About – Los Angeles Postsecondary Education Funders Collaborative

About the Collaborative

The Los Angeles Postsecondary Education Funders Collaborative includes members from local, state, and national philanthropic organizations that have come together to learn about and invest in opportunities to create meaningful systemic change in postsecondary education in Los Angeles County.

Purpose

As a learning and action community, the Collaborative supports the piloting, scaling, and sustaining of innovative programs and policies. The Collaborative leverages the resources and knowledge of its members to create meaningful systemic change and drive equity outcomes that are beyond the capacity of any individual foundation.

Vision

The Collaborative envisions a future Los Angeles where postsecondary learning institutions continuously drive greater equity and where:

Student populations, particularly those that are presently and have been historically marginalized by education systems, are able to access and succeed in postsecondary education;

Secondary and postsecondary learning institutions innovate and adopt learner-centered policies and practices resulting in greater student completion rates; and

Secondary and postsecondary systems collaborate with each other, the communities they serve, and with multi-sector partners to provide seamless education pathways for each and every student.

Values

Equity — The Collaborative will acknowledge and address the systemic barriers in the postsecondary system that maintain the status quo and marginalize communities. To ensure that students from underserved and under-resourced backgrounds are able to access, complete, and reap the full benefits of their degrees, the Collaborative will support strategies that not only equip students with the resources to overcome these barriers, but also target the institutional changes necessary to reform the system.

Inclusion — As one step towards equity, the Collaborative works to support a world where all people have voice, agency, and influence.

Diversity — The Collaborative supports projects and organizations that reflect Los Angeles’ wide range of races, cultures, geographies, identities, perspectives, and experiences.

Justice — The Collaborative’s efforts acknowledge and address past and current inequalities and proactively support advancement for students from marginalized populations.List item