Joint Advocacy Workgroup, convened by the L.A. Area Chamber: The Joint Advocacy Workgroup met on October 9th to discuss education policy wins and losses in the 2018 legislative session as well as to plan for its upcoming 2019 legislative retreat which will be held in early December. LAUSD announced that Governor Brown had signed three of their top priority bills into law: AB 2234, which authorizes minor witness testimony under 18 years of age, in egregious misconduct cases, be taken in a room outside the hearing room and be televised by two-way closed circuit television; AB 2488, which creates a five-year pilot program to allow LAUSD to award multiple task order procurement contracts through a single bid request for repairing and renovating school facilities; and AB 3192, which requires the Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with the Local Education Agency Ad Hoc Workgroup and the California Department of Education, to prepare and complete a fiscal and compliance audit guide of the LEA Medical billing option.

Postsecondary Initiatives & Workgroups:

Institutions of Higher Education Collaborative, convened by UNITE-LA: The IHE Collaborative Steering Committee met on October 12th to strategize the agenda for a December 2018 convening of the full Collaborative. In December, the IHE Collaborative partners will re-examine their set of IHE commitments in light of the new and revised L.A. Compact goals. Partners will also bring information about their institution’s enrollment projections. This will mark the start of an effort by the IHE Collaborative to develop a regional forecast of our local higher education institution’s combined enrollment capacity, which will be further analyzed in light of student demographic trends. The December 2018 convening will be the second convening of the year for the IHE Collaborative. The group last met at the end of March to revise the L.A. Compact goal related to postsecondary attainment and discuss progress updates for IHE Collaborative work groups and initiatives.

L.A. College Promise, convened by the L.A. Mayor’s Office: The L.A. College Promise kicked off the second year of implementation this fall and the partners continue to see encouraging early results for the first two cohorts, including increases in direct college enrollment (including full-time enrollment), increases in the number of students completing math/English courses, and in the number of students persisting between semesters and academic years. The partners also recently celebrated the development of the Mayor’s Young AmbassadorsProgram which provides LACP Scholars with the opportunity to travel abroad, free of charge, in order to expand their worldviews and increase their cross-cultural awareness. Lastly, on October 16, Mayor Eric Garcetti hosted LA College Promise students at Los Angeles City Hall to learn about their successes and discuss how the Promise can continue to provide support and remove barriers for students.

Student Success Workgroup, convened by UNITE-LA: The Student Success Workgroup met on October 9 todiscuss how the partners might conceptualize a regional “College Promise” that spans L.A. County. Thepartners reviewed a draft concept paper prepared by UNITE-LA and discussed the set of mutual commitments that might be set forth for institutions, for students, and for parents and caregivers. The county-wide“Promise” would promote a simple message of college opportunity and affordability to local students andfamilies, while challenging participating K-12 and postsecondary institutions to take shared responsibility for student completion. The partners also discussed developments related to CSUN Connections, which is developing reverse transfer pathways across CSUN and three feeder L.A. Community College District (LACCD) campuses, and efforts to align Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) pathways in the region so that more localADT earners can efficiently complete a bachelor’s degree at a local CSU campus.

CSUN Connections, convened by Cal State University Northridge: In September, representatives from the CSUN Connections partner institutions traveled to Washington, DC to participate in a technical assistanceworkshop for communities that are actively assisting adults with “some college, no degree.” Hosted by theInstitute of Higher Education Policy (IHEP) and sponsored by the Lumina Foundation, the workshop brought together higher education leaders from Austin, Corpus Christi, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, the Rio Grande Valley, and Shasta County. The event helped communities think through strategies for identifying and messaging to adults who have stopped out of college, as well as designing supports and interventions to help this population re-enroll and graduate.

In October, UNITE-LA and LACCD presented on CSUN Connections as an example of intersegmental collaboration at the 2018 Strengthening Student Success Conference in Anaheim, CA. The CSUN Connections implementation team met at the end of October to finalize details to launch the joint outreach campaign targeting adults who are a few credits shy of completing an associate degree, with the hope of getting this group to re-enroll for the Spring 2019 term.

Kindergarten Readiness Assessment Project, convened by First 5 L.A.: First 5 LA finalized the second cohort of school districts that will collect Early Development Instrument (EDI) data during the 2018-19 school year. In addition to the original seven school districts that collected data in 2017-2018, Compton Unified School District and Lowell Joint School District will also start collecting data this school year. Los Angeles Unified School District will also receive additional resources to expand their EDI data collection efforts across local districts Central, West, and the remainder of Local District South. As a result, approximately 13,000 kindergartners (representing about 14% of the total kindergartner population) in LA County will be reached by the end of this school year. The final school districts were announced on October 25th at the First 5 Los Angeles Board of Commissioners Program Planning and Committee meeting. View the presentation to the Commission here. The So Cal EDI Learning Exchange also held their quarterly meeting on September 26th and focused the conversation around how to make EDI data actionable by the school community as well as with community stakeholders. The next Sol Cal EDI Learning Exchange will take place on November 28th.

Ariana Oliva officially started her role at UNITE-LA as the L.A. Compact’s new Early Childhood Manager on September 10th. Ariana has been interviewing school districts who recently collected EDI data in order to better understand how they are utilizing the data to mobilize key stakeholders and move towards policy and systems change. UNITE-LA will compile these findings and produce a brief in early 2019 to inform future strategies related to EDI and early childhood system building in L.A. County.

Workforce Development Initiatives:

L.A. Workforce Systems Collaborative (LAWSC), convened by the L.A. Area Chamber: The Workforce Systems Collaborative developed the Compact 3.0 Career Readiness Goal recommendation to the Stewardship Group in September and met in October to discuss developing coordinated approaches across systems to employer and industry engagement.

Health Sector Collaborative (HSC), convened by the L.A. Area Chamber: At its monthly meetings in September and October, the Health Sector Collaborative has been developing a 2019 pilot project aimed at making existing health care career pathways more easily navigable on the ground to workers and trainees in Los Angeles. The project will align partners across workforce development systems to support the existing workforce in growing their career and income and meet employer demand for retention and upskilling of their workforce. HSC members seek to finalize the pilot project design in December to ensure that it can be scaled up if it is successful.

L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC), convened by the Alliance for Children’s Rights:

L.A. County TAY Hub: Members of the OYC, including leaders from the Alliance for Children’s Rights, theL.A. Chamber of Commerce, and John Burton Advocates for Youth have been invited to serve on a steering committee for the County’s development of a centralized online resource hub for transition-age foster youth. The proposed TAY Hub will:

Consolidate existing countywide resources on a single platform;

Provide continuous online access; and

Engage TAY through online interaction and live peer-to-peer foster youth involvement to link youth to the right services and programs.

The TAY Hub Steering Committee met for the first time in October to review the group’s roles, responsibilities, and timeline for launching the Hub.

OYC Strategic Planning: The OYC completed over 20 interviews with stakeholders, as well as focus groups with transition-age youth and the OYC Foster Youth College Advancement Project, in September andOctober to inform the initiative’s new strategic plan. The Strategic Plan Executive Advisory Group will meet in November to discuss the OYC’s mission and hone in on key priorities for the 3-year strategic plan.

OYC Foster Youth College Advancement Program (FYCAP), convened by John Burton Advocates for Youth and UNITE-LA: The OYC Foster Youth College Advancement Project (FYCAP) met in September to strategize ways to address food insecurity among current and former foster youth and to discusspreparations for the county’s participation in the 2018-19 California Foster Youth FAFSA Challenge. John Burton Advocates for Youth and UNITE-LA worked closely with the Office of L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger to introduce a board motion on the topic of college preparation. On October 2nd, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted the motion, which proclaimed October 2018 “Foster Youth College Awareness Month” and directed various county agencies to participate in the FAFSA Challenge, and to collaborate with each other and with the Education Coordinating Council to assist youth with their financial aid and college applications. JBAY and UNITE-LA also rolled out their new 3-hour curriculum on college planning for caregivers in October. This curriculum includes 2 modules for caregivers with youth between the ages of 12 and 19 in their care. JBAY and UNITE-LA trained trainers from local Foster and Kinship Care Education programs, who will begin offering this curriculum to caregivers in Spring 2019. This training is part of a set of strategies that the Department of Children and Family Services is launching to empower caregivers to support youth with college planning.

In 2017, FYCAP organized the first ever Fostering Connections to Higher Education Summit to promote learning and connections between college campus support programs for foster youth and DCFS ILP. Attendees who participated in a survey on the summit overwhelmingly expressed interest in getting additional information on workforce services in the future. This year, FYCAP is partnering with the Reconnecting LA Youth (ReLAY) Institute, Cal State LA, DCFS, and L.A. County Workforce Development Aging and Community Services Department to organize a second annual Fostering Connections Summit at the end of November, this time with a focus on both higher education and career services. The summit will bring together approximately 175 workforce, higher education, and DCFS staff who work with transition-age foster youth to share information about how to access each others’ services. Planned sessions include “Career Exploration & Motivating Change for Foster Youth,” “How to access workforceresources,” and “In-demand occupations and training programs in L.A. County.”

Fostering Careers L.A., convened by the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce and the Alliance for Children’sRights: In early October, the OYC completed four focus groups with foster youth, relative caregivers and resource families, DCFS Independent Living Program staff, and education and workforce agencies to solicit input on a new Career Readiness Guide for L.A. County foster youth. Through the end of the year, the OYC will convene a content advisory group to continue to provide feedback on the guide through many iterations of its development.

100,000 Opportunities Initiative, convened by the Alliance for Children’s Rights, iFoster, and the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce: The iFoster Jobs Program hosted two cohorts at Los Angeles Trade Technical College and Citrus College in September and October. Twenty-three current and former foster youth participated and completed the 30+ hours of job readiness training. After being assessed as work-ready, the youth will be connected with entry-level employment opportunities and receive priority interview consideration.

iFoster, L.A. County DCFS and AmeriCorps are working together to launch the TAY AmeriCorps paid service program in January 2018. Investing up to $4.5 million annually, this program will train and employ transition-age foster youth in service roles supporting other foster youth in the areas of education, employment and life skills development. Tied to career paths in LA County departments, the service opportunities in this program are designed to develop job skills and work experience required to be eligible for permanent employment within County departments, develop mid-level job skills transferrable to private sector employment, and savings opportunities to enable program participants to exit foster care with sufficient assets to be financially stable once they are independent of the child welfare system. A minimum three-year commitment has already been agreed upon and federal funding secured with the potential for renewal.

Los Angeles Performance Partnership Pilot (LA P3), convened by L.A. City EWDD and L.A. County WDACS: On September 26th, nearly 100 stakeholders attended the P3 Quarterly Meeting to learn about issues facing expecting and parenting teens in L.A. County and efforts to improve awareness of reproductive health issues and resources among foster youth. By age 19, 52% of foster youth have been pregnant as compared to 20.1% in the general population. 1 in 5 foster youth have been pregnant 2 or more times by age 19. You can view all the P3 Quarterly Meeting materials here.

Reconnecting Los Angeles Youth (ReLAY) Institute, convened by the CSU5: In early October, the ReLAY Institute convened a planning committee to help identify short and long-term alignment opportunities and priorities between the Institute and key sector partners. The purpose of the ReLAY Institute is to create sustainable systemic change that will provide improved education, employment, housing, and health and well-being outcomes for disconnected youth throughout the L.A. basin. ReLAY will build the capacity of public and private service providers by increasing their knowledge and analytic capacity, by capturing and sharing data, identifying best practices, disseminating innovation, and fostering networks.ReLAY is a partnership between the region’s five Cal State Universities and the LA PerformancePartnership Pilot. In 2019, ReLAY will be rolling out five interrelated Pillars to advance the goals of the Institute:

The Research and Evaluation Network

The Consortium for Public Policy Education

The Innovation Hive

The Academy for Professional Development

The Alliance for Engaged Learning