Category: T.E.A. Blogs Archive

T.E.A. with College Futures featuring Dr. Su Jin Jez

Newsom's executive order for a new coordinated education effort to prepare learners for the workforce of tomorrow is intended to break down long-standing silos between sectors – an aim California Competes, a policy and research organization, worked to accomplish through the Los Angeles County 2nd District California Community Colleges Career Ready Pilot (LA2CCC). Dr. Su Jin Jez, chief executive officer of California Competes, shares more.

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T.E.A. with College Futures featuring Jetaun Stevens

Jetaun Stevens, a senior staff attorney with Public Advocates, is well aware of the inequities experienced by today’s learners and is working to support California’s affordable student housing efforts. Stevens shares more about the recently-launched California Affordable Student Housing (CASH) Coalition and offers insight into how equity champions can help address housing insecurity.

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T.E.A. with College Futures featuring Dr. Adrián Trinidad

Known formally as the Racial Equity Commission for the California Community Colleges, the group is dedicated to transforming institutions to better serve students of color. Dr. Adrián Trinidad, associate director of community college partnerships at the USC REC, shares more about the commission’s racial equity series of projects, including the recent release of a graphic novel and a new framework to reimagine racial equity in California Community Colleges.

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T.E.A. with College Futures featuring Maya Valree

The Education Trust—West (ETW) are taking the lead on amplifying the voices of student parents and working to develop system-wide solutions to better support the postsecondary success and comprehensive well-being of student parents and their families. Maya Valree, ETW’s policy analyst (parenting students), offers her thoughts on why California’s student parents must be included in higher education’s equity conversations and shares ETW’s plans for improving student parent support.

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T.E.A. with College Futures featuring Pamela Burdman

Just Equations and The Campaign for College Opportunity recently partnered to release Greater Equity in Higher Education Through Math Opportunity. Pamela Burdman, Just Equations’ executive director and co-author of the brief, provides more insight into how math is a critical component of the higher education equity conversations; she offers her thoughts on where California’s public postsecondary systems currently stand in their math equity quests and where there is room to grow.

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T.E.A. with College Futures featuring Sarah Pauter

In July 2021, John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY) released The Overlooked Obstacle, the first of two publications calling attention to how SAP policies and appeals stand as barriers for maintaining financial aid, disproportionately impacting students of color, first-generation students, foster youth, and students experiencing homelessness. Sarah Pauter, a senior project manager with JBAY, offers a SAP primer and shares how adjustments to existing SAP policies are key to advancing institutional and system-wide equity goals.

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T.E.A. with College Futures featuring Darcel Sanders

The Community Engagement for College Success Network (CECSN), represented by 13 local and statewide organizations, released findings from their statewide research poll conducted to better understand the key priorities, barriers, experiences, and values shaping the attitudes of college students in California, with a particular focus on students of color. GO Public Schools served on CECSN’s statewide poll working group. Darcel Sanders, GO’s chief executive officer, shares the impetus behind the statewide poll and offers her thoughts on the findings.

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T.E.A. with College Futures featuring Marcos Montes

In early 2020, Southern California College Attainment Network (SoCal CAN) launched Let’s Go to College CA (Let’s Go) – an online resource hub – to support students navigating higher education through the pandemic. SoCal CAN policy director and Let’s Go program manager Marcos Montes (pictured right) reflects on the program’s evolution and, in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, shares more about the program’s findings and the peer network’s focus on student mental health.

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T.E.A. with College Futures featuring Blanca Gomez

A central component to creating successful dual enrollment communities is “equity-driven outreach, recruitment, and enrollment efforts,” finds an evaluation report of Dual Enrollment for Equitable Completion by RDP Consulting. Blanca Gomez, dean of student services at East Los Angeles College, shares more about her institution’s intentional approach to dual enrollment outreach and messaging that encourages students – and their families – to see themselves as college students.

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T.E.A. with College Futures featuring Dr. Tanya Moore

In August 2021, the Governor’s Council on Post-Secondary Education convened the Intersegmental Working Group on Student Basic Needs – comprised of practitioners and student representatives from across the state – with the goal of providing the state with a set of recommendations to better support student basic needs. After months of analyzing existing research, conducting interviews, and surfacing common themes, the Working Group developed 20 recommendations focused on streamlining access and maximizing uptake to publicly available resources and supports. Dr. Tanya Moore, managing partner for Intersecting Lines, LLC. (pictured right), shares more about her experience facilitating the Working Group and offers an update on implementation plans.

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T.E.A. with College Futures featuring Nancy Jodaitis

In October of 2021, Immigrants Rising commemorated 20 years of AB 540 —landmark legislation that created opportunities for undocumented and other eligible students to access and complete postsecondary education in California. The 20-year AB 540 celebration also included a new call to action, leading to the creation of the AB 540 Intersystem Workgroup (ISWG) charged with ensuring equitable implementation of the law across the state’s three public higher education segments. Nancy Jodaitis, director of higher education at Immigrants Rising (pictured right), shares an update on the ISWG and her hope for the future of their work.

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