In February, the Systems and Research & Evaluation Teams welcomed Ana Delgado as our new Research and Evaluation Analyst. In this role, Ana will advance the work of the Systems Team, managing the L.A. Compact Charting Progress Dashboard, planning for our new Foster Youth Dashboard, and supporting the Learning Aligned Employment Program, and conducting research and evaluation for UNITE-LA's Policy and Programs work.

The Systems (L.A. Compact) Team is excited to have Jenny Vu as our new Director, Education Systems Strategy, who joined the team in November 2023. In this role, Jenny is supporting multiple education initiatives of the Systems Team, including Community Schools, the L.A. Compact and the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative.

The Los Angeles Digital Equity Action League (LA DEAL) is leading a new initiative to change how households and businesses access the internet in the Los Angeles region. The initiative will support municipalities with building publicly-owned, open-access broadband to increase affordability and digital access in local communities.

Last month, UNITE-LA submitted public comment on "California's Unified Strategic Workforce Development Plan" (State Plan) for Program Years 2024-27. UNITE-LA called for prioritizing investments and policies in education and workforce development over the next four years, which advance economic mobility for California's students, working families and industries.

The L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC) presented youth workforce programming engagement key findings from a 2023 study at The California Workforce Association's Youth Summit in February. Presenters, including UNITE-LA's Amber Chatman, OYC's co-conveners Melanie Ferrer-Vaughn and Ena Volic, and L.A. County Department of Economic Opportunity's Vincent Malone, shared recommendations for youth engagement, based on youth-centered design and healing-centered engagement principles.

The L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC), co-convened by UNITE-LA, John Burton Advocates for Youth and the Alliance for Children's Rights, recently released its 2023 Impact report. The OYC builds cross-sector partnerships to improve education and employment outcomes for transition-age foster youth (TAY). The 2023 Impact Report highlights OYC's collective impact outcomes over the previous year, including noteworthy highlights from LAP3 and the OYC Foster Youth at Work Campaign:

In February 2024, the L.A. Unified Community Schools Steering Committee (CSSC) finalized the selection and designation of eight schools to join Cohort 5 of the Community Schools Initiative (CSI). The designation supports collective efforts to achieve L.A. Unified's expansion goal of 70 community schools by 2025.

In its role as the Los Angeles Region K-16 Collaborative convener, UNITE-LA led a two-day site visit in February for the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC), the state agency overseeing the K-16 Collaborative Grant Program. OPSC and the Foundation for California Community Colleges met with members of the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative, including leadership from K-12 districts, community colleges, CSUs, UCs and employers. In total, 26 members of the collaborative’s regional and subregional structure participated in the site visit.

On March 12, the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative held the first transfer pathways community of practice. As the Collaborative’s regional convener, UNITE-LA is hosting a learning session series for partners and practitioners in the region, strengthening awareness about the Collaborative's priority areas of focus, barriers to student success, and current opportunities for collaboration.

On March 8, UNITE-LA co-hosted an L.A./O.C. Master Plan for Career Education regional convening with the Office of California Governor Newsom and WestEd following an executive order signed last August. More than 100 leaders from education, workforce development, government and community organizations reflected on existing challenges and ways to streamline our education system's approach to preparing students and adults for high-paying careers.