In his 2016 State of the City address, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the L.A. College Promise, a landmark initiative to improve college going rates among Los Angeles youth.

Beginning in 2017, graduates of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) began to receive one year of free community college tuition at any of the nine campuses of the Los Angeles Community College District. The following year, the state legislature passed AB 19, which administers promise programs across the state and widens the eligibility of students in the L.A. region. Data, curated by LACCD, shows that more than 20,000 across the region have been served through the program, the majority of students graduating from LAUSD schools. LACCD is actively supporting this program for students from across the state and coordinating with LAUSD and UNITE-LA on greater enrollment of local students.