That local initiative, the Long Beach College Promise, hosted its conference LBCC Thursday to detail its annual reports, current objectives and upcoming projects for the program.
U.S. Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, CSULB President Jane Conoley, LBCC Superintendent-President Eloy Ortiz Oakley and Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) Superintendent Christopher Steinhauser were among the attendees at the event.
The Long Beach College Promise began in 2008. The nationwide College Promise program is designed to improve college preparation, access and completion for students and members of the community.
At the conference Thursday, officials highlighted how the program operates in order to benefit students.
“College Promise is shaping education for students in order to make community colleges more affordable and accessible,” Mitchell said.
The program is attempting to accomplish this by preparing kids at a young age.
The College Promise program is made possible through public funding and private investors. Part of the program’s endeavors is to provide kids better access to preschool education. Universal preschools are part of an international program that utilizes public funding to ensure children have that opportunity.
Mayor Garcia said at the conference that there has been an increase of 800 seats for preschools since 2014 and that access will increase as more resources, such as a new facility, will be made available by 2017.
“We want to guarantee the success of youth in Long Beach,” Garcia said.
In addition to a focus on early childhood learning, the initiative is also concentrating on those students closer to gaining higher education.
Statistics provided via the conference showcase that 75 percent of LBUSD graduates attend college within one year and that 80 percent of students attend after two years.
Moreover, the College Promise program has allowed nearly 12,000 students to receive one free semester at LBCC. Oakley even noted that there has been an increase in the number of students with bachelor’s degrees at CSULB.
College Promise programs have proven to be beneficial for aspiring students in the community, according to officials at the conference.
The program also aims to “guarantee success” for those who move on from school and attempt to enter the workforce. Last October, College Promise revealed its goal to double the amount of internships available for all students, leading Garcia to launch the Long Beach Internship Challenge, which creates opportunities for more high school and college students to gain hands-on experience within the City.
However, a long-standing goal of the College Promise program to bolster the prominence of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education has reached a 52-percent increase in LBUSD, and the program has provided “a pipeline that produces 70 percent of all new Long Beach Unified teachers,” according to officials at the conference.
And the future still looks bright, Conoley added.
Gov. Jerry Brown awarded Long Beach Promise this year a $5 million State of California Award for Innovation in Higher Education. The funds will be used to advance College Promise in all its goals, which include new pathways, technology, finishing college in a timely manner and individual engagement with students.
Within a few years, Conoley wants to ensure that the program keeps its “promise.”
“Our promise is a clear path for each and every youngster,” she said. “We want to eliminate all the opportunity gaps and provide hope.”
