We envision a future where public schools are designed to serve and support diverse groups of students, as well as honor the cultural and linguistic assets that students and their families bring to the table. That is why the signers of the L.A. Compact have embraced the community schools’ whole child approach to transform schooling and deliver on the promise of a public education, and recently adopted the expansion of community schools as a priority strategy in the 2021 L.A. Compact agreement. We are thrilled to announce that L.A. Unified, a long-time Compact partner and signer, just received a $44 million investment from the state’s Community Schools Partnership Program to sustain and expand the district’s Community Schools Initiative (CSI) for another five years.

March 24, 2022 | By Ed Coghlan, CA FWD

If the California Dream is really going to be available to all Californians, things have to change.

Our children have to be better prepared for school, complete graduation, attend college and be ready to compete in the dynamic 21st century economy.

And for too many, particularly economically challenged Latino and Black kids, we have fallen short. Why?

That’s a question driving the L.A. Compact–a large, regional effort in the state’s largest county to close the education and workforce gaps caused by systemic inequities and racism.

LOS ANGELES – Today, leading education, government, business and labor, and civic organizations in Los Angeles have signed onto the new L.A. Compact agreement.

The L.A. Compact is a bold effort to address gaps and opportunities that exist in our education and workforce development systems, and the list of Compact partners is impressive in its breadth. Leaders in L.A. County are committed to continuing and intensifying their collaboration to improve lives from cradle through career.

In July, the L.A. Compact, convened by UNITE-LA, together with the L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative, released a case study detailing its efforts to connect foster youth to public workforce programs in L.A. County using a shared referral process across agencies. This brief describes the development and implementation of a process to coordinate and streamline foster youth referrals to workforce programs and includes specific recommendations for process improvement based on feedback from both network partners and foster youth themselves.

By Ed Coghlan

The Los Angeles economy has a problem.

Employers need more workers with bachelor's degrees—and the pipeline isn't nearly full enough. "It is imperative we do better," said UNITE-LA President & CEO David Rattray. "Not only do more college graduates improve individual job prospects, they also can bridge the equity gap that persists in L.A. County, where thousands of families have never had a family member even attend college much less graduate."

This is exactly the type of problem that the L.A. Compact was formed to address. The L.A. Compact, which UNITE-LA convenes, brings together leaders from early childhood, K12, higher education, government, and the labor and business sectors in the region to close the education and workforce gaps caused by system inequities and racism.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE             

May 5, 2020                   

MEDIA CONTACT: 

Claudine Battisti  

[email protected]                                                  

MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI AND THE L.A. COMPACT CONNECT COLLEGE BOUND STUDENTS TO RESOURCES DURING PANDEMIC 

The coronavirus is affecting millions of people in unimaginable ways, including loss of work, lack of food supplies and loss of health benefits. So many of our partner organizations across L.A. County are working hard to support students and families affected by the pandemic, especially the most vulnerable. Here’s a snapshot of what our partners are doing on the ground.