Strivers.LA via New Economy Campaigns

Los Angeles in 2050 will need an educated workforce prepared for the job market of tomorrow. In order to increase the employability and earning potential of our city, we need to help working college students succeed in class and raise graduation rates. STRIVERS.LA will give students tools to balance work and school hours that too often overlap, by involving employers in supporting their employees’ academic success. STRIVERS.LA is a web- and mobile-based platform that will improve outcomes on both educational and employment indicators, helping to build a stronger Los Angeles through an educated workforce. STRIVERS.LA is partnering with the Los Angeles City College Foundation (LACCF) to bring innovative technology to low-income working students in Los Angeles, creating a more robust economy and a better-employed population.The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) serves more than 250,000 students annually, and Los Angeles City College (LACC) serves 18,000 of them. Many of these largely low-income students struggle to balance employment and school. Nationally, 74% of students worked during the academic year, and 15 % are working full-time. Juggling work and school schedules leads to skipped classes, missed sleep, and even no-show exams. Research shows that every extra hour a student works above 10 hours/week lowers GPA by a measurable amount. Sixty percent of community college students work more than 20 hours per week and 25% work more than 35 hours per week. In California, fewer than 28% of students who begin a two-year college program complete a degree within six years; for those studying part time, this percentage falls to less than 12%, in both cases significantly below the national average. Los Angeles must improve its college completion rates in order to reach its economic potential.

Students often face calendar conflicts between work and school. Employers use sophisticated software to chop up the day and schedule shifts to meet business needs, not employees' academic goals. Employers may want to support their employees’ educational commitments, but lack the tools to do so. STRIVERS.LA is a way to solve the problem using digital tools so students can request schedule adjustments to protect their lecture, study and exam times, while providing a platform that brings benefits for employers.

Many students lack the experience and personal savvy to negotiate work requirements. STRIVERS.LA provides student employees a comfortable digital tool - just formal enough to communicate class, exam, and homework routines effectively. Using a simple point and click interface, students enter their schedule information on the STRIVERS.LA website. They can then share the information with an employer via print, email, or link to their schedule at STRIVERS.LA.

STRIVERS.LA will move students toward earning “family supportive wages” by increasing their likelihood of maintaining a balance between work and school, facilitating completing their education, and thereby preparing them for middle-class employment and higher-wage jobs. Current LACC students are primarily low-income, with 70% receiving tuition waivers. STRIVERS.LA will affect multiple employment-related indicators when brought to scale throughout the region, helping students move from their current, part-time, low wage work into readiness for jobs that will help them sustain and grow their families. Preparing people for well-paying jobs in technology, entertainment, tourism, and healthcare is an essential part of reducing income inequality.

When they use the STRIVERS tool to communicate class, exam, and homework routines, students also agree to achieve, comply with basic standards of employee responsibility and to work hard in return for employer support. Students can choose to upload grades for employers to follow, and earn incentives for academic and work performance. We will both secure incentive donations from local businesses, as well as fund some targeted incentives through a partnership with the LACCF partnership.

When employers sign on to support employees, they receive dividends in positive ratings, employee loyalty and retention, and social media kudos. We will work closely with employers located in proximity to LACC that employ large numbers of students, getting detailed input from store managers about the challenges and benefits of supporting their student workers.

By participating in STRIVERS.LA, both students and their managers can earn simple incentives for focusing needed attention on how to better balance work and school: gas cards, bus passes, textbook credits, as well as concert or movie tickets, coffee vouchers, and mormore. Employers support students’ educational goals, and in return, students agree to do the right thing. STRIVERS.LA: Everybody wins.