Over 230 education and community leaders gathered on October 25-26 for the sixth annual Toward a Shared Vision summit. The two-county regional event, hosted by Growing Inland Achievement (GIA), was held at the Riverside Convention Center. Attendees included leaders from K-12, postsecondary education, business, government, and nonprofit sectors who share a vision for increasing equitable educational attainment, preparing qualified workforce, and fueling a thriving Inland Empire economy.
The event’s theme The Power of Working Together highlighted the importance of collaboration in driving student success.
In his opening remarks, GIA’s President & CEO, Dr. Carlos Ayala, thanked attendees for their ongoing work to improve educational outcomes in the two-county region, and for their support of the Toward Shared Vision event, which further supports student success through GIA’s student scholarship fund.
“It’s essential to bring Inland Empire leaders together often to identify and address systemic issues that prevent students from having a successful educational journey,” said Ayala. “We all play a role in student success, and we can’t minimize the impact that even one person can have on the lives of our students.”
GIA President and CEO, Dr. Carlos Ayala, addresses the crowd at Toward a Shared Vision.
Throughout the two-day event, participants heard from keynote speakers including Kim A. Wilcox, Chancellor at the University of California, Riverside, Wolde-Ab Isaac, Chancellor of Riverside Community College District, Brianna Moran, a 2022 Redlands Adult School graduate and current student at Crafton Hills College, Andrew Koch, CEO at the Gardner Institute, Emily Appel, COO and Co-Founder at Made by Change, David Hardy Jr., CEO and Co-Founder at Made by Change, and Laura Hamilton, Professor and Chair of Sociology at the University of California, Merced, and Lab Co-Founder at HERE.
An emotional highlight from the event featured the story of Crafton Hills College student Brianna Moran. In her speech, Moran shared how a postcard from Redlands Adult School helped change the course of her life and pushed her to return to school after ten years. Moran earned her high school diploma at Redlands Adult School and is now a college student, as well as an honors program member at Crafton Hills College. Her story highlights the major impact that student outreach can have in the community.
Brianna Moran shares the story of her educational journey at Toward a Shared Vision.
Along with several keynote speeches, attendees also had the opportunity to experience 60-minute workshops to discuss current issues faced by students. These workshops helped fuel collaborative solutions for increasing equitable educational attainment in the Inland Empire. Workshop topics included information on increasing FASFA/CA Dream Act completion rates, increasing educational access and success for undocumented students, helping undocumented students pay for college, examining transfer complexities, implementing an innovative counseling model, educational outreach, postsecondary enrollment and persistence post-COVID, empowering students to postsecondary transition, supporting mental health for students, and student engagement.
“This is my second GIA-sponsored conference, and these conferences have become my favorite because of their intentionality and practicality,” said Mariana Macamay, Transfer Center Coordinator at Crafton Hills College. “GIA’s conferences bring our combined efforts from K-12 to higher education institutions and purposely allow us to have embedded planning sessions and conversations with key stakeholders and funding sources. That’s what makes this conference my favorite; we are all working together to make the Inland Empire stronger.”
Additional breakout sessions focused on introducing new tools and resources, such as project management software, to support regional institutions to continuously improve their planning and implementation practices. Time was also set aside for attendees to network with other Inland Empire leaders and share important takeaways from the event.
“Collaboration is critical to our success for multiple reasons. First, we develop relationships that support a culture of cross-collaboration throughout our institutions. Second, the aspirations that we define together affect our actions, and through changed actions we often deliver more than we had planned. And, finally, the outcomes derived when we actively move together deliver a gestalt impact for our communities that is greater than our individual achievements,” said Kim A. Wilcox, Chancellor at the University of California, Riverside. “The time at the conference was important because it helps us clarify our shared vision. I am excited about the work we will do to deliver greater educational and economic success throughout the region.”
Kim A. Wilcox, Chancellor at the University of California, Riverside, addresses the crowd at Toward a Shared Vision.
By researching, resourcing, and connecting educational institutions, nonprofits, and businesses in the Inland Empire, GIA has helped facilitate regional alignment to increase college preparedness, certificate and degree attainment, and career readiness. Learn more by visiting our website at https://gia.echofactory.dev.
Photos and additional resources from the two-day event are available through GIA’s website.
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GIA is a regional collective impact organization aimed at increasing postsecondary credential attainment, adding more qualified people to the workforce, and contributing to a thriving economy. GIA brings together leaders across K-20 education, civic, and business sectors to work together through a collective impact approach to achieve and scale educational and economic success. Several grants have helped GIA carry out their work, including support from a Governors Innovation Award, the College Futures Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Learn more at https://gia.echofactory.dev.
