Announcements & Commentary
Governor Newsom on California’s Golden Ticket to $4.4 Trillion
Our Golden Ticket is not one organization’s argument. It has been carried by leaders across postsecondary education, policy, business and advocacy who understand what’s at stake. This week, the governor of California joined them.
In a video message, Governor Gavin Newsom makes the case for Our Golden Ticket, laying out California’s ambitious postsecondary attainment goal and what reaching it could mean for our state.
I’m grateful to Governor Newsom for lending his voice to this work. His message confirms what I have seen throughout my career: for California, postsecondary opportunity is economic opportunity.
When we launched Our Golden Ticket earlier this year, research from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce gave us a powerful picture of what reaching California’s attainment goal could mean. But we also wanted to push the conversation beyond the numbers.
After decades working in postsecondary education, conversations about attainment can sometimes feel like Groundhog Day. We know where the gaps are. We know many of the barriers. If we want different results, we have to be willing to do things differently.
That starts with listening to learners. What do they need from postsecondary education? What gets in their way? And, importantly, is the credential they are working toward actually going to improve their economic future? It also means bringing employers in as partners who help shape what learners study, the skills they build and the opportunities available to them.
I heard those questions play out recently in the Inland Empire, where I joined business, civic, workforce and postsecondary leaders to talk about the region’s economic future. Georgetown’s research found that reaching 70% attainment across the Inland Empire alone could generate more than $1 trillion in cumulative economic gains.
That is the promise of Our Golden Ticket. Not attainment for attainment’s sake, but education and training that leads to economic mobility for learners and builds the talent our communities and employers need.
Governor Newsom has given California an ambitious goal and backed it with meaningful investment. I’m grateful to him for helping bring attention to what is possible. Now we have to make sure we deliver for the Californians at the center of it. That is the work ahead and it is how we rebuild the California Dream for everyone.
Sincerely,
Eloy Ortiz Oakley
President & CEO | College Futures Foundation
