VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION
UNITE-LA held its first Step into Tech Volunteer Orientation last month and were joined by 10 new and returning volunteers from Facebook, Create Music Group, Cisco, Snap, Manufacturers Bank and Acena Consulting. Volunteers learned about the why and who of Step into Tech and were provided a program overview that included volunteer roles and responsibilities. Interested in volunteering? Sign up here.

COHORT 5 LAUNCHED THIS MONTH
Last month, UNITE-LA kicked off the fifth cohort of Step into Tech with an impressive 22 participants, marking our largest cohort yet. UNITE-LA wasted no time and jumped into a vibrant networking session. The session commenced with an engaging and informative overview of networking delivered by our outstanding volunteer, Nick Pyzow. Both our participants and volunteers warmly received the presentation.

UNITE-LA's National Strategic Partnerships team has been scouring workforce trends to bring you February's edition of the Education & Talent Development Newsletter!

In February, the L.A. Unified Community Schools Steering Committee (CSSC) finalized the selection and designation of eight schools to join Cohort 5 of the Community Schools Initiative (CSI). This comes after UNITE-LA's role in co-creating solutions and leading efforts in school recruitment, application revisions, the creation of a scoring rubric to better align with the state's Community Schools framework, scorer trainings and the synthesizing of application scores and narratives from August to December 2023. The CSSC is thrilled to welcome this new and diverse group of schools, which includes 24th Street Elementary School, Charnock Elementary School, Cheremoya Elementary School, Coliseum Elementary School, Hancock Park Elementary School, Woodland Hills Academy Middle School, Public Service Community School at Diego Rivera Learning Complex and Lexington Primary Center.

UNITE-LA was front and center at last month's California Workforce Associations' Youth Summit.

Last month, members of the UNITE-LA Programs Team were busy representing UNITE-LA throughout Los Angeles.

The UNITE-LA Programs team hosted 65 partners for its Spring 2024 Open House in early February.

Last month, General Manager of the Youth Development Department, City of Los Angeles, and UNITE-LA Board Member, Lisa Salazar, invited two UNITE-LA superstars, Maria Marquez Alvarez, manager, L.A. Cash for College, and Matt Moor, manager, Postsecondary Systems, to LA CITYVIEW 35's studio set for a taping of "Protest and Promise."

This month's spotlight belongs to our Opportunity Youth Champions, CA EDGE Coalition, California Opportunity Youth Network (COYN) and New Ways to Work!

Last month, UNITE-LA had the opportunity to join the National Association of Women Business Owners' (NAWBO-LA’s) 3rd Annual Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEI&B) convening.

UNITE-LA understands the importance of strengthening working relationships with ethnic and minority business partners that break down barriers and build up the economy. As such, UNITE-LA met with the President of the Coalition of Filipino American Chambers of Commerce (COFACC) last month.