SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that the state is awarding $54 million in grants to Los Angeles County, the Inland Empire, and the border region to strengthen the K-16 education-to-career pipeline. The grants are part of the K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program, which is a $250 million investment providing new pathways to career opportunities and addressing long-standing equity gaps for students in their local communities.
“California is preparing the next generation for the jobs of the future,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “We’re closing equity gaps, providing more resources to help our students achieve their career goals right in their own communities, and streamlining the pipeline from K-12 to higher education to careers.”
The program, administered by the Department of General Services (DGS), Office of Public School Construction, and Foundation for California Community Colleges, provides funding to enhance or create collaborative efforts between the University of California system, the California State University system, Community Colleges, K-12 School Districts, and workforce partners. This is a key component of a statewide strategy for cultivating regional economies and ensuring that education, vocational, and workforce programs work together to strengthen education and employment opportunities.
“The Department of General Services is pleased to continue funding efforts for the first phase of this innovative program and is excited to see the work that will be accomplished in these newly awarded regions,” said DGS Director Ana Lasso. “There is a tremendous need statewide for the role the collaboratives will fill in working to transform the public education system and meeting the needs of regional workforces while ensuring equitable pathways to meaningful careers for all learners of California. We are looking forward to rolling out the second phase of funding for the program soon, which will provide additional opportunities to expand this program throughout all regions of the state.”
Approximately $18 million will be awarded to each of the following collaboratives:
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Los Angeles County: The Los Angeles Region K-16 Collaborative aims to improve enrollment, persistence and degree completion of underrepresented students in fields that lead to increased economic mobility, starting with streamlined pathways to health care, engineering, and computer science careers. Five sub-regional partnerships anchored around five CSU campuses (Dominguez Hills, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Northridge, and Pomona) and their feeder K-12 and community colleges will work collectively to enhance dual enrollment, transfer pathways, and work-based learning in the region.
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Border Region: The Border Region Inclusive Talent Pipeline Collaborative brings together partners – California State University San Marcos, San Diego State University, UC San Diego, Imperial County and San Diego County Offices of Education – committed to improving the K-16 education system in the Border Region. The collaborative aims to strengthen pathways to build a representative talent pipeline in business, tech, health, and education sectors.
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Inland Empire: Leveraging the experience and success of two major collaboratives in the region, the Inland Empire Collaborative (IEC) will deploy a regional framework that incorporates educational, community, workforce, and employer engagement in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties to support equitable educational and economic opportunities for students and address equity barriers in career and technical education pathways in the areas of Healthcare, Engineering, and Computing, Business, and Education.
Summaries of each collaborative can be found on the Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program website.
Earlier this year, the Central San Joaquin Valley, North State, Kern County, Redwood Coast, Orange County, and Sacramento regions were awarded grants by the program. Summaries of each grant can be found here.
The second phase of funding available to regions that require additional time and planning to establish collaborative partners or to determine their program goals will be launching soon. Information about the second phase of funding can be found here.
