December 6, 2023

City of Sacramento Joins NCCPC

SACRAMENTO, Calif., November 14, 2023 – Sacramento City Council Tuesday voted unanimously to join the NCCPC to promote and explore college savings and college readiness options in Sacramento. 

Approved through Consent, Senior Policy Advisor Nicole Cuellar from the Office of Mayor Darrell Steinberg shared the rationale that, “by joining this coalition, it allows the City to connect with regional leaders and identify best practices for improving the college success of young people in Sacramento. This community of practice will position the City to better meet the needs of youth by advancing college success through policy advocacy, workforce development, and promoting best practices within education and youth services.”

The Memorandum of Understanding allows the City to become a member of the NCCPC’s steering committee. Joining this coalition will allow the City to connect with regional leaders and identify best practices for improving the college success of young people in Sacramento.

As a steering committee member, the City will receive:

• Shared leadership over the shape of college success efforts in the region
• Autonomy to co-design the policy goals for the collaborative, and be recognized in all documentation for any successes
• Leadership over all collaboration activities across Promise programs, including best practices events
• Access to all negotiated benefits at participating colleges (i.e. tutoring, financial aid help, advising, etc.), which directly benefit students and staff
• Access to all negotiated career development (i.e. events, activities at campuses, work based learning, advising, etc.), which directly benefit students and staff.

In 2017, Mayor Steinberg announced the launch of Thousand Strong, a comprehensive work skills training, career coaching, and paid internship initiative for students served by schools in the City of Sacramento. Ensuring the region has a thriving workforce is central to the City’s economic growth and is a priority for Sacramento’s leadership. Career pathways that allow for

early access to work experiences, such as internships, ensure that youth are gaining the technical and soft skills they need to be college and career ready. Despite barriers related to the pandemic throughout 2020 and 2021, the program continues to evolve and is now working with its seventh cohort of students.

The City is continuing its efforts to increase the number of paid work experience and work-based learning opportunities available to 16- and 17-year-olds through the Thousand Strong program. Joining the NCCPC aligns with the mission of Thousand Strong by supporting college success through policy advocacy, workforce development, and promoting best practices within education and youth services.

Furthermore, joining the NCCPC aligns with the City’s Youth Development Plan which seeks to ensure that the City better meets the needs of its youth through strategic investment of resources and the implementation of an infrastructure that aligns the City’s programs under a unified vision, framework, and set of goals. This recommendation is also consistent with the City of Sacramento’s Inclusive Economic Development strategy by joining a community of practice that advances strategies to improve outcomes for low-income and underrepresented youth.

As an NCCPC Steering Committee governing member, there is an annual financial commitment of $10,000 and funding will come from the Thousand Strong Multiple Year Operating Project (I01000300) in the Measure U Fund (Fund 2401).

About the Northern California College Promise Coalition

The Northern California College Promise Coalition (NCCPC), a fiscally sponsored project of the West Contra Costa Public Education Fund, is a regional effort to bring together leaders, practitioners and resources and share leadership over the shape of college success efforts in the region. Founded in 2019 by 11 member organizations, the coalition has grown to over 60 member organizations, and elected officials and agencies. NCCPC was formed to solve the problem of a lack of efficacy that individual member organizations and agencies encounter when working alone. NCCPC gathers leaders, practitioners, and resources invested in supporting college success through policy advocacy, workforce development, and promoting best practices within education and youth services. NCCPC works to make systemic change by advocating for and/or directly implementing solutions centering over 250,000 first-generation, low-income, and BIPOC students in 12 counties.

To partner with NCCPC and join the movement to increase educational equity in Northern California, please visit norcalpromisecoalition.org for more information.

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