SIATech Proud Recipient of California Department of Education’s Career Pathways Trust Grant
OCEANSIDE, CA— May 27, 2015—The School for Integrated Academics and Technologies (SIATech) today earned a California Career Pathways Trust (CCPT) Grant from the California Department of Education to provide opportunities for out-of-school students to earn 21st century skills and certifications needed to successfully transition from high school into college and high-wage careers.
The program goal is to provide Opportunity Youth with access to the middle class through STEM college and career pathways.
SIATech will lead a multi-regional group of industry partners, foundations, local education agencies, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act programs, and colleges. This consortium will focus on emergent growth industries of advanced manufacturing, ICT/digital media, healthcare, agriculture, water and environmental technology, and advanced transportation and renewables. The collaborative effort will focus on Opportunity Youth, 16-24 year olds who are not enrolled in school or working. The group will cohesively address employment and industry needs of the greater Sacramento, Silicon Valley, East Bay, Mid-Peninsula, and Los Angeles regions.
Laurie Pianka, SIATech director of education services and grant project director, commented on how this grant will make a difference for students. “The grant will provide seed money for internships and work based learning opportunities for all participating students, pay for transportation to colleges and CTE training partners for all students, and most importantly, bridge the digital divide. Not everyone has access to this technology and advanced training. This will bridge the gap between the underprivileged members of society with high skill, high wage jobs.”
SIATech Superintendent and Chief Education Officer Linda Dawson said, “Never has it been more important than now to provide students with structured and well-conceived career pathways to bridge from high school to college and careers. The grant is structured to reach students directly with specialized coaches and mentors who will assess their interests, help them plan their career path and monitor their path to success. Community and business partnerships will strengthen the continuum of services available to K-12 students. What was previously done largely with anecdote and trial-and-error will now be executed with clear expectations and measurements. It will be wonderful to reach more at-promise students in California.”
SIATech Board President Dan Tilton commended the collaborative effort between business and education to solve serious problems for their communities.
There are many members of the consortium that will provide a wide range of services and training to Opportunity Youth. Below are some highlights of a few of the partnerships and proposed activities of the SIATech CCPT grant program:
- SIATech will partner with TechShop San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Redwood City: Access to over a million dollars in equipment and resources at each TechShop location, which will support the Advanced Manufacturing and ICT/Digital Media career and college pathways offered by partnering community college districts. TechShop will provide education and training as well as access to staff to support each student’s hands-on learning experience. TechShop programs will enable students to have the ability to develop and build marketable job skills on a daily basis. These skills empower students to have the opportunity to earn an income while learning. Practicing their skills and making them available to the world at large to provide services and/or develop their own entrepreneurial plans.
- SIATech will work with the City of San Jose, Economic Development Office: A Manufacturing Careers Internship Project will expose participating students to careers in manufacturing and provide valuable business experience, while introducing manufacturers to new talent pipeline opportunities. The program will also provide introductions to potential business and industry partners who may be interested in supporting the SIATech Consortium advanced manufacturing college and career pathway.
- SIATech and Community College partners: The grant will assist students in making a successful transition from high school to post-secondary education so all students can realize their full potential. Community college partners will identify appropriate credit-bearing college courses and dual enrollment courses in a career pathway to prepare students to enter postsecondary without need for remediation. Provide pathways with multiple jumping off points to provide access to industry recognized certification options and Associate degree programs. There will also be access to paid internships to all qualifying students.
- SIATech will work with the Reaching At-Promise Students Association (RAPSA) to leverage and enhance their existing non-profit professional development organization with educators and like-minded foundations nationwide who work with at-promise, Opportunity Youth.
- SIATech campuses will offer more CTE courses in identified industry sectors and college readiness courses for successful transition to college and careers. Students will have access to additional mentors and counselors to work directly with students and assist them in finding meaningful internships and job placements. These new staff will support existing staff in both informing and inspiring kids to pursue their dreams.
- SIATech will offer the VEX Robotics curriculum, classroom lab activities, and competitions for all interested participating SIATech campuses through partnership with Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation. This gives opportunities for students to obtain Industry recognized Engineering certifications, participate in competitions and online challenges, and student internships in a wide variety of work based learning experiences including systems networking and robotics competition event planning and execution.
- SIATech will offer additional counseling and transition services to connect participating students with wrap around services in the community and mentoring on their college and career pathways.
About SIATech
The School for Integrated Academics and Technologies (SIATech®) is an award-winning organization focused on dropout recovery and ending the dropout crisis. SIATech is a nonprofit, fully accredited network of public charter high schools that operate in partnership with the federal Job Corps and Workforce Innovations and Opportunity Act programs. The school serves low-income, previously out-of-school youth.
SIATech excels at identifying student strengths and individualizing instruction to meet each student's needs and goals. The school's safe and caring setting enables students to take charge of their learning and obtain the tools they need for lifetime success, whether it is at their chosen career or further education. More than 14,000 out-of-school youth have graduated from SIATech campuses since 1998.
SIATech’s national headquarters are in Oceanside, CA, and California campuses include SIATech Boyle Heights, SIATech El Centro, SIATech Indio, SIATech Inland Empire (San Bernardino), SIATech Long Beach, SIATech Los Angeles, SIATech Moreno Valley, SIATech North County Coastal (Oceanside), SIATech Perris, SIATech Pico-Union, SIATech Sacramento, SIATech San Jose, SIATech South Bay (Chula Vista), and SIATech Treasure Island (San Francisco).
Contact Laurie Pianka at 408.421.2718 or laurie.pianka@siatech.org for more information.