L.A. Compact Connection | February 2018

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OYC Receives Foster Youth Workforce Accelerator Grant, the L.A. Compact Considers New Goals

These stories and more in the February issue of the L.A. Compact Connection

FEATURE STORY

Fostering Careers L.A.

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In December 2017, the L.A. Area Chamber Foundation in partnership with the Opportunity Youth Collaborative was awarded a $250k Workforce Accelerator 6.0 grant from the California Workforce Development Board. The Fostering Careers L.A. Project will focus on regional collaboration to improve L.A. County foster youth access to work-based learning and employment. A primary goal of the project is to implement a regional referral and enrollment process for foster youth between L.A. County’s child welfare system and workforce development programs. The project also aims to develop a “career readiness guide” for DCFS to support social workers, caregivers, and youth in understanding activities that support career readiness at various developmental stages. Fostering Careers L.A. will help advance the recently finalized L.A. P3 Strategic Plan, including a strategy to enroll AB12 foster youth into regional YouthSource and America’s Job Centers.

WORKGROUP HIGHLIGHTS

L.A. Compact Considering New Goals

The Stewardship Group began engaging in an L.A. Compact agreement revision process in 2017. At its bi-monthly meeting in December 2017, the group approved recommended language for an additional fourth goal to the L.A. Compact related to whole child success: “All children and young adults thrive socially and emotionally and contribute positively to the community.” The L.A. Compact has not updated its three systemic goals since the agreement was first signed in 2010. The Steering Committee of the Institutions of Higher Education Collaborative is beginning to discuss revised language for Goal #2, which presently reads “All students have access to and are prepared for success in college.”

OYC Foster Youth College Advancement Project (FYCAP) Offers Trainings on FAFSA and Remediation

Over 400 providers from K-12, higher education, child welfare, and nonprofit agencies participated in a webinar on FAFSA filing for foster youth hosted by John Burton Advocates for Youth and Cash for College on January 22. This training came at a critical time as FAFSA completions for the region trailed behind previous years. The FYCAP partners also developed informational tools to help youth and providers navigate the community college remediation assessment process. These materials were shared at the L.A. Court Scholars meeting in January and are also posted here. On January 30^th, FYCAP facilitated a planning meeting for College Bound Antelope Valley, a pilot initiative within the L.A. County Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS) that will train social workers in Lancaster and Palmdale to embed college exploration and goal setting activities within core social work practices. Lastly, FYCAP leaders met with the new DCFS Director, Bobby Cagle, on February 8th to brief him on the workgroup’s strategies and work to date. Director Cagle expressed his strong support of FYCAP and even issued a message to DCFS staff on the importance of FAFSA completion.

L.A. Compact Data Workgroup Reaches Conditional Agreement on Cradle-to-Career Indicators

The L.A. Compact Data Workgroup convened in early February and—after a thoughtful and participatory process—reached conditional agreement on a primary set of cradle-to-career indicators to track progress toward the Compact’s goals. The proposed set of metrics will now be considered for adoption by the Stewardship group. The Data Workgroup also welcomed UCLA as a new institutional partner and new representatives from LAEDC, UTLA, and the L.A. County Workforce Development department (WDACS).

Check out what’s happening across all of the L.A. Compact workgroups, including the Student Success Workgroup, Kindergarten Readiness Assessment, LA P3, and more

PARTNER HIGHLIGHTS

Achieve LA: CSULA meets YMCA

California State University, Los Angeles became the first university in the nation to partner with the YMCA on an initiative to create a pathway to college for young students in underserved areas. The program, called Achieve LA, offers a model for collaboration between public universities and community organizations to encourage college readiness and support neighborhoods and families. Read more here

LAUSD Opens Automotive Training Facility

The San Pedro and Harbor Occupational Center communities celebrated the completion of a $5 million, state-of-the-art automotive training facility in L.A. Unified. The new auto shop is operated by LAUSD’s Division of Adult and Career Education (DACE) featuring lift bays for under-car repairs, a dynamometer for smog checks, an alignment rack and fixed tooling to prepare students for careers in the automotive industry. Read more here

Southern California Health Care Workforce – Filling 150,000 Job Openings in 5 Years

The Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC) and FutureSense in partnership with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and Health Workforce Initiative (HWI) hosted an event to release their recent Health Care Sector Report. The event explored the challenges, approaches and solutions to recruit and develop a strong and skilled workforce in conversation with HR panelists from Casa Colina Hospital, Avanti Hospital, Huntington Memorial Hospital, and Cedars-Sinai.

UPCOMING EVENTS