Columbia College To Lead New Eastern Sierra Education Collaborative
Columbia, CA — Columbia College will be the lead agency in designing a regional K-16 career pathways project.
The college, along with several school districts, colleges and employer groups in the Eastern Sierra Region, has been awarded a $250,000 state planning grant made possible by a $250 million appropriation to the Department of General Services in the Budget Act of 2021. According to college officials, the money will be used to design a regional K-16 education project that can provide more streamlined, equitable pathways to help local students transition from high school to college or career training and into the workforce.
“This is the first step toward a very exciting opportunity for our rural counties,” said Columbia College President Dr. Lena Tran. “We are very honored to serve as the lead for a project that will be designed specifically by and for our rural mountain communities. This planning year gives us a chance to build our collaborative and find what works for our students, our schools, and our employers.”
Others involved in the project are K-12, postsecondary, and industry partners, including the University of California, Merced, California State University, Stanislaus, the superintendents of schools in each participating county, several K-12 districts; and workforce investment boards, including Mother Lode Job Training. Those counties are Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, Mariposa, Alpine, Inyo, and Mono. College officials detailed, “Additional industry partners will be selected in the coming months, once the partners select two to three high-priority industry sectors that will be the focus of the project. That selection will be based on a regional assessment and inventory, which will be conducted as one of the first activities of the planning year.”
“We’re looking forward to this opportunity to articulate clear pathways that will lead to living wage jobs for our students in careers that are in high demand in the Mother Lode and Eastern Sierra,” said Sonora High School Superintendent Ed Pelfrey. “We believe that this project will provide us with the additional support and resources we need to meet our goal of having all students graduate career and college ready. We also look forward to piloting new programs and learning from each other.”
These partners will use the planning year to establish their collaborative and to apply together for up to $18 million in state funds available to the region for a three-year “cradle-to-career” pathway project. For more information on the grant, click here.
