L.A. Cash for College is a financial aid awareness campaign that helps students and families navigate the financial aid process and realize their college potential. Through the annual College & Career Convention, financial aid completion workshops and scholarship incentives, we inform students about college and financial aid processes, personally assist students and families applying for financial aid, and reward students with potential $1,000 scholarships.
L.A. Youth at Work invests in our young adults to develop the future workforce. LAYAW solicits entry-level job commitments and internship opportunities from private sector employers then trains and certifies young adults between the ages of 16-24, free of charge and regardless of income or residency, with the skills necessary to qualify for entry-level employment.
The Real World of STEAM provides youth (ages 14-24) with career exposure/awareness throughout the different disciplines within the STEAM umbrella.
South L.A. Scholars provides paid work experience in a health care setting for South L.A. students enrolled in health-career-themed high schools. The program is designed to connect students, especially low-income and underrepresented youth residing in South Los Angeles, to meaningful summer internship opportunities, and help youth develop the necessary skills to secure future employment in the health sector.
The UNITE-LA Tech Pathway recognizes that talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. We work to bridge this gap by working with industry, educational institutions, community-based organizations and the City of Los Angeles to connect underserved talent to careers in technology.
UNITE-LA is committed to addressing critical health care workforce shortages to ensure a thriving regional economy. We're working with L.A.'s health care employers to create a diverse talent pipeline.
The LA Regional Cleantech Career Academy creates opportunities for students to succeed in California’s green energy future. Through education, job-readiness programs and paid work-based learning, future clean energy leaders develop the real-world skills employers need and gain access to high-growth, high-wage jobs.
Collective input, collective action, collective impact. The L.A. Compact is a bold commitment by Los Angeles leaders from education, business, government, labor, and non-profit sectors, to transform education outcomes from cradle to career, ensuring that today’s youth have the skills necessary to compete and succeed in a 21st century global workforce.
The L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative is closing postsecondary attainment and workforce gaps for BIPOC students by streamlining pathways into health care, engineering and computer science careers. The K-16 Collaborative is leveraging existing initiatives and relationships across L.A. County, uniting higher education segments and institutions, K-12 districts and schools, employers and business organizations, local government, and community partners to amplify our collective impact on equitable degree attainment.
In order to truly transform our educational system, change takes place at the local, state and national levels. UNITE-LA unifies with community-based organizations for local partnerships; the R.E.A.L. Coalition with statewide influence; and A.C.C.E. projecting a national voice.
Thirteen years ago, the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute revealed that while “96% of Latino parents want their children to attend college”, few understood how to support their children in the college admission process or how to access the financial aid opportunities that make that access affordable. Our mission is to educate students and families so their finances no longer are a factor in deciding whether or not to go to college.
UNITE-LA is partnering with the Los Angeles Regional Consortium (LARC) to ensure employers have access to skilled workforce that is representative of local, diverse talent, and that talent from underserved communities – particularly those who experience systemic barriers to living-wage career pathways – have access to high-demand, living-wage careers.
Our nation's equitable recovery, maximization of human capital and improved economic mobility depend on better informed collaboration among business, economic development leaders, regional workforce systems and education and training institutions. Each face new and large-scale challenges that demand an integrated approach.
UNITE-LA recognizes and works towards eliminating racial, economic and social inequities embedded in our institutions that have resulted in severe education, wealth and opportunity gaps by addressing the underlying structural, challenges too many of our communities face. Through policy, advocacy and collaboration, UNITE-LA creates new, innovative solutions that allow us to ensure a bright future where children, students and adult workers of all incomes, races, genders and backgrounds will be able to thrive in this new, 21st-century economy. By serving as a trusted intermediary that unites non-traditional partners, including the business community, educational systems and elected officials, we advance crucial, long-term, “cradle-through-career” systems advancements for the region.
