The Los Angeles Digital Equity Action League (LA DEAL) launched an Advisory Group on July 11 with elected officials, municipal staff and community advocates. The group convened to advocate for a robust public broadband network, posing solutions such as joint projects and funding applications, shared information and assets, and community input, among other functions.

This spring, the L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative joined key public and private partners in the final meeting of an 18-month strategic planning process, which aims to reduce the number of disconnected youth by 32,000 over the next four years. Building from the successes of the L.A. Performance Partnership Pilot (LAP3) strategic plan, the new Horizons 32K plan will facilitate the connection of an additional 32,000 young people annually to sustainable education and employment pathways.

At the L.A. Valley College Family Resource Center on May 7, Dr. Lisa Catanzarite, UNITE-LA’s Vice President of Research and Evaluation, presented findings from our Empowering L.A. Students for College Success research report. Sonia Campos-Rivera, UNITE-LA’s Senior Vice President of Public Policy, discussed policy opportunities to support parenting students.

UNITE-LA recently filmed two videos highlighting dual enrollment partnerships within the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative. UNITE-LA chose partners with successful and impactful dual enrollment programs, showcasing student-centered programming and institutional support systems critical for academic success.

In February 2024, the L.A. Unified Community Schools Steering Committee (CSSC) finalized the selection and designation of eight schools to join the fifth Community Schools Initiative (CSI) cohort, including 24th Street Elementary School, Charnock Elementary School, Cheremoya Elementary School, Coliseum Elementary School, Hancock Park Elementary School, Woodland Hills Academy Middle School, Public Service Community School at Diego Rivera Learning Center, and Lexington Primary Center. The designation supports collective efforts to achieve L.A. Unified's expansion goal of 70 community schools by 2025.

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.