The L.A. Region K–16 Collaborative is the region's engine for aligning K–12 districts, higher education and industry partners to build seamless pathways into health care, computer science and engineering careers.

In 2025, the K-16 Collaborative:

• Led five regional communities of practice that explored effective dual enrollment models, ways to embed workforce relevance into K-12 curriculum and strategies to strengthen inter-campus transfer. These sessions surfaced promising practices and supported partners in scaling what works across the region.
• Hosted four regional workforce sessions in partnership with LAEDC that connected educators with employers in health care, computer science and engineering, helping faculty and counselors better understand labor market needs and design curriculum that prepares students for real-world careers.
• Organized a site visit to the Metropolitan Water District, where 20 teachers and faculty from across the region explored engineering and water-sector careers to embed career insights into the classroom. Stemming from this visit, LAUSD has continued to work with the Water District to develop a new work-based learning curriculum for students enrolled at area high schools.
• Released Strengthening L.A.'s Health Care Talent Pipeline to identify the key barriers preventing students from progressing into high-growth health care careers and opportunities for cradle-to-career collaboration. The report highlights limited early exposure to diverse health occupations and labor market-informed advising, a lack of health-care–specific dual enrollment courses, and major gaps in transfer pathways that make it difficult for students to advance into four-year programs. Moving forward, UNITE-LA will collaborate with L.A. Jobs First and K–16 partners to turn these insights into actionable systems change to align education-to-career pathways in health care.

For more information, please reach out to Carrie Lemmon, Senior Vice President, Systems Change Strategy at UNITE-LA, at [email protected].