Report to the Community
spring/summer 2022
IN THIS ISSUE
$4 Billion for Expanded Learning
When PCY launched the Save Afterschool Campaign in 2015 alongside our partners in the California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance (CA3), state funding for expanded learning programs had been stagnant for a decade and rising costs were threatening the closure of many programs that kids and families relied on. Through our collective advocacy, we managed to win two $50 million increases in 2017 and 2019. At that time we could not have dreamed that the state would invest $1 billion last year and $4 billion this year to set California on the path toward universal access to afterschool and summer programs. Now comes the less glamorous but important work of making this dream a reality—one that supports and empowers the full potential of thriving youth and families.
Read our coalition’s response to this year’s state budget and some of our recommendations for implementation:
Policy in Action
Site visits give policymakers a first-hand view into how programs use public funds to serve students. This summer we partnered with Davis Joint Unified School District to host a site visit for state leaders from the California State Board of Education, Department of Finance, Legislative Analyst’s Office, Assembly Budget Committee, and Sacramento County Office of Education. These leaders saw how the district is making the most of increased flexible state funding to re-envision what learning looks like to engage students in the summer.
PCY Helps Districts Prepare for Summer
The recent investments in expanded learning have brought much more funding and flexibility for school districts to implement and grow summer learning programs.
With decades of experience working with schools, districts, and county offices of education to improve the quality and impact of their summer learning programs, PCY offers a range of technical assistance to equip local educational agencies to run impactful summer programs.
- Our second year of the Summer Game Plan series engaged nearly 750 educators in a range of workshops covering staffing, serving early learners, resources for multilingual learners, and using data to measure impact.
- We facilitated five community of practice sessions with expanded learning leaders from seven Bay Area school districts in a peer learning format to advance their Expanded Learning Opportunities Program implementation.
- We’ve launched a new coaching model in partnership with Sperling Center for Research and Innovation that allows local educational agency and summer program leaders and practitioners to easily schedule free 15-minute customized coaching sessions to answer their individual questions and connect with additional resources.
A Shared Leadership Model
PCY has always leaned into our deep relationships to make change happen. Our new co-leadership model embodies this in our core operations and reflects PCY’s values of equity, authenticity, and learning. We are able to build on each other’s complementary strengths to fully integrate our policy and practice work—to respond to the unique needs of the expanded learning field and meet this moment.
In our month since taking on the leadership of PCY, we have already learned how essential a detailed transition plan with direct support from trusted mentors is to keep all the work moving while tackling new responsibilities and managing the change process. We have prioritized in-person planning and community-building time with one another, the team, and partners, which has energized us and created space for deep, collaborative work. We have reflected on and celebrated Jennifer’s legacy and PCY’s impact so far, and envisioned how co-leadership happens at all levels of the organization to meet our big future goals.
—Aleah Rosario & Jessica Gunderson, Co-CEOs
Our Strategic Priorities
This marks the start of a new phase for PCY as an organization and for the whole expanded learning field in California. With historic new state investments and new organizational leadership, PCY has set new strategic priorities for 2022-2025.
These priorities are reflective of the most timely needs in the field and in areas where PCY is uniquely positioned to achieve transformative and sustainable impact:
Equity at PCY
PCY staff collaborated to write a new racial equity statement, which will be brought to life through organizational policies, practices, and culture.
Our Vision for Equity
At PCY, we envision spaces of belonging—for young people, parents, caregivers, families, and in the workforce—that are co-created and built through shared power and lived experiences.
Our Commitment to Equity
Partnership for Children & Youth strives to give all children and youth the learning opportunities and supports they need and deserve to reach their greatest potential in school and life. We can’t achieve this if we don’t confront the racist practices and policies deeply ingrained in our educational systems that make lives invisible and purposefully harm our multifaceted communities. For PCY, equity is an ongoing and active commitment to personal introspection and an ongoing effort to learn, listen, and rebuild in a way that is authentic, redistributes power, and starts from the lived experiences of our collective communities. Partnership for Children & Youth is committed to racial equity in our internal work practices and structures and through our role as a public-serving intermediary bridging practice and policy.