At California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), Dr. Amber Johnson often returns to a simple but transformative question: What would it look like if students experienced college as a place where they inherently belong, years before they ever apply? As an associate professor of Health Science and director of the Center for Health Equity Research, Dr. Johnson helped launch the Sankofa Summer Academy in partnership with CSULB's College of Health and Human Services, the Sankofa Parent Village, and the Long Beach Unified School District's (LBUSD) Black Student Excellence Center. As part of the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative, convened by UNITE-LA, these partners came together to intentionally design an early pathway rooted in culture, belonging and opportunity. What began as a pilot effort has become a living example of how aligned systems can expand access and reimagine student futures.

UNITE-LA is playing a central leadership role in the Los Angeles Apprenticeship Hub Initiative, a new citywide effort to expand high-quality apprenticeship opportunities and advance long-term employment, economic mobility and workforce equity for Angelenos. The initiative will develop a comprehensive blueprint to strengthen and scale nontraditional registered apprenticeships by convening cross-sector partners from across the region.

In partnership with UNITE-LA’s Cash for College campaign and the L.A. K-16 Collaborative, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (CPP) hosted Jumpstart Your College Journey: Your Guide to Financial Aid and Student Success on Saturday, Dec. 13, on the CPP campus. A total of 137 students and family members attended the event, including 46 prospective high school and community college students and 35 current CPP students. Participants received guidance on short- and long-term financial planning from CPP staff and SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, personalized support completing financial aid applications, a campus dining experience and opportunities to connect with CPP’s Student Success Division to learn about academic, personal and student support resources.

UNITE-LA hosted its final Health Sector Collaborative of 2025, convening 20 health care employers, educators and workforce leaders to explore promising practices in health care career pathways.

Last month, UNITE-LA's Liliana Aide Monge, director, Digital Equity, along with Joel Martin, community broadband manager, Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), collaborated with Pacoima Beautiful's executive director, Veronica Padilla, and Roxy Rivas, deputy director of Capital Projects and Planning, to launch a Pacoima Broadband Taskforce that will complete a comprehensive broadband needs assessment and report for the San Fernando area.

At the 2025 Grantmakers for Education (GFE) Conference, a national convening of leading education funders and systems-change advocates, UNITE-LA’s Dexter Freeman, vice president, National Business Coalitions, moderated a powerful panel on advancing credential access for justice-impacted individuals. Hosted by the ACCE Foundation and supported by Lumina Foundation, the session spotlighted the Greater Memphis Chamber’s cross-sector work to expand second-chance hiring and build career pathways that connect justice-impacted individuals to family-sustaining employment. The conversation emphasized the chamber’s role in aligning education and training programs with employer needs while addressing long-standing systemic barriers to workforce reentry.

UNITE-LA, in partnership with the L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative, convened foster youth leaders and staff from the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services’ (DCFS) Youth Engagement Section (YES) for a “Measuring What Matters” training. Youth and system leaders worked together to begin identifying a shared set of metrics that will guide YES in improving outcomes for transition-age youth.

This summer, the Project CAMINOS STEM Summer Academy at Cal Poly Pomona (CPP) welcomed high school students from across Los Angeles for a week of hands-on STEM exploration. Now in its sixth year, Project CAMINOS has been supported by the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative since 2023. Both initiatives aim to expand college access, persistence and degree completion in computer science and engineering, particularly for women-identifying students, who make up roughly 20 percent of students enrolled in those programs.

In partnership with the LAUNCH Apprenticeship Network, UNITE-LA has taken the lead in advancing apprenticeship opportunities across Los Angeles County through our Apprenticeship Bootcamp Series. The series has brought together local organizations to strengthen their understanding of registered apprenticeship programs and begin developing actionable plans for implementation.

On Sept. 18, UNITE-LA convened education and workforce leaders from across the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative for an immersive visit to the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) F.E. Weymouth Water Treatment Plant and Water Quality Lab in La Verne. The session brought together K-12, community college and university career technical education administrators with workforce development specialists, and featured a guided facilities tour, a briefing from MWD leaders and a skills-and-opportunities discussion highlighting how the computer science (CS) and engineering pathways power one of California’s most essential industries. Participants experienced a clearer view of in-demand technical and soft skills, potential internship and employment pathways and concrete ideas for connecting classroom learning to real-world applications across regional CS and engineering pathways.