UNITE-LA, convener of the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative, is excited to announce significant progress toward collaborative objectives this quarter. The Collaborative successfully launched a permanent Stewardship Group, formalized a strategic partnership with Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) to strengthen employer engagement efforts, and facilitated two communities of practice, focused on dual enrollment and work-based learning for subregional and local partners.

As the convener of the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative, UNITE-LA has continuously convened regional stakeholders to steward the effort, first in the planning and launching, and now to maintain the Collaborative's goals and initiative. A milestone achievement was the launch of our permanent stewardship group in June, representing both regional and subregional partners. The Stewardship Group is the decision-making body of the Collaborative, working toward regional goals and Collaborative responsibilities and enhancing broader coordination across the county on education and workforce pathways in health care, engineering and computer science. Click here for the full charge and visit losangelesk16.org to learn more about the Stewardship Group.

To support efforts around employer engagement, UNITE-LA and LAEDC, a Collaborative partner, started augmenting employer engagement strategies with regional and subregional partners. This summer, LAEDC representatives will meet with subregional collaboratives to outline strategies and goals for work-based learning (WBL) and to begin mapping out opportunities to advance our collective objective to expand WBL for BIPOC students in health care, engineering and computer science. LAEDC will also produce a local labor market information report on health care and computer science/engineering for review.

UNITE-LA, in partnership with WestEd, facilitated two communities of practice (CoP) focused on dual enrollment and WBL. Participants in the dual enrollment CoP developed a shared understanding of the purpose and common practices of dual enrollment, learned about new dual enrollment funding and state/regional initiatives, and provided feedback on improving dual enrollment implementation. In the WBL CoP, participants developed a shared understanding of the purpose and common practices of WBL and defined the collaborative's WBL data collection goals. CoPs will resume in July.

For more information, please reach out to Adam Gottlieb, Director of Postsecondary Strategy and Policy, at [email protected].