On October 2nd, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a motion to support foster and probation youth with college planning. Introduced by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn, the motion proclaimed October 2018 “Foster Youth College Awareness Month” in L.A. County and directed various county agencies, including the Departments of Children and Family Services and Probation, to:  provide college planning tools to youth, caseworkers, caregivers, judicial officers, and others; directly assist youth with college and financial aid applications; and collect and report data on financial aid completion among foster youth high school seniors. The motion also committed the county to participate in the statewide California Foster Youth FAFSA Challenge, under the leadership of the L.A. County Office of Education. Prior to the vote on the motion, Supervisor Barger presented a commendation to John Burton Advocates for Youth and to UNITE-LA and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce for their leadership and advocacy in this area. JBAY and UNITE-LA serve as co-conveners of the L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative’s Foster Youth College Advancement Project. Read more

L.A. Compact Shares Successes and Lessons Learned with Grantmakers and Foreign Leaders

On Oct. 17, a panel of L.A. Compact partners presented on the Compact’s Constellation Model, history and successes at the annual Grantmakers for Education (GFE) Conference in San Diego. GFE is the nation's largest and most diverse network of education grantmakers dedicated to improving educational outcome and increasing opportunities for all learners. At the L.A. Compact's session, funders heard from David Rattray, executive vice president of the Chamber's Center for Education Excellence and Talent Development, as well as LAUSD Board of Education President, Monica Garcia; Policy Director for Mayor Eric Garcetti, Lisa Salazar; and Assistant General Manager of Economic and Workforce Development for the City of Los Angeles, Robert Sainz. Presidential professor in Educational Equity Emeritus at UCLA, Jeannie Oakes, moderated the panel.

On Oct 15, UNITE-LA, met with a cross-sector delegation of 11 government, NGO, business and education leaders visiting from the Czech Republic to discuss the L.A. Compact's collective impact model for improving cradle-to-career student outcomes and lessons learned to inform replication in their country. View the presentation here.

WORKGROUP HIGHTLIGHTS

School Readiness Data Expands to Cover 14% of L.A. County Kindergartners in 2019

First 5 LA finalized the second cohort of school districts that will collect Early Development Instrument (EDI) data during the 2018-19 school year. In addition to the original seven school districts that collected data in 2017-2018, Compton Unified School District and Lowell Joint School District will also start collecting data this school year. Los Angeles Unified School District will also receive additional resources to expand their EDI data collection efforts across local districts Central, West, and the remainder of Local District South. As a result, approximately 13,000 kindergartners (representing about 14% of the total kindergartner population) in LA County will be reached by the end of this school year. The final school districts were announced on October 25^that the First 5 Los Angeles Board of Commissioners Program Planning and Committee meeting. View the presentation to the Commission here.

CSUN Connections Partners Present on Reverse Transfer Promising Practices

On October 3rd, representatives from L.A. Valley College, the L.A. Community College District Office, and UNITE-LA presented on the CSUN Connections reverse transfer partnership at the 2018 Strengthening Student Success Conference. Organized by the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges, this annual conference brings together hundreds of community college administrators, faculty leaders, researchers, and policy experts to highlight promising practices for closing equity gaps and increasing degree attainment. The CSUN Connections partners shared lessons in cross-sector collaboration, as well as early successes in the development of two reverse transfer pathways between CSUN and three community colleges in the San Fernando Valley. Thus far, the partners have exchanged student records for CSUN students who transferred from these community colleges in the Fall 2014, 2015, and 2016 terms and who subsequently stopped out. The partners performed nearly 600 manual degree audits, finding over 120 students who have already fulfilled all requirements for a first-time associate degree. Learn more by viewing the CSUN Connections presentation here.

L.A. Compact Stewardship Group Considers New Career Success Goal & Equity Lens

At its October meeting, the L.A. Compact Stewardship Group reviewed revised language for the Compact’s Goal #3—“All students have access to pathways to sustainable jobs and careers”—recommended by the L.A. Workforce Systems Collaborative. The new proposed language—“Students of all ages acquire skills and knowledge to achieve career success”—received strong support. Members also discussed an opportunity to receive free technical assistance from the National Equity Project as part of the L.A. Compact’s participation in the Lumina Talent Hub network for postsecondary success. The Stewardship Group is exploring a half-day retreat in early 2019 to begin developing an equity lens for the L.A. Compact’s collective impact work.

L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative Prepares to Launch AmeriCorps Program for Transition-Age Foster Youth

iFoster, L.A. County DCFS and AmeriCorps are working together to launch the Transition-Age Youth AmeriCorps paid service program in January 2018. Investing up to $4.5 million annually, this program will train and employ transition-age foster youth in service roles supporting other foster youth in the areas of education, employment and life skills development. A minimum three-year commitment has already been agreed upon and federal funding secured with the potential for renewal.

Check out what’s happening across all of the L.A. Compact workgroups, including the Joint Advocacy Workgroup, Student Success Workgroup, Health Sector Collaborative, L.A. Performance Partnership Pilot and more in our L.A. Compact Workgroup Sep/Oct Update

PARTNER HIGHTLIGHTS

Mayor Garcetti Launches Young Ambassador Program for L.A. College Promise Students

L.A. College Promise partners recently celebrated the development of the Mayor’s Young Ambassadors Program which provides LACP Scholars with the opportunity to travel abroad, free of charge, in order to expand their worldviews and increase their cross-cultural awareness. The first group of Mayor’s Young Ambassadors traveled to Mexico and Egypt in August 2018. A second group will travel to Japan in early 2019.

Student Success at the California State University Reaches All-time Highs

Data released in October demonstrates that California State University (CSU) campuses continue to make strides in improving student achievement through the Graduation Initiative 2025.  Graduation rates for first-time freshmen and transfer students reached all-time highs and equity gaps between students from historically underserved communities and other students narrowed.

L.A. Unified Students’ English and Math Proficiency Rates Improve

Released on October 2^nd, the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress reports that L.A. Unified’s overall proficiency rates in English (42.3 percent) and math (31.6 percent) showed a modest growth of about 2 to 3 percentage points from the previous year. L.A. Unified had the fourth highest gains in English and math compared to the 12 largest urban districts in California.

L.A. Chamber Celebrates Grand Opening of Educare Los Angeles at Long Beach

Educare Los Angeles at Long Beach, an early childhood education center on the Barton Elementary School campus in Long Beach, celebrated its grand opening on November 1st. The school serves as a regional hub for early learning professional development, demonstrating how programs can use evidence-based approaches to provide quality early childhood education and partner with families. In 2014, the Chamber, along with the Long Beach Education Foundation and the Long Beach Unified School District, established a partnership with the Educare Learning Network (ELN) to open the new campus.

WHAT WE'RE READING

Collaboration by Design: Principles, Processes and Practices Utilized in the Development and Implementation of the SlingShot Project in Los Angeles and Ventura Countiesvia C³Skills Alliance

College Promise In California: Community-Wide Efforts To Support Student Successvia Forbes.com

Newsom's 'cradle-to-career' education pledge will require sweeping changes in Californiavia EdSource

The bedrock of American business: High Quality Early Childhood Educationvia U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation

Parents can now compare LAUSD schools with new Open Data sitevia LA School Report