After more than five years at the helm of the Los Angeles Education Coordinating Council (ECC), which was created to help fill education gaps for foster and probation youth, I am passing the baton on to Mónica García, President of the Los Angeles Unified School District. I am extremely proud of what we were able to achieve during my time as Chair of the ECC to improve the lives, hopes and future of two extremely vulnerable groups.
Among our successes:
• We oversaw a series of first-ever data matches with more than a dozen school districts, which lets us know how foster and probation youth are faring academically in comparison with other students.
• We developed a tool to facilitate school enrollment within 72 hours.
• Most importantly, we created a greater awareness and a commitment to the needs of foster and probation youth. Our efforts doubled the number of foster children enrolled in high quality pre-school programs and tripled the number of foster and probation youth in after-school enrichment programs.
I am proud of the work we did to improve the academic future of foster and probation youth and I will continue to support the efforts of the ECC. To learn more about the ECC and the important work they do, click here.
