Continuous improvement is one of the Compact’s guiding principles. As such, UNITE-LA is committed to looking inward to ensure we are delivering on our promise to bring together cross-sector stakeholders to deliver results for children and youth. We commissioned Harder + Company Community Research to evaluate the L.A. Compact, and we are excited to share the findings with you. Through the Compact, UNITE-LA has built relationships, increased trust and supported shared decision making among members.

A comprehensive community schools model can improve student achievement and well-being. It is a framework that has gained traction across the nation and has placed participating schools in a better position to respond to the ongoing challenges caused by COVID-19. In other words, community schools are a catalyst for change, which is why many stakeholders in L.A. County stand ready to see the model expand in the region. Adopting a countywide, comprehensive community schools model is one of the L.A. Compact’s priority strategies, and we are excited to work alongside our partners to make this happen. We have started the year strong with the region’s first community schools convening, co-hosted by The Greater L.A. Education Foundation and the Los Angeles County Office of Education, and the launch of the selection process to identify L.A. Unified’s second cohort of community schools.

Access to reliable child care is key as the economy reopens and more parents go back to their physical work spaces. However, due to the pandemic, the operating costs of running a child care center or home have gone up forcing many providers who were already operating on a thin margin to close their doors permanently. Finding child care was already a challenge before the pandemic and now with these looming closures it could become harder. In response, both Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles dedicated a portion of their CARES Act funding to create complimentary Child Care Provider Grant Programs.

Cal Poly Pomona (CPP), a member of the Student Success Workgroup, launched a virtual resource and information hub called Safer Returns: Our Plan for Fall 2020, to help returning students transition back to college and to help new students adjust to their new college environment in the middle of the pandemic. The hub outlines CPP’s plans for fall 2020 and the necessary changes on and off campus that students, parents, faculty, staff and visitors need to know about.

California’s Cradle-to-Career Data System is a new, innovative statewide initiative that will connect education, social service and workforce data. It will include easy-to use visuals and sophisticated search tools to help answer important questions and inform equitable and actionable policy decisions that open pathways for all Californians to thrive. Tune into the Cradle-to-Career Data System webinars in October to learn more about the proposed education data system and to provide feedback.

On Sept. 9, the Los Angeles Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC) Young Leaders led and participated in the Young Adults, Past Trauma, and Foster Care Town Hall. Their conversation centered on ways young people are coping with school, work and personal relationships in the midst of a pandemic and social unrest. The OYC Young Leaders have already expressed interest in holding additional virtual conversations between young people and professionals. Click here to access the audio recording and partner resources.

The Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT), awarded by the California Community Colleges, provides a guaranteed pathway for students to transfer to a four-year university in a specific major. Since 2018, The L.A. Compact Student Success Workgroup (SSWG) has been involved in developing a study using their own institutional data to evaluate the effectiveness of the ADT.

A population measure of child well-being, the Early Development Instrument (EDI) is currently being used in over 25 countries. Since 2009, the use of the instrument has grown steadily in the U.S., especially in Southern California. However, there has been no research to date that looks at the EDI’s utility in predicting future school performance among U.S. children. Our partners at UCLA, along with researchers at UCI and Purdue University, conducted a study to fill this gap, showing that the EDI is a strong predictor of children’s third grade proficiency in math and reading.

On July 21, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors made clear that inaction is no longer an option. They unanimously approved a motion introduced by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas to establish an antiracist policy agenda for the County. The motion calls for the County to confront and address explicit institutional racism by evaluating how County policies, practices, operations and programs are holding back the advancement of Black Angelenos. At last Tuesday’s board meeting, leaders representing various County departments also expressed their support for the motion and pledged to advance racial and social equity within their own departments.

A member of the Health Sector Collaborative, Charles R. Drew University (CDU) is providing free COVID-19 testing to Los Angeles County residents. The work is being done in collaboration with the City and County of Los Angeles and Martin Luther King, Jr. Outpatient Center (MLK OPC). “As the statistics are now showing, under-resourced communities of color are being disproportionately affected by the novel coronavirus. However, there have been very few, if any, COVID-19 testing sites in these communities,” said Charles Drew University President and CEO Dr. David M. Carlisle.