UNITE-LA grounds its work in a collective impact approach, emphasizing thoughtful, strategic and persistent partnerships to address complex social issues and achieve systemic change. In September, we were excited to support presentations on the Horizons 32K strategic plan, California's Master Plan for Career Education, and the Los Angeles Region K-16 Collaborative at the SoCal Grantmakers Annual Conference and Ed Trust West's Ed Equity Forum. A unifying theme at both conferences was the critical need for continued alignment of systems and resources, and improved cross-sector relationships, accountability and trust in order to effectively advance our shared vision of equitable and thriving futures for students and families.

At the SoCal 2024 Grantmakers Annual Conference, Better Together: Creating a Collective Legacy, UNITE-LA proudly supported two presentations on the Horizons 32K strategic plan and California’s Master Plan on Career Education:

• The Horizons 32K plan aims to change the systemic conditions contributing to more than 143,000 young people being disconnected from school and work in L.A. County. By 2028, government and community leaders have committed to reducing youth disconnection by 32,000, collaborating across silos to ensure all Los Angeles opportunity youth secure and persist in quality education, training and employment pathways. A heartfelt thanks to panelists Christie Cardenas (Conrad N. Hilton Foundation), Lauri Collier (L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative), Alex Guerrero (L.A. OYC), Gerardo Ruvalcaba (L.A. City Economic & Workforce Development Department), Jim Lancaster (L.A. Community College District), and Erica Reynoso, Ph.D. (L.A. County Department of Mental Health).
• The Master Plan for Career Education is a blueprint for postsecondary and workforce training across the state, aiming to serve California’s current and future workforce by making policy and budgetary recommendations and aligning educational pathways with the needs of our state, regions, and local communities. Thank you to our panel—Linda Bermudez (Los Angeles Regional Consortia), Luis Dorado (L.A. Harbor College), Jermaine Hampton (LAEDC), and Kelly King (Foundation for the L.A. Community Colleges), and UNITE-LA’s very own Adam Gottlieb—for sharing developments on the Master Plan’s upcoming implementation.

At Ed Trust West’s Annual Education Equity Forum 2024: Authenticity & Action, UNITE-LA highlighted the Los Angeles Region K-16 Collaborative’s subregional approach to improving education to workforce pathways and leveraging state funds for collective impact. This was done in partnership with the Central Coast K-16 Collaborative, which showcased their own approach to collective impact and use of the same funds. For more information, please reach out to Carrie Lemmon, Senior Vice President of Systems Change Strategy, at [email protected] or Adam Gottlieb, Director of Postsecondary Strategy and Policy, at [email protected].