The L.A. Compact has long championed the importance of youth jobs programs in providing young adults with early skill- and resume-building work experiences to successfully launch them into the labor force. Now that we are facing the worst economic recession in a century, subsidized jobs will serve as a life-line for thousands of young adults who have been laid off, who live in families who are ineligible for federal relief benefits, and who are struggling to maintain connections to school. At least 14,500 young adults in L.A. County will access a paid work experience this year thanks to budget motions passed recently by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors and L.A. City Council that were strongly supported by L.A. Compact partners.

Several school districts in L.A. County have adopted the Early Development Instrument (EDI) as a tool to measure early childhood well-being and readiness for kindergarten. But as schools have shifted their focus to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the county’s planned EDI collection efforts are at risk of being seriously disrupted, and some are in danger of being eliminated. With growing concerns over what the future will look like for young children, having data, like the EDI, may prove to be more valuable than ever.

Back in April, L.A. City Mayor Eric Garcetti launched the L.A. Emergency Child Care Connection program to help essential employees at participating hospitals access child care. With many child care centers still closed because of the pandemic, Garcetti expanded the program in May to include additional emergency responders employed by the City of L.A.

As many businesses and organizations adapt to the "new normal," UNITE-LA is similarly reimagining some of its work to ensure youth are able to become successful, productive, future members of the workforce. UNITE-LA has partnered with Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation (CSOD Foundation) to enhance virtual workforce development and programming through their new online learning initiative called WorkforceReady.

On May 15, UNITE-LA convened a virtual roundtable with 17 regional corporate responsibility leaders on how COVID-19 is impacting our education and workforce systems and the ability of corporations to remain involved in preparing the next generation of employees. Participants represented a diverse range of industries and corporations, including The Boeing Company, City National Bank, Dolby, Majestic Realty, Paramount Pictures, Riot Games, The Walt Disney Company and Wells Fargo.

L.A. Workforce Systems Collaborative partners -- UNITE-LA, the City of L.A. Economic & Workforce Development Department and Office of Los Angeles City Mayor Eric Garcetti -- worked together to develop outreach materials on how to access traditional unemployment insurance, unemployment assistance for gig-workers, free-lancers, and the self-employed, and California disaster relief assistance for immigrants who otherwise do not qualify for unemployment insurance or federal CARES Act stimulus payments.

Eustolia Farias, a member of the Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC) Young Leaders program, provided testimony at a Senate hearing in support of SB 1103, which would provide unemployed and underemployed individuals and young adults with additional opportunities to access and complete High-Roads Training Programs to secure a quality, living wage job. The OYC Young Leaders program, led by the Alliance for Children’s Rights, trains young adults who have experienced foster care or extended foster care (ages 18-26) to become impactful change agents in Los Angeles and across the state.

The recently launched COVID College Connect has broadened into a newly formed Summer of Success Campaign. The L.A. Compact Institutions of Higher Education Collaborative, along with Los Angeles City Mayor Eric Garcetti, California Community Foundation, the L.A. Unified LAUSD Division of Instruction, and the USC College Advising Corps, have partnered together to help college bound students get answers to questions and access information related to their college plans. Summer of Success will provide students with new resources throughout the summer and promote the use of a recently launched college advising hotline available to Los Angeles students and parents or legal guardians in multiple languages. Students without college plans can also call to explore their options and opportunities.

The Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) is a degree awarded by the California Community Colleges, which provides a guaranteed pathway for students to transfer to a four-year university, in a specific major. The L.A. Compact Student Success Workgroup (SSWG), wanting to understand how effective this transfer pathway is for L.A. area students, commissioned a Regional ADT study in 2018.

On June 18, L.A. Unified’s Committee of the Whole heard presentations from six schools participating in the district’s Community School pilot as well as from several members of the Community School Steering Committee to report back on progress from the first year of the pilot. A comprehensive community school model - one that effectively implements four pillars of integrated student supports, expanded and enriched learning time, active parent and community engagement and collaborative leadership and practice - has been effective in districts across the country in improving student achievement and well-being.