Creating High School Climate Career Pathways, using GSPP funding
Learn how California's new Golden State Pathways Program can help schools create new climate career pathways
By the time you see this, the California Department of Education may have released the Request for Applications (RFA) for the new Golden State Pathways Program.
As you might know, this program provides $425 million new dollars to fund career pathway development and planning. For us, one of the terrific features of this program is that—for the first time in the state—climate pathways are called out as a priority area.
Some quick facts and background:
Eligibility:
All California LEAs (Lead Education Agencies) are eligible to apply for funding. This includes public school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education. The money is for high school programming. Community Colleges are not directly eligible, but could be included in a partnership.
One of the regional technical assistance centers put together some informational slides about the program here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1x6D6EisqvRI83bgifQI-RbORabpxu6B/edit#slide=id.p1 Depending on where you are in California, you may have a different regional technical assistant center, but the information in these slides is relevant to LEAs throughout the state.
Grant sizes for LEAs, including charters:
$200,000 for planning grants; $500,000 for implementation grants. LEAs may apply for both.
Grant period:
2024-2028
Surprisingly, the state seems to want to disburse all $425 million in one round. This will be confirmed when the RFA is released. This means they won’t be setting aside part for future years. So, if you know of high schools that want to take advantage of this opportunity, they need to think about it quickly.
Key dates: (N.B. all dates subject to change)
RFA release -- very soon (was originally scheduled for January 26, but has been delayed — may come out the week of January 29, or early February).
Applications due: March 12, 2024
Award notifications: April 2, 2024
CDE GSPP page
https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/hs/gspp.asp
GSPP enabling legislation / ed code:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codesdisplaySection.xhtml?lawCode=EDC§ionNum=53023
How MakeKnowledge can help
As you know, MakeKnowledge provides consulting help for districts and schools on CTE grants, from ideation to program development and support. We have a particularly strong interest in helping schools and districts develop climate-focused career pathways. We brought over $3 million to two California schools for CTE in the last few years, in Los Angeles and in Oakland. Besides grant writing support, we can help with:
program development. We’re excited about helping build climate career pathways in a range of sectors.
Data to Design. One of our signature projects that allows your students to gather data about the climate impacts of your school community, and then use this data to design collaborative interventions that create year-over-year improvements.
Strategic sustainability consulting that unites a green master plan with leadership development, staff professional development, student agency, community collaborations, and a rich approach to climate career planning and development.
Climate Career Pathways Community of Practice. Join schools from across the state to share resources, learn from industry partners, grow your partnerships with your community, deepen your pedagogical practices, and encourage student agency and leadership.
If you know public high schools and districts that might be interested in this GSPP opportunity, please have them reach out to us at info@makeknowledge.org (And feel free to share this page!).