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NSTogether
Connect * Collaborate * Contribute
Issue 33 | June 2023
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Welcome to NSTogether, our quarterly newsletter to keep you informed about the K-16 Collaborative work happening all over the North State region. | |
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What an
incredible time we had at our
6th Annual Regional NST Summit:
Streamlining Pathways in Healthcare and Education!
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Collective Impact. We are a network of community members, organizations, and institutions who advance opportunities by learning together and aligning/integrating our actions to achieve population and systems level change. Needless to say, since the onset of our K16 focused regional collaborative work, our collective impact has strengthened and grown this past year! Our 6th Annual Regional North State Together Summit was well attended with representation from all of our ten counties and their community partners. There was much to learn from one another during this full day of connecting and partnership. May 4th was packed with sharing resources, collaborative pathway work, and informative sessions about the great work being done in our far Northern California region.
One attendee said it well: "I loved being able to hear about each county's projects and focus. The networking opportunities were great! And putting us in front of large powerful players was an opportunity we don't often get."
For some, it was eye-opening to see the vast differences in needs across our region, and for others it excited them to see the extent of collaboration happening in our north state! Bottom line, we love hearing comments like this: "I have a much better sense of what the needs are in various regions, which is changing the way I was approaching a few items on my workplan. I am very grateful for the information."
Click the button below to peruse some of the things shared that will spark your vision and goals for your region. Pick up the phone and call one another - Connect, Collaborate, Contribute. That's what we're all about so let's keep up the amazing work!
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Q: What was your biggest takeaway from the summit?
"Having a clear understanding of what North State Together is and what it does."
"The deep commitment of each county organization to their communities."
"I learned a lot about the initiatives that North State Together supports."
"Cross-sector partnerships are key and learning best practices from other counties."
"Meeting in person and hearing what some of the counties are working on."
"I'm excited about the potential to collaborate with the other counties in the North State."
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Heidi Mendenhall
a member of Expect More Tehama's (EMT) steering committee, brought to life the challenges of folks who can't rise above that imaginary dotted line, what it takes to cultivate relationships, and the key factors for moving people from poverty and generational poverty. Investing time and resources can change the trajectory of a person's life.
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Tanja Ramming
county lead of Advancing Modoc (AM), joined by Savanna Fee, AM's career navigator, and students enrolled in the first cohort of Early Childhood Education and Human Services, share how a co-op college model creates a strong foundation to sustain a college presence. Find out more about Advancing Modoc in the featured spotlight below.
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Christine Taylor
of Glenn 2 Greatness (G2G), one of our newest county networks to join North State Together, used visual storytelling to share their journey through phases of collective impact. Learn more about G2G in this issue's featured spotlight on Glenn county below.
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"What is SCAILE Up?" you may be wondering. Shasta College Attainment and Innovation Lab for Equity - United Pathways is a guiding team working together to "SCAILE Up", build, and implement model K-16 pathways in alignment with local goals. This group came together to define what a high-quality pathway meant to our region before even getting the expectations from the state. Keeping the Recovery with Equity (RWE) Strategies in the forefront, our discussions articulated how this pathway work will support the needs of individuals and our communities. Each of our county networks were able to foster deeper engagement with their cross-sector partners at our NST summit this past May to result in a shared commitment to the following high-quality K-16 pathways:
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Education - building/expanding pathways to K-12 credentials and for Early Childhood professionals
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Health - building/expanding pathways to public/community health and allied health & nursing
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Health Management - building/expanding pathways to careers that support the health field, including medical transcription and health information technology
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These chosen pathways meet (or will meet) the criteria of the K-16 grant including crossing academic segments (high school, community college, university), having direct links to economic needs, and providing work/internship opportunities for students seeking to access the pathway. Starting this summer and into the Fall, the North State Together team will lead us through a deep dive of the Recovery With Equity strategies to ensure that we infuse those into each pathway.
Congratulations to all our counties who have accomplished the work to set the direction for our pathway efforts through the K-16 Collaborative grant -- We're looking forward to great things to come in Year 2!
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A section for our county networks and partners to dive in and collect, analyze, and use data
for their own continuous improvement. Go ahead and make a splash!
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As a backbone organization to our region, North State Together is focused on developing sustainable shared measurement systems. Check out our aggregate 2022 National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) reports for five counties
in our region:
You can also find our latest data on Post-Secondary Enrollment and Post-Secondary Completion. Got questions? James, our data guru, would be more than happy to talk data with you!
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Shared measurement in the context of collective impact is the “use of a common set of measures to monitor performance, track progress towards outcomes and learn what is and is not working in the group’s collective approach.”
-John Kania, FSG
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In this corner, you'll see a small glimpse of the work being done in our North State region. We'll feature a few every quarter because to recount them all would make this a very lengthy newsletter! | |
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Spotlight on Modoc County:
Modoc College Center
| On March 16, with the power of collaboration between the far north counties and the educational entities in the region, North State Together's Advancing Modoc had their soft grand opening of the new Modoc College Center in Alturas! | |
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The goal is to address the service and student support needs of guided pathways: that is, the ability to reach out and provide direct support to students as they transition from high school into post-secondary programs AND for adults eager to reconnect to education and job training. We are accomplishing this through an innovative co-op design.
"Designing our College Center using a co-op model spreads our needs among several colleges," describes Tanja Ramming, Advancing Modoc's Director. "Multiple funders and colleges that support Modoc County ensure sustainability. This is a first in California, and we hope it can act as a model for other rural communities."
The Modoc College Center is strategically located in Alturas. It is two doors down from Alliance for Workforce Development and Adult Ed in Alturas. The center design will not rely on any single community college or university for support as those centers have failed in the past. With the two closest CCCs having the lowest population based on FTES, expecting these two colleges with the least amount of funding and resources to establish and maintain a Modoc College Center was not wise. Using the strength of our 10-county network through the K16 Collaborative, Advancing Modoc opened its college center doors and welcomed their first cohort of Early Childhood Education and Human Services.
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Spotlight on Shasta County:
College & Career Signing Day
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College & Career Signing Day is primarily sponsored by North State Together's county network Reach Higher Shasta (RHS) and recognizes high school seniors from various Shasta County high schools who have made plans to pursue some type of career training and/or education after graduating high school. Typically, signing day events only recognize student athletes. RHS wants to recognize and celebrate all students who have made plans for continuing education and training.
The goals of the event are to make high school students and their families aware of the myriad of opportunities available to them, to demonstrate our willingness to celebrate future plans with students from all walks of life and from all high schools, to celebrate the diversity of post-high school choices being pursued by Shasta County seniors, and to inspire underclassmen to put some thought into their own post high school plans. Take a peak at this annual celebration below.
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"We must teach our children to DREAM with their eyes open."
-Harry Edwards-
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CCGI and CaliforniaColleges.edu One of North State Together's K-16 commitments is to see K-12 districts in our region onboard with the California Colleges Guidance Initiative (CCGI) and to use the CaliforniaColleges.edu platform. CaliforniaColleges.edu is the State of California’s official college and career planning platform that offers detailed information, curricula, and tools informed by students’ transcript data. It acts as a one-stop shop to help students discover their college and career goals, make plans for how to achieve them, and launch into fulfilling futures.
NST’s Shasta County network, Reach Higher Shasta, with the support from the Shasta County Office of Education School Counseling Coordinator, Tara Schwerdt, were able to secure “Intent to Partner” paperwork to CCGI from all high school districts in the county. RHS has identified a "co-lead" from 14 of the 15 local high schools from their respective campus. A scope of work has been developed to guide efforts and ensure consistent and quality implementation of CaliforniaColleges.edu across the county. These co-leads will be meeting every other month to share resources, troubleshoot challenges and participate in continuing professional development.
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Another county network, Glenn 2 Greatness, partnered with their respective UC Davis Gear Up team to continue efforts in onboarding additional high schools to the CaliforniaColleges.edu platform. Onboarded high schools within Glenn County now include Orland High School (Orland, CA) and Hamilton High School (Hamilton City, CA). | |
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Spotlight on
Glenn County:
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Increasing Partnerships Along K-16 Continuum
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When North State Together was awarded the Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant last spring, its reach extended to include five more counties, and Glenn County eagerly hopped on board to join our other five county networks by the summer of 2022. With their mission to assist learners in acquiring jobs in the healthcare and education industries, | |
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they quickly got to work by providing them with access to local career pathways. G2G recognizes that effective pathway development requires many cross-sector partners working together toward collective impact. Collaboration and human-centered design lie at the heart of the network's decision-making. Since its inception last summer, Glenn 2 Greatness has been fortunate to gain the support of several influential partners:
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Forging the way in healthcare is nonprofit sector partner, Rachel Sanchez, Director of Community Health at Healthy Rural California, Incorporated. Through their Healthcare Professions Pathways Program, Butte, Glenn, Shasta and Tehama students, who are interested in pursuing a career in nursing and medicine, may apply for an eight-week paid internship. Over the summer, students participate in job shadowing, site rotations, financial aid education, mentoring with healthcare professionals, academic preparation, and counseling. This program will be offered annually for the next three years to incoming high school seniors or recent graduates, college students, graduate students, and medical residents interested in pursuing careers in medicine or nursing.
Another exciting opportunity, offered by Healthy Rural California, Incorporated, is Medical Education Clubs. Beginning in the 2023-24 school year, Med Ed Clubs will be offered to all interested Glenn County High Schools. The intent of Med Ed Clubs is to bring physicians, nurses, and other allied health leaders on to school campuses as guest speakers, mentors, and advocates. Med Ed faculty will support schools in creating and accessing healthcare workforce curricula, learning activities, internship matches, and stipends for students.
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G2G is advancing its education pathway this coming school year with the expansion of the Classified Employee Credential Program. Dr. Aaron Koch, Chico State University Instructor and Educational Service Coordinator for Glenn County Office of Education, has been mentoring a cohort of classified personnel working toward earning their teaching credentials.
In July 2021, the state appropriated $125 million to expand the California Classified School Employees Teacher Credentialing Program. Glenn County Office of Education secured grant funding to recruit and retain classified school employees into teaching careers, addressing the state’s teacher shortage in STEM, special education, bilingual education, and transitional kindergarten. The Classified Employee Credential Program provides financial assistance for tuition at Chico State University and other accredited schools to support undergraduate education, professional teacher preparation, and certification. Classified employees are provided with academic guidance and other forms of individualized support for undergraduate education, teacher preparation, and overall transition to becoming credentialed teachers.
We welcome our collaboration with Dr. Aaron Koch who will be coordinating with the county network to bridge all elements in the K-16 Education Pathway!
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Bolstering both pathways in Glenn County is long-established K16 Bridge Builder, Stacey Garrett. Stacey Garrett is the Director of UC DAVIS-GEAR UP RURAL VALLEY PARTNERSHIP. GEAR UP stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. The federally funded programs serve over 2,000 students in rural areas north of the Sacramento Valley. Services are provided to cohorts of students beginning in middle school through high school.
At present, GEAR UP Advisors provide inclusive supports and high-tech, high-touch advising in college preparation and early credit to three of Glenn County’s high school districts--Hamilton, Orland, and Willows. In the 2023-24 school year, GEAR UP hopes to increase UC Davis’ capacity to serve more high school youth in the county through event participation in the Fostering the Future Program, a middle school Career Technical Education Signing ceremony, and a High School Industry & College Signing celebration.
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Spotlight on
Chico State:
Collaboration at Its Best to
Provide Healthcare Information in Rural Environments
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Collaboration and Connection are always at the heart of great partnerships! Check out the video below that highlights how North State Together's partners, Chico State and Expect More Tehama's key partner First Five Tehama, collaborate to provide rural access to health information and are working hard to train community health navigators how to use Medline Plus in Northern California. | |
Medline Plus is an online health information resource for patients and their families and friends. It is a service of the National Library of Medicine, the world's largest medical library, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). | |
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Congratulations Team! This past spring, due to the incredible work the North State Together backbone staff and Collaborative Action Networks (CANs) have done, StriveTogether announced that we have progressively moved from Emerging status to Sustaining Gateway on the StriveTogether Theory of Action.
The Theory of Action is a road map for changing systems to improve outcomes for youth and families. It provides progressive milestones rather than a prescription for change. The milestones inform necessary collaboration of cross-sector leaders from systems like education, housing, health care, and more to get better results for youth and families. This framework for change is rooted in how the work happens in communities across the Cradle to Career Network. Click the button to learn more!
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Last month, The North Far North Regional Consortium offered an awesome workshop on Designing Equitable CTE Pathway Programs. If you missed this opportunity, you can find the recording and slide deck here!
A second workshop in this series will be provided in August. We will follow up with the date and time once it is scheduled.
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Learn Where You Live Scholarship | | |
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Western Governors University is pleased to offer the Learn Where you Live Scholarship to new students or returning graduates who want to further their education at WGU. | | |
Scholarship recipients will receive up to $750 per six-month term, renewable up to four terms. | |
Get these upcoming dates on your calendar now and look out for their early bird registration! | |
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Every year, StriveTogether brings the power of the Network to one city for three days of connecting, learning and creating change. Join us September 19-21 in San Francisco, California, for the 2023 Cradle to Career Network Convening.
Early bird registration is now open! A limited number of early bird registrations are available at a discounted rate of $935 for network members. Once early bird registrations are sold out the regular network rate of $1,210 will go into effect. Make sure you and your team register as soon as possible to get the best rate. Click the link below and register now!
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The National Forum to Advance Rural Education is one of the country’s leading rural education conferences. The event is designed to create an environment for collaboration and innovation with a diverse community that includes national experts, K–12 and higher education practitioners, leading researchers, policymakers, and philanthropic leaders from around the country.
New for 2023! NREA is proud to present a new showcase event to share components of NREA’s rural research agenda and highlight impactful programs in education and our communities.
Raising Rural; Policy, Practive & Research Showcase
When: Wednesday, November 15, 1pm -4 pm
Here’s what you can expect:
· Engaging panel discussion with rural researchers
· 8 learning sessions (choose 2)
· Hear from research and policy advisors and practitioners leading change in their communities
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Mark your calendars for Complete College America’s 2023 Annual Convening at the Paris, Las Vegas. This year's convening will be an exciting opportunity to engage with leaders and policymakers from across the country as we work together to dramatically increase graduation rates and improve on-time completion for all students.
Sessions will explore innovations in the post-pandemic new normal, platforming policies, closing institutional attainment gaps by race/ethnicity, household income background, rurality, and other demographic factors.
Access early bird pricing and save money by registering you and your team now.
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North State Together
Downtown Redding
Community Leadership Center
1401 California Street, 4th floor
Redding, CA 96001
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CONNECT ** COLLABORATE ** CONTRIBUTE | |
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OUR MISSION
North State Together is a regional network of cross-sector partners who have come together to strengthen educational outcomes from cradle to career for ALL in far Northern California.
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OUR VISION
To increase community vitality by increasing educational access and success in the North State through local solutions within a regional support framework.
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OUR VALUES
We are community, data, equity, and relationship driven.
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