Carlos Santana Arts Academy, a community school in L.A. Unified, was 1 of 5 schools in the region to receive $500 worth of Disney ABC7's Magic of Storytelling campaign book donations. With 450 books donated, the campaign illustrates how community schools promote partnerships and provide learning opportunities for students.

On June 12, UNITE-LA celebrated the first cohort of the Avantus Cleantech Career Academy. Dr. Tom Buttgenbach, CEO & Founder of Avantus, and Alysia Bell, President of UNITE-LA, presented 61 participants with certificates of completion and highlighted the $1,000 scholarship students are eligible to receive to pursue higher education. They also presented one really large $75,000 check!

The start of summer was busy for community schools. UNITE-LA gathered with more than 4,500 participants at the 2023 National Community Schools and Family Engagement Conference in Philadelphia! Hosted by the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL), the convening offered learning and networking opportunities inspired by the theme "Spreading Love & Supporting All Children." Our main takeaway? Leaders from across the education ecosystem can effectively work together to support Community Schools if we focus on our shared value: caring for children.

L.A. County outpaced the state in Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and California Dream Act Application (CADAA) submissions and completions, setting a high of 68 percent for completions – 8 percent more than last year! To acknowledge this impressive feat, the L.A. Compact Higher Education team co-hosted a celebration in May, engaging multiple school districts and community members to join in honoring students' hard work in 2023.

In May, UNITE-LA published a joint press release with L.A. Unified and United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), applauding State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and the State Board of Education for including L.A. Unified as a 2022-23 California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP) Implementation Grant Cohort 2 grantee. L.A. Unified, a longtime L.A. Compact partner and signer, received $30 million from the CCSPP to sustain and expand the District’s Community Schools Initiative (CSI) for another five years.

The L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC) recently released the 2022 OYC Impact Report. Co-convened by the Alliance for Children's Rights, John Burton Advocates for Youth and UNITE-LA, the L.A. OYC builds partnerships across sectors to improve education and employment outcomes for transition-age foster youth.

We are excited to welcome Eric Iskowitz to the L.A. Compact team in his role as Research and Evaluation (R&E) Manager! In this role, Eric will be engaging in a range of R&E projects across the organization.

We are excited to have Amber Chatman join the L.A. Compact team as our new Director of Workforce Systems and Policy. In this role, Amber will lead strategies to increase the capacity of public workforce systems, build political will for equity-centered workforce strategies, and influence employer practices to improve economic mobility for opportunity youth and low-income workers.

We are thrilled to have Dominique Rougeau join the team as our L.A. Compact Coordinator. In this role, Dominique will support the day-to-day tasks of L.A. Compact work groups, including co-convening the L.A. Unified School District's Community Schools Steering Committee. She will also be responsible for enhancing the Compact's visibility and elevating the work of UNITE-LA and the Compact partners across multiple communication platforms.

Since Mid-February, L.A. Compact staff, also serving as regional conveners of the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative, have been bringing stakeholders together from across the county to disperse $13.9 million in funds. The L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative builds on the work and partnership of the L.A. Compact, formed to eliminate enrollment and completion disparities for BIPOC students in health care, computer science and engineering pathways.