of Higher Education Policy, where we joined Shasta County’s North State Together team members in sharing implementation lessons with other communities that are exploring reverse transfer.

On April 24, the Compact hosted a meeting with CSU and LACCD District Office representatives to review preliminary research findings by WestEd that map  available Associate Degrees for Transfer (ADT) pathways in L.A. County, identify feeder patterns between local community colleges and local California State University campuses, and highlight programs of study where bottlenecks are occurring.

L.A. County launches coordinated referral process to connect foster youth with work experiences

Thanks to the efforts of L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative partners, L.A. County recently launched a new coordinated referral process for foster youth ages 14-24 to improve connections to job training and early work experiences. Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) staff who support youth living from Lancaster to Long Beach face a confusing array of work readiness programs managed by 7 workforce boards and over 40 non-profit agencies across the county. DCFS will now utilize a common form to send referrals to L.A. County Workforce Development Aging & Community Services department (WDACS) who will manage the assignment and tracking of referrals across workforce agencies. DCFS has allocated $1 million this year to provide 400 foster youth with paid work experiences through a new FosterYouth@Work program. Nearly 400 foster youth have been referred through the new system in March and April.

Collaboration to improve postsecondary outcomes for foster youth, supporting expansion of community schools, Mayor Garcetti prioritizes early education and more...

Collaboration to improve postsecondary outcomes for foster youth, supporting expansion of community schools, Mayor Garcetti prioritizes early education and more...

Thank you for your steadfast dedication to improving educational outcomes and closing attainment gaps for children and youth in Los Angeles. We hope the new year brings you a renewed sense of purpose and optimism for the future.

"Foster Youth College Awareness Month", Sharing Successes and Lessons Learned, Young Ambassadors Program and more

L.A. Compact's Workgroup and Collaborative updates for the months of September & October 2018

L.A. Compact Workgroup Update Archive>>

Current list and description of L.A. Compact collaborative initiatives>>

L.A. Compact's Workgroup and Collaborative updates for the months of May and June 2018

L.A. Compact Workgroup Update Archive>>

Current list and description of L.A. Compact collaborative initiatives>>

Follow our Workgroup and Collaborative updates for the months of March and April 2018

Current list and description of L.A. Compact collaborative initiatives>>

Promoting College Readiness for Antelope Valley Foster Youth

This story and more in the April issue of the L.A. Compact Connection

The L.A. Compact has been busy this summer! Check out the L.A. Compact's updated workgroup descriptions and read up on our progress in the August workgroup update.

Updates include LAUSD Strategic Plan engagement, Joint Advocacy legislative priorities, L.A. STEM Hub's new partnership foundation, OYC's Young Leaders, and more

Welcome to the launch of the L.A. Compact's first bi-monthly newsletter!  

Since 2008, the L.A. Compact has convened cross-sector stakeholders to work together across siloes in pursuit of three big, systemic goals:

1. All students graduate from high school;
2. All students have access to and are prepared for success in college; and
3. All students have access to pathways to sustainable jobs and careers.

Today, 17 working groups (and counting!) are engaging hundreds of partners to improve cradle to career outcomes through the power of collective impact.  We hope this newsletter will help shine a spotlight on this important collaborative work that seldom makes headlines.  Each edition of The L.A. Compact Connection will include a short feature story, timely Compact workgroup or partner updates, and links to relevant news and research. We look forward to your feedback on how we can best utilize this newsletter to share the collective work of L.A. Compact partners.

Established: 2008  |  Convened by: UNITE-LA

The L.A. Compact Stewardship Group is comprised of senior staff and deputies representing the L.A. Compact signers. Members serve as stewards of the larger community interest and serve the L.A. Compact’s broader collective vision.

Roles of the L.A. Compact Stewardship Group:

The rigor of the L.A. Compact's commitment to education transformation in our region is the alignment to Measurements of success

Measurements of success

GOAL 1:

All students graduate from high school

GOAL 2:

All students have access to and are prepared for success in college

GOAL 3:

All students have access to pathways to sustainable jobs and careers