Over the past three months, UNITE-LA has partnered with the L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC) to build a shared foundation for using data to drive systems change in L.A. County’s child welfare system. Through a series of trainings with both foster youth leaders and staff in the Department of Children and Family Services’ (DCFS') new Youth Engagement Section (YES), the OYC is co-designing a set of priority metrics that will guide continuous improvement and accountability for transition-age youth outcomes.

The Los Angeles Digital Equity Action League (LA DEAL), has secured a $25,000 Digital Equity Spark Grant from the Michelson 20MM Foundation. With this support, UNITE-LA will launch community broadband pilots in Pacoima and the Antelope Valley, two regions where affordability and access remain among the most persistent barriers to digital equity. Partnering with local coalitions, UNITE-LA will support the launch of public broadband models that are grounded in community leadership and resident input, ensuring solutions reflect the lived experiences of those most impacted by digital redlining.

Last month, UNITE-LA's Carrie Lemmon, senior vice president, Systems Change Strategy, conducted a training on “Using Data for Systems Change” with a dozen social workers and system leaders in the new Youth Engagement Section of the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services.

UNITE-LA's LA DEAL team secured a $25,000 SPARK Grant from the 20MM Foundation.

On Aug. 15, the LA DEAL team participated in the City of Palmdale's Digital Access Fair designed to empower families with children in school.

Since 2019, UNITE-LA has worked with L.A. area community colleges and California State University campuses to learn about what barriers exist that hinder students’ abilities to transfer from one institution to another. In partnership with numerous philanthropic organizations, UNITE-LA has collected and analyzed data from 20 regional institutions; brought campuses together to explore data, policies and relationships; and ideated solutions to problems identified in the process.

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. Project CAMINOS, now in its sixth year, 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 and particularly for women-identifying students, who make up roughly 20% of students enrolled in those programs.

On Tuesday, July 22, UNITE-LA co-hosted the Southern California Apprenticeship Network (SCAN) mixer alongside the Orange County Regional Consortium at Madero 1899 Cocina y Cantina.

On June 30, UNITE-LA and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) co-hosted a regional lunch and learn to convene subregional leads and partners for an energizing conversation on advancing work-based learning (WBL) across the L.A. region.

In July, the City of Los Angeles Economic & Workforce Development Department (EWDD) and the L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC), of which UNITE-LA is a partner, convened the third Horizons 32K Stewardship Board meeting.