The Inland Empire Enrollment and Persistence Study aims to understand experiences of young adults in the Inland Empire who had planned/hoped to complete college but did not.
Why is it important?
Young adults’ obstacles to achievement are not well understood and the pandemic has both compounded the difficulty and reinforced the importance of learning about their experiences. Reaching them and learning first-hand about their experiences allows us to identify regional educational support to decrease barriers and increase opportunities for them to meet their hopes/plans.
In the 1970s and 80s, traditionalist educators insisted that a great education should include lots of structure, specific standards of performance, and a heavy dose of memorization of key facts and concepts. These they assured, would help our students to enter the workforce already proficient in language and writing skills, mathematics, science, social studies, and some critical thinking. Are those skills enough for an IE student to succeed in the current and coming workforce? What do students in the Inland Empire need to know today? Are our schools preparing graduates with what they really need to know and preparing our community with upcoming graduates ready to take local businesses and industry into a brighter future? Find out in today’s episode.
Featured Guests
Michael Goss
Director of the Inland Empire/Desert Center of Excellence for Labor Market Research
Kevin McCarty was elected to the California State Assembly in 2014 to represent the 7th Assembly District, which includes Sacramento, West Sacramento and parts of unincorporated Sacramento County.
McCarty serves as Chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance, which oversees the largest component of California’s multi-billion dollar budget. As Chair, McCarty made historic investments in public education including expanding access to preschool for low and middle income families, providing greater career technical education programs, and increasing student enrollment at our public colleges and universities.
Other legislative priorities for Assemblymember McCarty include addressing housing affordability, fighting climate change, championing criminal justice reform, curbing gun violence, tackling the opioid crisis and advocating for the middle class.
McCarty began his public service career as a Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Commissioner and served on the Sacramento City Council from 2004 to 2014. As a Councilmember, he created innovative youth programs and wrote common-sense gun laws, tackled sub-standard rental housing, and crafted clean air policies. He created Sacramento’s Little Saigon district, the City’s Whistleblower Hotline program, and the Independent Auditor department.
A lifelong Sacramentan, McCarty went to local public schools, attended American River College, earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from CSU Long Beach and a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration from CSU Sacramento.
McCarty and his wife live in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Sacramento with their twin daughters.
Like, follow and connect with Assemblymember McCarty on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @AsmKevinMcCarty
Paul Granillo
President & CEO, Inland Empire Economic Partnership (IEEP)
Karen Scott is the Executive Director of the Children and Families Commission – First 5 San Bernardino, a funding organization of services for children prenatal through age 5, by investing revenue received from Prop 10, a tobacco tax initiative in California.
Ms. Scott’s education and background is in Public Administration and Administration of Justice and she has worked in the realm of Human Services for San Bernardino County since 1977. Karen has served as Executive Director of First 5 San Bernardino for 14 years leading the organization’s efforts to promote, support and enhance the health and early development of children, prenatal through age five through coordinated and comprehensive systems of care that strengthen children, families and communities, ensuring children are safe, healthy and ready to enter and succeed in school.
Karen is married to James Scott and has 4 adult children and 4 grandchildren.
Interview Highlights
8:17 – Michael shares the most in-demand careers right now and in the future for the Inland Empire
10:15 – Michael describes how the Inland Empire is doing as a region in keeping up with workforce demand
13:02 – Michael discusses particular industries that he believes are economically critical to the Inland Empire
14:20 – Michael details what we can do as a region to be more competitive going forward
15:12 – Michael talks about some of the most significant challenges that we’re facing in regards to training and meeting the needs of businesses in the region.
18:28 – Michael gives insight into how COVID-19 has changed the workforce in the Inland Empire
23:16 – Paul shares the greatest challenges facing the Inland Empire today
25:36 – Paul describes how the Inland Empire is doing when it comes to training and education of a workforce to meet the needs of employers
26:40 – Paul reflects on the lessons we’ve learned about our local economy as a result of the pandemic.
30:34 – Paul explains what he believes is needed from our workforce and our local educational institutions to create a more vibrant regional economy.
34:37 – Paul shares whether or not he believes education is necessary to earn a living wage in our region
38:46 – Paul discusses whether or not more college graduates = more businesses in the Inland Empire
46:08 – Special Feature Original Song: Romeo by: Micha Justice
Education Insight tells the story of education in the Inland Empire through the diverse voices of those in and around the regional education community. The show is produced by Growing Inland Achievement, a collective impact organization in the Inland Empire with a mission to increase economic prosperity in the region by increasing educational attainment. Hosted by 30-year broadcast veteran Lacey Kendall, monthly shows explore topics ranging from education challenges and shortcomings to innovations and groundbreaking ideas that are driving student success.
Educators, researchers, scientists, and politicians have proven that if you want your child to make it to college, starting them at pre-school has extraordinary payoffs for lifelong learning. Unfortunately, pre-school operates differently in every community. There are many programs providing free pre-school to very poor communities and a number of almost ivy-league pre-schools for wealthy families. Many middle-class families have been unable to afford what was left for their children.
But Kevin McCarty, the State Representative from Sacramento crafted AB 22 — a bill aimed at making pre-school or Transitional Kindergarten possible and free for any family in California that chooses to enroll their child. It passed in August and with the assistance of AB130, which provides wrap-around services like additional child-care and extra funding — California is setting up programs across the state. Today we’re sorting thru the differences in pre-school and transitional kindergarten, plus what parents can expect.
Featured Guests
Kevin McCarty
California State Assembly Member, 7th district.
Kevin McCarty was elected to the California State Assembly in 2014 to represent the 7th Assembly District, which includes Sacramento, West Sacramento and parts of unincorporated Sacramento County.
McCarty serves as Chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance, which oversees the largest component of California’s multi-billion dollar budget. As Chair, McCarty made historic investments in public education including expanding access to preschool for low and middle income families, providing greater career technical education programs, and increasing student enrollment at our public colleges and universities.
Other legislative priorities for Assemblymember McCarty include addressing housing affordability, fighting climate change, championing criminal justice reform, curbing gun violence, tackling the opioid crisis and advocating for the middle class.
McCarty began his public service career as a Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Commissioner and served on the Sacramento City Council from 2004 to 2014. As a Councilmember, he created innovative youth programs and wrote common-sense gun laws, tackled sub-standard rental housing, and crafted clean air policies. He created Sacramento’s Little Saigon district, the City’s Whistleblower Hotline program, and the Independent Auditor department.
A lifelong Sacramentan, McCarty went to local public schools, attended American River College, earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from CSU Long Beach and a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration from CSU Sacramento.
McCarty and his wife live in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Sacramento with their twin daughters.
Like, follow and connect with Assemblymember McCarty on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @AsmKevinMcCarty
Karen Scott
Executive Director, First 5 San Bernardino.
Karen Scott is the Executive Director of the Children and Families Commission – First 5 San Bernardino, a funding organization of services for children prenatal through age 5, by investing revenue received from Prop 10, a tobacco tax initiative in California.
Ms. Scott’s education and background is in Public Administration and Administration of Justice and she has worked in the realm of Human Services for San Bernardino County since 1977. Karen has served as Executive Director of First 5 San Bernardino for 14 years leading the organization’s efforts to promote, support and enhance the health and early development of children, prenatal through age five through coordinated and comprehensive systems of care that strengthen children, families and communities, ensuring children are safe, healthy and ready to enter and succeed in school.
Karen is married to James Scott and has 4 adult children and 4 grandchildren.
Interview Highlights
2:52 – Karen explains the difference between Pre-K and TK
4:38 – Karen shares what research shows as far as the value of Universal TK
6:43 – Karen describes the biggest challenges were going to encounter when adopting high-quality universal TK in the Inland Empire.
9:04 – Karen details what skills children are learning or developing when they attend TK programs
9:50 – Karen talks about the ongoing teacher shortage and how they plan to combat it
15:57 – Kevin gives insight into what inspired him to make transitional kindergarten free for children in California
20:21 – Kevin estimates how many children he thinks will enroll in this program
24:36 – Kevin shares why he thinks Californians are in support of this initiative
26:26 – Kevin describes how TK will implement quality improvements to address social, emotional, and early academic development
33:46 – Kevin talks about how California State preschool and Head-Start programs will be affected when Universal TK begins.
Education Insight tells the story of education in the Inland Empire through the diverse voices of those in and around the regional education community. The show is produced by Growing Inland Achievement, a collective impact organization in the Inland Empire with a mission to increase economic prosperity in the region by increasing educational attainment. Hosted by 30-year broadcast veteran Lacey Kendall, monthly shows explore topics ranging from education challenges and shortcomings to innovations and groundbreaking ideas that are driving student success.
The office overseeing the Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program will be hosting a live webinar on February 25, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. Several participants from the Inland Empire K-16 Education Collaborative (GIA, IEGO, IECF, etc.) will be in attendance to bring details back to Inland Empire stakeholders in a regional debrief meeting at 1:00 p.m. the same day. However, all interested parties are encouraged to participate in the OPSC webinar as well.
The webinar will include an overview of the grant opportunity, including a Phase 1 round this spring for mature existing collaboratives and a later Phase 2 round of planning and implementation grants for collaboratives in earlier development stages. The webinar will also describe the legal requirements for this program and provide an opportunity for stakeholders and potential applicants to ask questions and share ideas.
Date: Feb. 25, 2022
Time: 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (PT)
Registration: Please register for the OPSC webinar here.
* Register for the regional debrief and discussion (1:00 p.m. the same day) here.
Established in the 2021 Budget Act, this program is part of a statewide strategy for both strengthening education-to-workforce pathways and ensuring that education, vocational, and workforce programs work in partnership to address the income, racial, and gender inequalities in education and employment.
This one-time $250 million investment will fund robust regional collaboratives involving K-12 districts, community colleges, state universities, and workforce development entities.
Learn more about local efforts to work together and collaborate on a united Inland Empire grant application.
In this episode we learn about college affordability and access and gain a better understanding of student grants, loans and the billions that are available right now for students from all backgrounds to use for college. And, what’s being done to make the process easier to apply, and make college affordable and accessible for residents of our region.
Our guests include Catalina Cifuentes; an expert in College and Career Readiness, for Riverside County’s Office of Education, and the Chair of the California Student Aid Commission. And, ET Winzer, Director of Strategic Outreach and Engagement at Federal Student Aid–an Office of the U.S. Department of Education.
Featured Guests
ET Winzer
Director and Strategic Outreach and Engagement at Federal Student Aid (FSA), and Office of the U.S. Department of Education.
Director, Strategic Outreach and Engagement at Federal Student Aid (FSA), an Office of the U.S. Department of Education
Collaborates across Federal Student Aid, the US Department of Education, other federal agencies, and with industry experts to develop and execute innovative solutions. Develops partnerships and initiatives to equip students and families with the tools to make sensible post-secondary education decisions. Identifies business and industry best practices to improve Federal Student Aid performance. Utilizes relationships with stakeholders and organizations in the education space to improve student success.
Catalina Cifuentes
Executive Director, College and Career Readiness, Riverside County Office of Education.
Catalina Cifuentes is an educator who has demonstrated a gift for counseling and advocacy on behalf of all students.
In her former position as lead counselor at Santiago High School, Corona- Norco Unified School District, Catalina worked with the counseling team to design a successful guidance program which led to Riverside County as well as California Department of Education recognitions for exemplary counseling practices. She worked with her administrative team and staff to transform the school by raising the academic rigor and expectations from students resulting in the highest graduation rate and second highest A-G completion rate in Riverside, Inyo, Mono and San Bernardino County.
Catalina now shares those best counseling practices across Riverside County as the Executive Director of College and Career Readiness in the Riverside County Office of Education. Catalina focuses her work on the Riverside County Office of Education’s Pledge: “All students will graduate from high school well prepared for college or the workforce.” She is also a former secondary Language Arts teacher and has extensive experience working with English Learner programs.
She was selected in November 2014 as a speaker for the College Opportunity White House Convening- Strengthening School Counseling and College Advising. As a former Advancement Via Individual Determination student and first-generation college graduate, Catalina has a passion for this work and it is contagious.
Interview Highlights
3:17 – ET explains what FAFSA is and how it pertains to student aid.
5:22 – ET shares some ways they are simplifying and modernizing the FAFSA programs in order to make it more accessible and beneficial to students and their families.
7:08 – ET explains how the federal student aid office determines who is eligible for financial assistance.
13:42 – ET details recent laws that have been implemented that are designed to simplify the application process
15:23 – ET gives advice to students who are considering taking out a loan to pay for their education
21:52 – Catalina explains the impacts of Governor Newsom’s recent signing of legislation to approve college affordability and increase access to higher education
27:42 – Catalina gives insight to areas we need the most improvement on
31:31 – Catalina details how many students in the Inland Empire actually complete the FAFSA
35:11 – Catalina shares what we can do in the Inland Empire to increase FAFSA completion rates
37:07 – Catalina reflects on how many students think college is simply out of reach financially.
Education Insight tells the story of education in the Inland Empire through the diverse voices of those in and around the regional education community. The show is produced by Growing Inland Achievement, a collective impact organization in the Inland Empire with a mission to increase economic prosperity in the region by increasing educational attainment. Hosted by 30-year broadcast veteran Lacey Kendall, monthly shows explore topics ranging from education challenges and shortcomings to innovations and groundbreaking ideas that are driving student success.
