NEWS                                                                                    Walnut Valley Unified School District

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                   880 S. Lemon Avenue

April 8, 2014                                                                         Walnut, CA 91789

 

Contact:       

Kelli Gile, Office of Community Resources

(909) 595-1261 ext. 31204

DIAMOND BAR, CA--Diamond Bar High School students will soon benefit from a Youth CareerConnect (YCC) grant.

The $4,499,251 federal grant was awarded to the East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program (ESGVROP) on April 7.

Only two agencies in the state received funding for the grant geared to providing students exposure to learning that links their studies in school to future college and career pathways – especially in the critically important fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

“We are very proud of our involvement with the East San Gabriel Career Pathways Partnership and the work that Instructional Dean, Julian Rodriguez has done to assure that this grant was funded.  These funds will help us provide outstanding educational opportunities for our students as we prepare them for career and college readiness,” said Principal Catherine Real.

The U.S. Department of Labor, in collaboration with the Department of Education, established the YCC grant in 2014.  Across the country, 24 awards will provide $107 million to local partnerships.

This source of funding will help Walnut Valley Unified School District continue providing well-defined and articulated sequences of coursework, which are indicators of the District’s commitment to College and Career Readiness for all students.

“It has been such a rewarding experience working with the team from the ESGVROP,” Rodriguez said.  “This grant will allow us to continue to provide real and relevant options and educational experiences for students while they are in our schools.  It is our goal for these experiences to translate into employment, success in college or trade schools, or even a desire to obtain more advanced training.”

Walnut Valley Unified is a member of the ESGVOP Joint Powers Association. A total of seven district partners have students taking classes on their campuses through the program. These students, especially the low income and disabled students, will benefit from the grant.

When the Request for Applications was announced in late November, many agencies were scrambling to gather resources and partner with other like-minded groups to set up writing teams. 

Through an existing partnership, Walnut Valley and ESGVROP quickly began the application process. 

“Jose Annicchiarico, administrative director of educational service and I were at a CTE (Association for Career and Technical Education) conference in Ontario sitting at a table with Dr. Laurel Adler, superintendent of ESGVROP and we immediately started drawing up plans to work on the application,” Rodriguez explained. “We had just over seven weeks before the application was due, so the quick turnaround made this grant even more competitive.” 

One of the more challenging tasks of the process was securing commitments from business partners. 

“The existing partnerships between Diamond Bar High School’s partnership academies, Brahma Tech, Robotics, and Project Lead the Way programs and professionals from Boeing and City of Hope were instrumental in highlighting the partnership’s potential for success,” said Rodriquez.