AdvancED Consulting, LLC

Celebrate 529 Day to Save for Postsecondary Programs

5/15/2026

Nationwide, May 29 is 529 Day to remind families and friends that it has never been easier to help save for a child’s future. By contributing to a 529 savings plan, you help prepare a child for whatever path they choose. Whether your child is interested in an apprenticeship, a certification, an Associate's degree, a Bachelor's degree, or a graduate degree, your family can leverage local and state programs to cover the costs.

“Having as little as $500 in a college savings account makes [children] significantly more likely to attend college and graduate," said Libby Schaaf, President & CEO of the Bay Area Council and former Mayor of Oakland in her report "Advancing CalKIDS: Findings & recommendations for the nation's largest college savings account program. "Additionally, research shows that having these accounts creates higher levels of hope, educational expectations, a child’s college-bound identity, social-emotional development, early math and reading scores, better school attendance, and improved parental well-being.”

Mark your calendar for May 29 and take advantage of child savings accounts programs available to Californians!

Having as little as $500 in a college savings account makes [children] significantly more likely to attend college and graduate.
~ Libby Schaaf, President & CEO of the Bay Area Council and former Mayor of Oakland

ScholarShare 529

California’s college savings plan is called ScholarShare 529. From May 20 through May 31, 2026, college savers will receive a $50 bonus when they open a ScholarShare 529 account for a new beneficiary using promo code 529Day26, make an initial deposit of at least $50 and set up recurring contributions of $50 per month for six consecutive months. More information, including complete terms and conditions, can be found at ScholarShare529.com/529Day2026.

CalKIDS

If you have a newborn born in CA on or after July 1, 2022, or a low-income* public school student enrolled in grades 1-12 during the 2021-2022 academic year and every school year thereafter, you may be eligible for the state’s free child savings account, CalKIDS. You can also link your CalKIDS account with a new or existing ScholarShare 529 account to watch your college savings grow in one place. Check your eligibility and claim your account at CalKIDS.org.

*Eligibility determined by Local Control Funding Formula

HOPE

The HOPE for Children Trust Account Program provides $3,000 for California youth who spent 18+ months in the foster system or lost a parent or primary caregiver due to COVID. Check your eligibility and claim your account at hopeaccount.ca.gov.

Across California, there are locally-managed child savings account programs available to complement the above state programs! Collectively, 15 community-based CSA programs have disbursed over $30 Million to 200,000 children.

Check out the California Child Savings Account (CSA) Coalition which facilitates collaboration and builds capacity among organizations that connect kids to their CalKIDS, HOPE and local Child Savings Accounts.

Make a commitment to share at least ONE (1) of the above programs/resources with your families and networks on May 29!

0 Comments

Back to Blog

How to Celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month in May

5/2/2026

While I’m canceling my May 4 Mondays with Mer Office Hour, you can still help me celebrate what I intended to promote - Mental Health Awareness Month! Learn more below and sign up for my next Office Hour on Monday, June 8 from 6-7pm PT at www.advancedconsulting.org/mondays-with-mer.html.

Here are three ways to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month in May

#1 Practice mindful breathing with the family!

During the April Office Hour, I shared Week of the Young Child Activities for the whole family. For “Family Friday,” which you can practice any Friday of the year, I recommend a Breathing Buddies activity!

Download the “AdvancED Worksheet - Breathing Buddies”

#2 Sign up for Mental Health First Aid training!

Sign up to support adults or youth, and learn how to help your community members. Learn how to talk to people of different ages, backgrounds, and industries about mental health and substance use, and how to step in when others need help.

Find an MHFA course and/or apply for instructor training

#3 Make the Mental Wellbeing Pledge!

Mental wellbeing is a state of thriving. It is the foundation of living a strong, healthy and fulfilling life. We believe mental wellbeing is achievable for everyone — including individuals living with or recovering from a mental health or substance use challenge. Once you sign up, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing will give you the tools you need to turn your pledge into action.

Make the Mental Wellbeing pledge

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Supporting My Community as a Mental Health First Aider

4/20/2026

I’ve been thinking a lot about the future our young people are inheriting.

Yesterday, I shared the story below with Congress in response to the National Council for Mental Wellbeing’s call to action to uplift our mental health stories. As an East San Jose resident, a proud product of public schools, an educator, and a six-year certified Mental Health First Aider, I see every day how mental health shapes our schools and our democracy.

“MHFA has been one of the most practical and empowering trainings I’ve participated in—both for my own growth and for strengthening the communities I serve as an East San Jose, CA resident.

I was first trained in person in San Mateo County in January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. That timing proved incredibly important. As our communities faced isolation, anxiety, and uncertainty, MHFA gave me a framework—especially ALGEE—to recognize when someone might be struggling and to respond with empathy, confidence, and appropriate resources.

In May 2023, I recertified through a Zoom training in partnership with Santa Clara County. This time, I wasn’t just a participant—I served as the project manager, leading a 13-county nonprofit coalition to organize the training. That experience expanded my understanding of MHFA from an individual skillset to a scalable community strategy. Since then, I’ve hosted annual MHFA trainings each May for Mental Health Awareness Month, with a goal of training at least 20 local adults each year. Even when participants don’t complete full certification, they leave with exposure to ALGEE, real-life scenarios, and knowledge of local resources—tools they can immediately use to support others.

This May 2026, I’m taking Youth Mental Health First Aid training for the first time through Planned Parenthood Mar Monte. As a local education advocate, a first-time school board candidate, and a board member of several youth-serving nonprofits, I see this as a critical step. Young people are facing unprecedented mental health challenges, and equipping adults—and peers—with the skills to recognize and respond early can make a lasting difference.

MHFA works because it empowers everyday people. It helps neighbors support neighbors, youth support peers, and community leaders respond with greater awareness and compassion. For Congress and policymakers, continued investment in MHFA is essential. Strengthening mental health literacy at the community level is not just preventative care—it’s a foundation for healthier, more resilient communities.”

After more than two decades in education, I am more certain than ever that mental health is the root cause of so many of the challenges we see in schools, families, neighborhoods, and civic life. When we ignore our well-being, we see the consequences in how people treat one another, how they show up—or don’t—for their communities, and even how they vote.

People are voting (or choosing not to vote at all) against their own self‑interests. Why? They are not taking sacred pauses to reflect critically on how their choices impact their lives and those of their loved ones. Instead of grounding in reflection, many are swept up in outrage or fear. People are leaning into NEGATIVE ENERGY—both in the form of emotions and thought patterns—that drain and constrict us. These negative emotions can include chronic anxiety, guilt, jealousy, resentment, and shame. Negative thinking patterns show up as catastrophizing, self‑criticism, and blaming others.

But we all have the power to choose a different path. Every single day, we have the option to lean toward POSITIVE ENERGY that supports and expands us. People who embody positive energy are not naïve or detached from reality. They experience emotions like joy, contentment, curiosity, hope, compassion, and an interest in what's going on around them. They practice thought patterns like realistic optimism, self‑compassion, and flexible thinking. They demonstrate a growth mindset and have a problem‑solving orientation.

Research shows that people are generally better at maintaining positive than negative emotions, suggesting that when we can access and sustain positive emotions, we may be better equipped to navigate challenges and build resilience over time. UC Berkeley psychologists have shown that positive emotions tend to fade faster than negative ones, especially for people with higher anxiety, which means we must be intentional about practicing gratitude and sustaining the positive moments that do arise.

A psychologically healthy life is not about suppressing “bad” feelings; it is about emotional range, self‑regulation, and learning from both negative and positive experiences.

I live in East San Jose, where structural inequities, income inequality, and systemic racism intersect with everyday stress. We must pay attention to whether young people feel safe going to school, whether families can afford rent and food, and whether our neighbors have someone to turn to when they feel overwhelmed.

What do we know about the status of mental health in East San Jose?

While data is often collected at the county or statewide level, there is enough to paint a picture that aligns with what I hear anecdotally from East San Jose youth and families.

Statewide, California youth have experienced rising mental health needs. In 2020, there were over 37,000 mental health–related hospital discharges among Californians ages 5–19. Additionally, roughly 12% of children ages 3–17 had at least one current, provider‑diagnosed mental health condition such as anxiety, depression, or behavioral disorders (Source: KidsData.org).
A 2025 poll found that 94% of California Gen Z youth (born between 1997 and 2012) reported experiencing mental health challenges in an average month. Essentially, distress has become the new normal for teens and young adults (Source: Blue Shield of California’s BlueSky initiative).
About 40% of high school students nationwide report persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. The rates are even higher among girls and Hispanic students, groups that are heavily represented in East San Jose schools (Source: CDC’s 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey).
Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10–14 and the third leading cause for ages 15–24 in the United States. Nearly 1 in 5 high school students report having serious thoughts of suicide (NAMI).

For East San Jose, all of this translates into classrooms where:

Students are carrying grief, anxiety, and economic stress into their learning.
Families (often multi-generational within one household) are navigating language barriers, immigration stress, economic instability, and housing & food insecurity alongside physical and mental healthcare challenges.
Educators and youth‑serving staff are often the first to notice warning signs but may not feel equipped to respond, nor have the training to respond without risking additional harm.

This is the context in which I practice and champion Mental Health First Aid.

Essentially, distress has become the new normal for teens and young adults.

Why Mental Health First Aid?

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is a training that teaches everyday people how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges among youth and adults. It is not therapy, and it is not a replacement for professional care.

Instead, it is a framework for compassionate, informed, and practical support—much like learning CPR for emotional and psychological crises.

The core MHFA action plan, “ALGEE,” gives us a simple structure to lean on when a situation feels complex or overwhelming:

A – Approach, assess for risk of suicide or harm.
L – Listen nonjudgmentally.
G – Give reassurance and information.
E – Encourage appropriate professional help.
E – Encourage self-help and other support strategies.

Source: https://mentalhealthfirstaid.org/news/algee-how-mhfa-helps-you-respond-in-crisis-and-non-crisis-situations/

MHFA works because it democratizes mental health literacy.

MHFA does not ask us to become clinicians. It asks us to become more human with each other. How? By being more aware, present, and skilled at connecting people to the help they deserve. It reminds us that we don’t have to be alone in our mental health and wellbeing journeys, reinforcing our connection to each other.

MHFA is a tool that has served me every day since I first learned it pre-pandemic.

When it comes to my own mental health, this training has helped me unlearn taboos and myths that have kept me from asking for help my whole life. It has normalized me reaching out for support, as well as me offering it to others without them having to ask first.

When it comes to supporting others, this training has helped me better understand the difference between anxiety and depression. It has given me the tools to recognize suicidal ideation and the practical tips and resources to say something when I see something. And, it has given me so much more.

What SMART Goal can I set for my mental health and wellness?

As an educator, advocate, and aspiring student-focused public official, I know that my personal mental health practices ripple out into my leadership. I cannot ask students, families, or colleagues to do what I am not willing to do myself.

Starting in May 2026 in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, to keep myself accountable, I will implement a SMART Goal focused on my own mental health and wellbeing. Consider your own SMART Goal, or feel free to adopt mine as your own!

Mer's SMART Goal:
Over the next 12 months, starting on May 1, 2026, I will cultivate a more balanced emotional life by intentionally strengthening positive emotions and flexible thinking while honoring and learning from difficult emotions, so that I can show up as a grounded, compassionate leader in East San Jose.

S for SPECIFIC

Specificity matters because research suggests that people often habituate quickly to positive events, especially when they live with higher levels of anxiety. That’s why I want to create and savor moments that replenish me. To make this goal S for SPECIFIC, I will:

Continue my daily meditation practice to take one “sacred pause” each day.
Just 5-10 minutes of quiet reflection, journaling, or mindful breathing is enough to name what I am feeling (pleasant or unpleasant) and what it might be trying to teach me.

Other ideas that YOU can try:

Intentionally build at least one small positive experience into each day, such as a brief walk in your neighborhood, a phone call with a friend, listening to music you love, starting a garden, or laughing at yourself about something silly.
Use the ALGEE framework at least once a week in a conversation with a young person, colleague, family member, friend, or neighbor to normalize mental health check‑ins for people in your orbit.

M for Measurable

Having measures helps me see whether I am actually practicing emotional range and regulation, not just thinking about it. To make this goal M for Measurable, I will:

Use one of my daily meditations each week to reflect and journal about one difficult emotion I encountered and what I learned from it.
I will also add one positive emotion I cultivated and what helped sustain it.

Other ideas that YOU can try:

A daily check‑box habit tracker (paper or digital) where you mark:
- 1) Sacred pause completed (Y/N), and/or
- 2) Positive experience noticed and named (Y/N).
ALGEE conversation practiced (Y/N, ideally at least weekly).
A quarterly self‑check using self‑rated questions on a 1–10 scale, such as:
- “How often am I reacting from fear, shame, or resentment?” or
- “How often am I operating from curiosity, hope, or compassion?”

A for Achievable

Practicing meditation daily is achievable because I am not adding something new to my routine. I am adding reflection to the work I already do every day, which aligns with how sustainable behavior change tends to succeed. To make this goal A for Achievable:

My daily practice of 10+ minutes is realistic even in a packed schedule, because I have already proven it by surpassing 3,000 days of meditation.

Other ideas that YOU can try:

Short positive experiences that do not require extra money or elaborate planning, like walking, going on hikes, or reading.
Activities that build on things you already enjoy, like gardening, watching movies, or connecting with others.

R for Relevant

These investments in my emotional maintenance are relevant because research reinforces how important it is to understand our emotional patterns and model healthy ways of engaging with both joy and pain. This goal is R for Relevant, because:

As an educator, governance leader, and advocate, I want to embody the emotional literacy and self‑regulation I hope to see in our schools and systems.
As a resident of East San Jose, where structural inequities converge, I want to contribute to a culture where it is normal to talk about feelings, seek help, and support one another.

Other ideas that YOU can try:

Reflect on your community and your vision for its future.
Consider how ALGEE and wellbeing contribute to meeting those goals.

T for Timing

By committing to a full year, I am giving myself enough time to invest in real habit‑building, while still having regular checkpoints to course‑correct as needed. This goal’s T for Timing is:

A 12‑month time frame, with built‑in milestones (daily, weekly, quarterly).
Launched in May to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month, with the hopes that it will also inspire others to take action.

Other ideas that YOU can try:

Set quarterly milestones to review what you have learned, and adjust practices if needed. For example, during each equinox and solstice (March 20-21, June 20-21, September 22-23, December 21-22).
At 12 months, evaluate whether you feel more emotionally balanced, and how this has affected your leadership, relationships, and sense of purpose.

We can learn and evolve -- IF and WHEN we choose to

The through‑line in my MHFA journey and in the science of emotions shows us that we are not stuck.

I also know that our brains and hearts are capable of learning new patterns. We can expand our emotional vocabulary, strengthen our capacity to stay with discomfort, and cultivate positive emotions (Source: Rest).

But this growth is not automatic. It requires intention. It requires communities, like those in East San Jose, to invest in training, storytelling, and policies that honor mental health as a foundational part of education, democracy, and justice.

I chose to learn and evolve in 2020, which led me to MHFA and inspired me to invest in my personal growth every year. The following are examples of what I learned from MHFA:

When students, colleagues, or neighbors begin to show signs of isolation, panic, or deep fatigue, ALGEE helps me pause, really listen, and offer resources instead of rushing to “fix” or even freezing.
My view has expanded from “I have skills to offer” to “we can build a community safety net.”
Doing the things I already enjoy (like coordinating logistics, outreach, and follow‑up) showed me how MHFA can be scaled across organizations and geographies, especially when we center accessibility.
Hosting annual MHFA training each May for Mental Health Awareness Month has been one of the most practical ways I can give back to East San Jose and Santa Clara County.
Even when participants don’t complete full certification, they leave with exposure to ALGEE, real‑life scenarios, knowledge of local resources, and tools they can use immediately in their families, workplaces, and neighborhoods.

Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA), which I am undertaking this May 2026 through Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, is the next essential layer. The data on youth mental health and the stories I hear from students and families make it clear that we need more youth and adults who know how to:

Recognize early warning signs of distress, including changes in mood, behavior, sleep, or school performance.
Notice red flags for suicide risk and respond with both urgency and compassion, including connecting young people to immediate support and following up.
Navigate conversations about social media use, bullying, identity, family stress, and substance use in ways that validate young people’s emotions instead of minimizing them.

My next blog article will focus on the mental health challenges our youth are specifically facing, and offer ideas on how we can tackle them together.

CALLS TO ACTION!

No matter who you are or what you do, we all have a role to play!

Whether you choose to certify as a Mental Health First Aider or bring ALGEE into spaces that you occupy, commit to taking ONE action this year.

Youth and the adults who work with them have a curriculum to learn how to talk to young people ages 12-18 about mental health and how to step in when they need help.
Adults across sectors can also benefit from training, and MHFA offers it for industries (e.g., manufacturing, restaurants, retail) and specific communities (e.g., higher education, public safety, corrections, rural communities, Spanish speakers).

For policymakers:

Invest in schools that are safe, relationship‑centered, and healing‑oriented, not just focused on academics or punishment (Source: California Youth & Families Speak).
Regional children’s advocacy efforts highlight mental health, basic needs, and school climate as core pillars of child wellbeing, emphasizing the need for coordinated, community‑level responses for youth and families (Source: Kids in Common).
Invest in MHFA because it is a smart, preventative strategy that strengthens our social fabric. When more youth and adults know how to respond to depressive episodes, panic attacks, or suicidal ideation, we prevent harm before it is caused. We can reduce emergency‑room visits, prevent crises from escalating, and create school and community environments where people feel seen and supported.

As a Mental Health First Aider, I am choosing to keep learning and practice ALGEE in my daily life. I am choosing to meditate, to build in sacred pauses. I am advocating for policies that make it easier, not harder, for our youth and families to get the mental health and wellbeing support they need to thrive. If enough of us make similar choices, we can move from a culture of reactivity and fear to one of reflection, compassion, and collective resilience.

SOURCES

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Mondays with Mer Launched

4/12/2026

Join Mer Curry Nuñez as she launches her monthly office hours!

#MersMondayMusings is about offering the space to learn, ask questions, and become your authentic self. Learn more about Mondays with Mer at https://www.advancedconsulting.org/mondays-with-mer.html#/.

Why? Because while there are leaders who have passion, ideas, and energy, many often lack access to social capital and accessible, relevant, and timely resources. Join our free monthly online office hours to explore free resources, tackle curiosities, and get thought-partnership on your ideas and projects.

Who is this for? Nonprofit leaders, education practitioners, entrepreneurs, and small business owners that seek professional development.

What’s the schedule?

Monday, April 13 at 6 PM
Monday, May 4 at 6 PM
Monday, June 8 at 6 PM
Monday, July 13 at 6 PM

To sign up for future Mondays with Mer held once a month, register at bit.ly/mondayswithmer.

Mer's first topic? How to leverage youth-centered campaigns in April to bring the whole family together! We’ll cover:

#1 The Week of the Young Child (WOYC) which runs from April 11-17 this year. Overview of free activities the family can engage in week- or month-long! We'll start by exploring Poetry + Humor + Hope Month activities for Music Monday !
#2 Financial Literacy Month which is the entire month of April. We’ll combine this and WOYC with an activity for Work Together Wednesday!
#3 Workplace Readiness Week which runs from April 27 to May 1 this year. We’ll combine this and WOYC with activities for Tasty Tuesday and Artsy Thursday to explore ways the family can observe Labor History Month in May and the importance and impact of labor rights.
#4 Mental Health Awareness Month which is the entire month of May. We’ll combine this and WOYC with an activity for Family Friday!

The following are the resources shared during this session:

AdvancED WMYOC Worksheets: https://bit.ly/advanced-wmoyc
- Folder includes downloadable PDFs of the three worksheets (Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday) and the slides from the April 13 presentation.
NAEYC Week of the Young Child: www.naeyc.org/events/woyc
SJPL Month of the Young Child: www.sjpl.org/early-education-0-5/
Mer’s January 2025 Karaoke Playlist on YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTNSxNPpl7jPYwa2HzqH7NcI2BWwew8bh
CalKIDS Child Savings Accounts: https://calkids.org
ScholarShare529 Child Savings Accounts: https://scholarshare529.com

Download AdvancED WMYOC Worksheets

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Farewell NCCPC from Mer Curry Nuñez

11/1/2025

I sent the following email to NCCPC's members and partners on Friday, October 17, 2025.

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Partners:

Today, October 17, 2025, is my last day as the Executive Director of the Northern California College Promise Coalition (NCCPC). Serving community and education leaders from Sacramento down to Fresno has been a profoundly rewarding experience and one of the most incredible journeys of my life. I am deeply grateful for the trust and confidence the NCCPC Steering Committee invested in me throughout my five-plus-year tenure, and my heart overflows with gratitude and appreciation when I think of our shared accomplishments.

It is particularly gratifying to note the advancement of policies, partnerships, and practices that have provided substantial support to local, regional, and statewide organizations that make up the membership of our coalition, from the Bay Area down to the Central Valley. Together, we centered and served over 300,000 first-generation, low-income, and multiply marginalized and underrepresented students across our footprint by co-creating solutions, piloting programs, and sharing resources.

I am grateful to have collaborated with such passionate, devoted, resourceful, and community-centered partners and to have served under the distinguished leadership of our Steering Committee and Advisory Council.

Most of all, I am grateful for the countless hours of dedication and work of NCCPC’s backbone team, both those who are still here and those who invested early in providing a collective impact infrastructure for our members to engage in. Our staff, members, and partners helped us transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of students across the state during and after the pandemic. As we face yet another crisis in our state, country, and world due to shifting policies and practices, NCCPC serves as a trusted source of information, a safe space where hope can endure, and a vital network that facilitates meaningful relationships and pathways for success.

We launched several toolkits, providing hundreds of practitioners in our ecosystem with trusted information to share with students and families about child savings accounts and college financial literacy. We championed local and regional partnerships that embed the value of education in local governments and elevate partnerships to eliminate poverty and enhance quality of life with our Education Cities Initiative. We piloted an Emergency Microgrants Program for the last three years to support our members’ scholars with a financial safety net when affected by unforeseen financial challenges. We enabled the passage of legislation to ban scholarship displacement in California and developed Know Your Rights Toolkits for students, colleges, and scholarship providers. These toolkits ensure that over one million students can maximize every dollar they earn and are qualified for. We learned so much in the process, made a difference, AND got results, TOGETHER.

To Justher Gutierrez and Melissa Fries, I have depended on each of you to bring your strengths, skills, and expertise to the table, enabling solutions and facilitating committees that work for our members. Thank you for answering the call and bringing your best self every single day for the benefit of our members. This thanks goes out to all of NCCPC’s past staff, too!

To my fiercely committed partners in this work, Chair David Silver and Vice Chair Angela Bugayong - you are the greatest advisors and supervisors that an executive could ask for, and it’s been a privilege and pleasure to lead with you.

To the co-chairs who have led our committees, past and present, THANK YOU for investing even more of your leadership and expertise into our coalition’s pillars and activities. Because of you, what we do at NCCPC is truly for members, BY members.

To the Advisory Council members who champion our coalition’s work and our members from your leadership roles in higher education, public office, and advocacy, I appreciate your guidance and collaboration over the years.

To every member, partner, and ally I have had the pleasure of meeting over these five-plus years — and those I didn’t meet but who have leveraged the work of our coalition — THANK YOU for how you show up in the world and how you lead every day. Our students wouldn’t be here without you.

I am grateful for the flowers that NCCPC and I are receiving this month in recognition of all of our collective efforts over nearly six years as a coalition! Next Thursday in Campbell, NCCPC will receive the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 2025 Community Impact Award. Then, on the 30th in San Francisco, I am honored and humbled to be recognized as one of the Most Influential Filipina Women in the World by the Filipina Women’s Network Foundation.

As I look to the months ahead, I am looking forward to new opportunities to serve the San Jose and Silicon Valley communities, such as in my new role as a Co-Chair for the Black Leadership Kitchen Cabinet of Silicon Valley and the inaugural Board Secretary for LEAD Filipino.

I am grateful to know you, proud to be part of this ecosystem, and privileged to continue serving so that our students can live with dignity, purpose, security, and joy, as they deserve.

With gratitude always,
Mer Curry Nuñez

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Data Meets Practice: What Student Pathways Data Stories Can Do for Education Leaders

6/8/2025

First published on May 12, 2025

9 MIN READ

This article is the first in the Data Meets Practice series! At the end, you'll find links to other posts that explore tools educational leaders can use to support their communities in measuring student outcomes and using data to inform local practices and priorities.

On Tuesday, April 22, 2025, years of hard work from hundreds of California leaders and advocates culminated in the launch of the CA Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System's first dashboard — the Student Pathways Data Story, a first-of-its-kind tool in the state. I was eager to dig in, and this article documents my exploration.

As a proud inaugural Advisory Council member from 2022 to 2024, I had the opportunity to explore the design of this dashboard, so I understood well before the launch what it could do for educational leaders from K-12 to postsecondary. This article focuses on the vision for this dashboard and the unique opportunities we have in the cradle-to-career ecosystem to leverage this tool and its data to inform our practices.

Whether you are a school board member, a community college/district board member, a superintendent, a lead counselor, a college promise program, or a nonprofit, this article is for you!

Source: https://c2c.ca.gov/

Dashboard Tour: Explore the new Dashboard with AdvancED

On June 7, 2025, I recorded a tour of the dashboard to help readers navigate the tips in this article. In the video, I highlight the following resources:

Degrees of Value: Mapping the Return on Investment for California’s College Graduates by California Competes
Design Thinking: Cocreating Solutions with East San José Residents by California Competes
Do low-income students benefit from college? What the data say by FREOPP
EdTrust-West Data for the People Video Tutorial on LinkedIn by Roy Tongilava (1:18)

Data Stories: Pathways to College in California

When you visit the new Student Pathways Data Story, you are reminded that California leads the nation with the highest number of college-going students, with more than 2 million. "Yet, not all paths to a postsecondary education are linear." As a first-generation college graduate who faced numerous challenges to persist, pay for, and earn my first degree, I know firsthand that every student has a unique educational journey.

When you access this tool to “Find your story,” you can explore outcomes for students related to degree intentions versus attainment and earnings. Two filters make this tool especially great for educational leaders:

By School District
By Legislative District (based on school district)

The following are sets of questions that the tool answers through visuals and graphics:

How have California students navigated to and through college?
Who enrolls in college?
What types of degrees do students earn?
Once students enroll in college, how long does it take them to graduate?
What about students who work while they are enrolled in college?
How much do students earn after they graduate?

In the section below, I will delve deeper into the use cases for school districts to utilize the 'By School District' filter. Explore this article for legislators, which describes how to use the 'By Legislative District' filter.

Source: https://c2c.ca.gov/cradle-to-career-dashboards/student-pathways-fact-sheet-for-school-districts/

Drawing Pathways to College for my school district, ESUHSD

WHY THIS MATTERS

For school board members, information available in the dashboards can tell an important story about the post-high school journeys of your graduates. When evaluating past Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs) and preparing for the next Plan, this dashboard can quickly report on the experiences of students from your specific district by comparing actual outcomes to original goals. From there, school board members may consider realigning expenditures planned in school district budgets to support the implementation of improved or new strategies that move the needle closer to college and career goals for graduates. For example, if students are not completing 2- and 4-year degrees and certificates at the intended benchmarks, the board may consider increasing investments in pre-college advisors, programs, and partnerships to support this goal. Check out C2C’s Student Pathways Fact Sheet for School Districts for more information.

As a local advocate serving my East San José community, the school district I graduated from in 2000 is the East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD). I have the privilege of working with students from ESUHSD because of the programs I volunteer for, such as San José Cal-SOAP's Cash for College financial aid workshops. Since returning home in 2014, I have followed the outcomes for ESUHSD students, having to rely on various disconnected resources. This new dashboard and visualization tool provides a one-stop shop for AGGREGATE data, is user-friendly, and frames the information as responses to intuitive questions.

Note that for all visualizations, you can:

Download data from the chart into a CSV file.
Access the Data Definitions & FAQs.
Explore "How do I read this chart?"

As a Superintendent or school board member, when you access this tool to “Find your story,” select the filter 'By School District' filter. For this use case, I will share the data for ESUHSD as of April 23, 2025.

Source: https://c2c.ca.gov/data-stories/pathways-to-college-in-california/

Step #1
After selecting the filter, select the School District. I typed a keyword and selected East Side Union High from a pre-populated list of districts.

HOW IT WORKS: Whenever you see a feature like this in a tool or webpage, it is called “autocomplete” or “type-look-ahead.”

Step #2
The third optional filter is Student Population, and you can only select ONE (1) from a pre-set list of options listed here. I selected 'Race/Ethnicity - Asian' with my lens as a LEAD Filipino board member.

All Student Populations (default)
Race/Ethnicity (e.g., Asian, Black or African American, Two or More Races)
Gender (Female, Male, Nonbinary)
Foster Status
Homeless Status

HOW IT WORKS: I drilled down to “Asian,” hoping to understand the experience of Filipino students, but this data point was not available. I infer that the data source does not allow disaggregation by Asian subgroups, such as Filipino, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc., at this point for this visualization.

Step #3
Click on the Apply Filters button. When applied, the button text will update to Filters Applied, and every chart below will be updated accordingly.

The following are screenshots and insights I gained from these filters.

How have California students navigated to and through college?

In the above visualization, we can explore the different educational paths of Californians who graduated from public high schools over eight years (2014-2015 to 2022-2023).

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

What did students do after graduating from this high school district?
How many students from this district enrolled in college?
What were the outcomes of students from this district who enrolled in college?

INSIGHTS GAINED

#1 ESUHSD Asian students took different paths after graduating from high school:

16% never enrolled in college.
49% and 36% enrolled in 2-year and 4-year colleges respectively.

#2 Post-high-school/college outcomes for ESUHSD Asian students varied:

52% of students enrolled in 2-year and 4-year colleges completed a Bachelor’s Degree eight years later in 2022-2023.
The outcomes related to associate's degrees, community college certificates, and whether students enrolled in college later are still unknown.

DATA HEADERS

01. School/Legislative District
02. District Name
03. Demographic Category
04. Demographic Subgroup
05. Milestone Category
06. Milestone Number
07. Starting Milestone
8. Next Milestone
09. Number of Individuals
10. Total Number of High School Graduates
11. Percentage of High School Graduates

Who enrolls in college?

In the above visualization, we can explore a snapshot of first-time college enrollment broken down by demographic for students who first enrolled in the SELECTED academic year. You can apply two optional filters. Otherwise, the data selected is for All Institution Types for the 2022-2023 Enrollment Year by default.

Additional Step #A: Choose an Enrollment Year

Enrollment Year is an optional filter; you can only select one (1). I chose the most recent data.

The options are from 2018-2019 to 2022-2023.

Additional Step #B: Choose an Institution Type

Institution Type is an optional filter; you can only select one (1). The options are listed here. I selected CA Public 2-Year College. Note that after choosing a filter, give the tool a few moments to update the visualization.

The options are CA Public 2-Year College and 4-Year College.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Of students who enrolled in college from this district, which institutions did they enroll in, by type?
How do college enrollments from this district compare with the rest of California?

INSIGHTS GAINED

#1 CA students accessed 2-year colleges at different rates:

The highest rates were for Hispanic or Latino and White at 56% and 23%, respectively.
The lowest rates were for Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Two or More Races at 5% or less.

#2 ESUHSD students accessed 2-year colleges at different rates with similar gaps:

The highest rates were for Hispanic or Latino and White at 45% and 43%, respectively.
The lowest rates were for Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Two or More Races at 3% or less.

DATA HEADERS

01. School/Legislative District
02. District Name
03. Demographic Category
04. Demographic Subgroup
05. Two-year/Four-year institution
06. Enrollment Year
07. Number of Students Enrolled
08. Total Number of Students Enrolled
09. Percentage of Enrolled Students

What types of degrees do students earn?

In the above visualization, we can explore students' degrees and awards from California public colleges to understand better how they take advantage of the many paths to earning credentials after high school.

You can apply one optional filter; otherwise, the selected data defaults to All Award Years.

Additional Step #A: Choose an Award Year

Award Year is an optional filter; you can only select one (1). I chose the most recent data.

The options are from 2018-2019 to 2022-2023.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Of students who enrolled in college from this district, how many graduated from CA public colleges?
What types of degrees or certificates did the graduates earn?

INSIGHTS GAINED

#1 ESUHSD Asian students leveraged all of the different pathways after graduating from high school:

Students earned Bachelor’s Degrees (straight after high school) and Associate Degrees at the highest rates, 42% and 27%, respectively.
Students earned Community College Certificates and Bachelor’s Degrees post-transfer at lower rates, 12% and 19%, respectively.

#2 Post-high-school/college outcomes for ESUHSD Asian students varied:

52% of students enrolled in 2-year and 4-year colleges completed a Bachelor’s Degree eight years later in 2022-2023.
Outcomes related to associate's degrees, community college certificates, or whether students enrolled in college later are still unknown.

DATA HEADERS

01. School/Legislative District
02. District Name
03. Demographic Subgroup
04. Demographic Category
05. Year of Award
06. Award Type
07. Number of Students Receiving Award
08. Total Number of Students Receiving Award
09. Percentage of Students Receiving Award

Once students enroll in college, how long does it take them to graduate?

In the above visualization, we can explore how long it takes ESUHSD students to complete their degrees based on when they first enrolled in college and when they earned their degree.

There are two optional filters that you can apply; otherwise, the selected data defaults to Community College Certificates for the 2022-2023 Enrollment Year. They offer the note: "For students who attend multiple institutions or transfer, this means that the full length of their degree journey is not included in the current version of this chart. Future dashboards will explore the transfer journey in more detail."

Additional Step #A: Choose an Award Year

Award Year is an optional filter; you can only select one (1). I chose the most recent data.

The options are from 2018-2019 to 2022-2023.

Additional Step #B: Choose an Award Type

Award Type is an optional filter; you can only select one (1). The options are listed here. I selected Bachelor’s Degree - Transfer Students. Note that after choosing a filter, give the tool a few moments to update the visualization.

Community College Certificate
Associate Degree
Bachelor’s Degree - Did Not Transfer
Bachelor’s Degree - Transfer Students

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

How long does it take students from this district to complete their degrees, by award type?

INSIGHTS GAINED

#1 ESUHSD Asian students take a median of 3 years to receive their award:

Students received their award within 2 or 3 years in the highest numbers.
Students more rarely completed in 1, 4-5, and 7+ years.

#2 Post-high-school/college outcomes for ESUHSD Asian students varied:

52% of students enrolled in 2-year and 4-year colleges completed a Bachelor’s Degree eight years later in 2022-2023.
Outcomes are still unknown related to associates degrees, community college certificates, or if students enrolled in college later.

DATA HEADERS

01. School/Legislative District
02. District Name
03. Demographic Category
04. Demographic Subgroup
05. Year Student Received Award
06. Award Type
07. Years Enrolled at Awarding Institution
08. Number of Students
09. Total Number of Students Who Received Award

What about students who work while they are enrolled in college?

The above visualization illustrates the number of ESUHSD students who worked while enrolled in college. There are two filters that you can apply, and one is required. Otherwise, the data selected for the 2022-2023 Academic Year will be presented as Percent Working by default.

Additional Step #A: Choose an Academic Year

Academic Year is an optional filter; you can only select one (1). I chose the most recent data.

The options are from 2018-2019 to 2022-2023.

Additional Step #B: Choose a Percent Working

Percent Working or Earnings is a required filter with one (1) preselected option. I did not alter the default selection to see the percentages, and I also toggled to Earnings.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

How many students who graduated from this district worked while enrolled in college, by college type?
What did students who graduated from this district earn while enrolled in college, by college type?

INSIGHTS GAINED

ESUHSD Asian students work while in college at high rates:

46% and 40% for students enrolled in 2- and 4-year colleges, respectively.
They earn between $16,850 and 23,939.

DATA HEADERS

01. School/Legislative District
02. District Name
03. Demographic Category
04. Student Population
05. Academic Year
06. Two-year/Four-year institution
07. Number of Students Working
08. Number of Students Enrolled
09. Median Wage (Inflation Adjusted)
10. Percentage of Students Working

How much do students earn after they graduate?

In the above visualization, we can explore how much ESUHSD graduates and certificate earners earn over time, such as the median annual earnings of college graduates every year for up to five years after earning their award. There is one optional filter that you can apply; otherwise, the selected data defaults to the 2022-2023 Award Year.

Additional Step #A: Choose an Award Year

Award Year is an optional filter; you can only select one (1). I chose the most recent data.

The options are from 2018-2019 to 2021-2022.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

How much did students from this district earn after graduating from college by degree or certificate?
How much did graduates and certificate earners earn over time?

INSIGHTS GAINED

Data is not available for 2+ years.

ESUHSD Asian students earned between $0 and $53K 1 year after earning a degree or certificate:

$22,285 for Associate’s Degree earners.
$51,243-52,762 for Bachelor’s Degrees (lower for transfers).

DATA HEADERS

01. School/Legislative District
02. District Name
03. Demographic Category
04. Demographic Subgroup
05. Award Year
06. Award Category
07. Year of Earnings
08. Years Since Award
09. Number of Individuals
10. Median Wage (Inflation-adjusted)

Data Meets Practice: Drawing Pathways to my Community College

WHY THIS MATTERS

For local community college leaders and board members, the same information in the School District-filtered dashboard allows you to drill down into each of your feeder school districts. By collecting data across feeder districts, community colleges can advance several initiatives, such as:

Make the case for expanding dual enrollment.
Target support to specific demographics of students (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, foster youth) to improve degree and certificate completion.
Make a case for feeder students to attend college as part of general outreach efforts by reflecting on your district's student outcomes, drilled down by relevant intersections.

To close, I hope that school board members and community advocates will explore the Student Pathways Dashboard for their local school district to understand better what happens to their high school graduates.

For the next articles in the "Data Meets Practice" series, check out:

AdvancED Tips

When exploring this tool with the community, consider using it to engage in design thinking conversations. Check out this article from California Competes on how they co-created solutions with East San Jose residents.

Want to dig even deeper?

Check out the following resources from the CA Cradle-to-Career Data System:

C2C Dashboard: Pathways to College in California - Explore your district's data.
Student Pathways Resource Hub - Access tutorial videos, student stories, companion publications, and infographics.
Student Pathways Fact Sheet for School Districts and for Legislative Districts - Web-based factsheet answering how to use the data story, who is and is not included, and frequently asked questions, including information about the data.
FAQ: Student Pathways Data Story - Provides greater detail about topics like the data sources, districts and student populations, wages and earnings, privacy and data suppression, and data definitions.
Student Pathways Data Story Data Dictionary (30 pgs) - Includes a glossary, information about the dataset metadata, and an explanation of the fields.

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Data Meets Practice: Pairing C2C with Other Tools to Measure Student Outcomes

6/7/2025

8 MIN READ

The first article of this series, Data Meets Practice: What Student Pathways Data Stories Can Do for Education Leaders, introduced readers to the CA Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System’s first dashboard -- the Student Pathways Data Story.

A beneficial tool in its own right, we can use the dashboard in conjunction with other tools to tell a more complete story about your students’ outcomes and the factors that contribute to them. It’s also a valuable tool for policymakers and legislators.

In this third article of the "Data Meets Practice" series, I will introduce FREE, open-access tools that education leaders can use, with or without the C2C dashboard. I thank the members and partners of the Northern California College Promise Coalition (NCCPC) for vetting these resources and sharing them with the ecosystem.

Explore this article to use the Data Story with these tools:

EdTrust-West Data Equity Walk

Introduced by NCCPC Member
DATA SOURCE: EdTrust-West
DATA LEVEL: Toolkit to explore data like C2C data stories
DATA FRESHNESS: N/A
DATA ACCESS: No account login is needed
To access the public tool, go to: https://west.edtrust.org/data-equity-walk-toolkit/

What is a Data Equity Walk

A Data Equity Walk is a 45-90 minute activity for any size audience – high school and college students, teachers, district leaders, community members, or others – to engage with education data and discuss equity issues. Participants delve into data that reveals education outcomes and highlights gaps between students groups. The data usually show district or school performance across different measures like student achievement and school climate.

Participants explore the data individually before collectively discussing implications and identifying solutions to address disparities and improve outcomes.

Data Equity Walk participation does not require prior experience with data and is geared toward all audiences.

Explore the EdTrust-West’s Data Equity Walk Toolkit to get access to:

Overview video (1:30)
Ready-made California state-level data slides
Do-it-yourself data slides (when you have access to data, like C2C Student Pathways Data Story CVS files)
Testimonials from Data Equity Walk participants in Central, Northern, and Southern CA
Access to shared folders with translated instructions, examples, and slides in:
- Arabic
- Chinese (Simplified)
- Chinese (Traditional)
- Korean
- Punjabi
- Spanish
- Tagalog
- Vietnamese
FAQs including:
- Why does data matter?
- How can a Data Equity Walk be useful to me or my organization?
- Why is the Data Equity Walk format impactful?

Source: https://west.edtrust.org/data-equity-walk-toolkit/

TYPES OF DATA TO EXPLORE

When you download the Ready Made CA Level Slides, you’ll explore data such as:

Smarter Balanced English Language Arts/ Literacy Performance, All Grades, by Student Group
Cohort Graduation Rates, by Ethnicity and Gender
Suspension, by Ethnicity
First-Year Retention Rates, California State University and University of California Systems, by Ethnicity
Six-Year Postsecondary Completion Rates, by Ethnicity

INSIGHTS GAINED	WHAT ELSE CAN I DO FROM HERE?
Data Equity Walk participants explore data points while reflecting on guiding questions: What are your general reactions to the data? What questions do these data raise for you? What solutions can you think of to address the issues raised by these data?	Use the Do It Yourself Data Slides to plan your Data Equity Walk. Use the Planning Questions handout to familiarize your team with the audience’s background, the goals for your Data Equity Walk, and the experience (live, virtual). Explore C2C and commonly used data sources to narrow down data to explore. Use their Data Quest How-To Guide to put your data together using the slides.

California Competes Postsecondary to Prosperity Dashboard

Introduced by NCCPC Member
DATA SOURCE: California Competes
DATA LEVEL: State, Region (e.g. Bay Area), and County
DATA FRESHNESS: Depends on the data source, learn more in the Technical Appendix
DATA ACCESS: No account login is needed
To access the public tool, go to:
https://p2p.californiacompetes.org/p2p

The Postsecondary to Prosperity (P2P) Dashboard, powered by California Competes, braids together multiple data sources to create an interactive, user-friendly portal with visualizations of the state of opportunity across California. For the most updated files and links, visit https://p2p.californiacompetes.org/ and scroll to the MORE RESOURCES section.

To explore the data on the P2P platform, check out the Technical Appendix.
To watch a video, check out their article Harnessing the Power of Data to Address California’s Equity Gaps and watch the video (1:01:00).

To learn how to use the dashboard, refer to A Guide to Using the P2P Dashboard.

Source: https://p2p.californiacompetes.org/p2p/regions?region=santa-clara-county

According to the Technical Appendix, The Postsecondary to Prosperity (P2P) Dashboard divides the state into twelve (12) regions, each of which is made up of one or more counties:

Bay Area consists of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma Counties. (An earlier version of P2P placed Santa Cruz County in the Bay Area. The change was prompted by user feedback and to match other organizations’ definitions of the Bay Area.)
Central Sierra consists of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties.
Central Coast consists of Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Ventura Counties. (An earlier version of P2P placed Santa Cruz County in the Bay Area.)
Inland Empire consists of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
Los Angeles consists of Los Angeles County.
North-Far North consists of Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, and Siskiyou Counties.
Orange consists of Orange County.
Sacramento-Tahoe consists of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba Counties.
San Diego consists of San Diego County.
Imperial consists of Imperial County.
San Joaquin Valley consists of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tulare Counties.
Upper Sacramento Valley consists of Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Tehama, and Trinity Counties.

INSIGHTS GAINED

WHAT ELSE CAN I DO FROM HERE?

For Santa Clara County:

21.1% did not pursue college, 19.2% achieved some college or an Associate’s, and 59.7% received a Bachelor’s degree.
The college premium is $60,000. This is how much college graduates earn with a Bachelor’s or graduate degree compared to those without.
86.2% of high school students graduate while only 56.3% complete A-G requirements.
6.96% of adults age 25-40 are currently enrolled in college and 32% of undergraduates are of color.
21.9% of community college students transfer within three (3) years and 68.0% of undergraduates complete within five (5) years.
96.7% of adults age 25-64 are employed.
The median annual income for individuals is $42,600 while for households it is $131,000.
Only 102 job openings per 1,000 residents pay a living wage.
The gender wage gap is $16,000.
74.0% of households earn a living wage and 55.2% own their homes.
Associate’s degree completers owe $9,000 in federal student debt compared to $15,526 for Bachelor’s degree earners.
Average monthly childcare costs $5,300/$63,600 annually and 31% of families have affordable childcare.
27.8% of people from middle-income families outearn their parents.

School or legislative districts can look at their C2C data and compare it to the county.

Use the P2P county data to tell stories about the county then compare to the school or legislative district.
Use P2P’s Postsecondary data to set targets for the school or legislative district (e.g., reach county if higher).
Use P2P’s Workforce data to demonstrate how college students are part of the workforce.
Use P2P’s Prosperity data to highlight the impact of societal and economic factors on student persistence and degree attainment, such as:
- Affordable housing
- Affordable childcare
- Gender wage gap
- Student loan debt
- High-speed internet
- SNAP food benefits
- Justice-involvement
- Access to essentials:
  - Health insurance
  - Grocery stores, gas stations, and banks
  - Doctors and dentists

For policy discussions, use P2P and C2C data to tell highlight statewide impact:

Equitable education policies reduce gaps in wages and degree attainment.
Provision and expansion of basic needs services improves college and career outcomes.

California Student Aid Commission Race to Submit Dashboard

Introduced by NCCPC Partner
DATA SOURCE: California Student Aid Commission
DATA LEVEL: Aggregate by school and school district
DATA FRESHNESS: June 6, 2025
DATA ACCESS: No account login is needed
To access the public tool, go to:
https://www.csac.ca.gov/race-submit

The Race to Submit is a statewide campaign designed to increase the number of financial aid applications submitted by California high school seniors who complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the California Dream Act Application (CADAA). Completing these financial aid applications is the first step toward college success and helps students qualify for federal and state aid to help cover the costs of college. The Race to Submit encourages all California high schools and districts to view and track their FAFSA and CADAA numbers. The online tool helps measure the number of submitted and completed applications. This initiative aims to motivate California high schools and districts to increase the number of completed applications by supporting their students with FAFSA and CADAA submissions.

Source: https://webutil.csac.ca.gov/dashboard/

INSIGHTS GAINED

WHAT ELSE CAN I DO FROM HERE?

For ESUHSD and the 2025-2026 application year:

3,987 high school seniors submitted FAFSA or CA Dream Act applications which is 63.9% of all seniors.
96% of high school seniors completed their applications successfully, 61.6% of all seniors.
3,674 high school seniors completed the GPA request to qualify for Cal Grant Awards and 46% were awarded a Cal Grant.

When discussion financial aid and its importance with stakeholders:

Use the Data Equity Walk toolkit to discuss how to strengthen college affordability by improving financial aid application submissions.
Use Race to Submit data to highlight how many can benefit from financial aid by completing applications.
Use the P2P college premium data for the county to remind stakeholders of the value of a college degree.

To close, I hope that no matter who you are in California's cradle-to-career ecosystem, I hope you will explore the Student Pathways Dashboard AND the tools in this article to gain a better understanding of what happens to your community and stakeholders.

For the prior articles in the "Data Meets Practice" series, check out:

The fourth article will share how to leverage the student-facing, open access tool CaliforniaColleges.edu and it's role in C2C.

AdvancED Tips

Want to learn more about NCCPC and its members?

Check out the following resources from NCCPC:

Learn about the Coalition's Purpose.
Meet NCCPC's 70+ organization and individual Members.
Meet NCCPC's postsecondary, employer, and advocacy Partners.
Explore NCCPC's Policy agenda and activities.
Share NCCPC's FREE College Financial Literacy Toolkit with students, families, and colleagues.
Share NCCPC's FREE Scholarship Displacement Know Your Rights Toolkits with students, scholarship providers, and colleges.

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Data Meets Practice: Drawing Pathways to College for my Legislative District

5/12/2025

5 MIN READ

The first article of this series, Data Meets Practice: What Student Pathways Data Stories Can Do for Education Leaders, introduced readers to the CA Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System’s first dashboard -- the Student Pathways Data Story.

In this second article, of the Data Meets Practice series, we will discuss how policymakers can take advantage of this tool.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Local legislators and other elected/appointed officials can use the same dashboard, drilling down into their legislative districts. Check out the Student Pathways Fact Sheet for Legislative Districts.

By collecting data within and across legislative districts, policymakers and advocates can:

Identify workforce development challenges in the community with which to design and collaborate on local and/or state policy initiatives. This strategy acknowledges that postsecondary education access is a critical component of effective and equitable workforce development strategies.
Leverage data to partner with organizations as authors, or with other legislators as co-authors, of new/reintroduced legislation. This information can also inform support of equitable policies via Yes/Aye votes in relevant committees that the legislator is a member of or leads (e.g., Chair).
Leverage data to amplify the importance of active bills during a legislative cycle. For example, in my region, the following legislators have introduced legislation that this dashboard can support:

Assemblymember Ash Kalra (AD 25) - AB 326 - CSU Audits.

As the largest enroller of 4-year-intended college students, student outcomes across the state may provide rationale for advancing this bill to ensure all California State University (CSU) campuses, and the CSU Chancellor’s Office implement their budgets and resources in ways that lead to degrees and jobs.

Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens (AD 26) - Protect the Head Start Program.

Post-high school student outcomes can strengthen support for this campaign to ensure that CA Head Start programs continue serving 85,000 kids and families annually, by providing a rationale for protecting the $1.5 billion in federal funding that could be cut by the current presidential administration.

Senator Dave Cortese (SD 15) - SB 743 – The Education Equalization Act.

Post-high school student outcomes can strengthen the argument for closing long-standing funding disparities between California’s public schools.

In the section below, I will demonstrate some of the visualizations for my districts. Instead of the School District filter, use the Legislative District filter to leverage the dashboards. From there, you can select the 1) Assembly or 2) Senate District based on number (e.g., SD 15). The following are screenshots of my legislative districts for each data point.

AD 25 Filter

SD 15 Filter

How have California students navigated to and through college?

AD 25 vs SD 15 Insights

Milestones over eight years, from 2014-2023, indicate similar first enrollment and completion benchmarks for Bachelor’s degrees in both districts.
There is less information available for AD 25 regarding who completed Community College Certificates and Associate Degrees than for SD 15.

AD 25

SD 15

Who enrolls in college?

AD 25 vs SD 15 Insights

For the 2022-2023 enrollment year, a higher percentage of Asian students (+14%) enrolled in all institution types in AD 25 than in SD 15.
A higher percentage of White students (+13%) enrolled in all institution types in SD 15 than in AD 25.

AD 25

SD 15

What types of degrees do students earn?

AD 25 vs SD 15 Insights

For the 2022-2023 award year, approximately 50% of students earned a Community College Certificate OR an Associate Degree in both districts.
Of the 50% who earned Bachelor’s Degrees, just over 30% did so through a transfer program.

AD 25

SD 15

Once students enroll in college, how long does it take them to graduate?

AD 25 vs SD 15 Insights

For the 2022-2023 award year, the median time to award for graduates of CA public colleges obtaining a Community College Certificate was 3 years in both districts.

AD 25

SD 15

What about students who work while they are enrolled in college?

AD 25 vs SD 15 Insights

For the 2022-2023 academic year, students worked and earned a little more in AD 25 than in SD 15.

AD 25

SD 15

How much do students earn after they graduate?

AD 25 vs SD 15 Insights

For the 2021-2022 award year, the median wages for all certificate and degree types ranges from $25,000 and $42,000 in both districts.

AD 25

SD 15

To close, I hope that policymakers, elected and appointed officials, and education advocates will explore the Student Pathways Dashboard for their local legislative district to gain a better understanding of what happens to their constituents.

For the next article in the "Data Meets Practice" series, check out:

Pairing C2C with Other Tools to Measure Student Outcomes

For the first article in the "Data Meets Practice" series, check out:

What Student Pathways Data Stories Can Do for Education Leaders

AdvancED Tips

Want to dig even deeper?

Check out the following resources from the CA Cradle-to-Career Data System:

C2C Dashboard: Pathways to College in California - Explore your district's data.
Student Pathways Resource Hub - Access tutorial videos, student stories, companion publications, and infographics.
Student Pathways Fact Sheet for School Districts and for Legislative Districts - Web-based factsheet answering how to use the data story, who is and is not included, and frequently asked questions, including information about the data.
FAQ: Student Pathways Data Story - Provides greater detail about topics like the data sources, districts and student populations, wages and earnings, privacy and data suppression, and data definitions.
Student Pathways Data Story Data Dictionary (30 pgs) - Includes a glossary, information about the dataset metadata, and an explanation of the fields.

0 Comments

Back to Blog

2025 Resources for the Silicon Valley Community

2/5/2025

During the COVID-19 pandemic, AdvancED Consulting, LLC hosted a suite of resources on our website to guide the Silicon Valley Community. Given the recent national and statewide political, social, economic, technological, AND weather challenges and catastrophes, our team is hard at work to make sure our community has what it needs to not just survive, but to thrive together.

First, we moved our Blog under the About Us menu. Second, we launched a new 2025 Resources page available right in our main website navigation for easy access. Third, we added a blurb about this page on our homepage.

Check out our new 2025 Resources page!

Check out our new and upcoming events!

0 Comments

Back to Blog

What are the ADEMs and How Do You Become One?

1/15/2025

Originally published on January 1, 2025 and updated on January 8, this article was updated a second time as of January 15, 2025.

*****

I am grateful to have served the state of California as a District-level Delegate for the 2024 presidential elections. I didn’t know what a Delegate was until Emerge CA explained their roles in presidential elections, and encouraged our 2024 cohort to run for a seat in our district. I heeded the call, followed the steps, leaned on my mentors and colleagues, and had the privilege of receiving votes from dozens of my district peers. The result was my first ever opportunity to serve as a District-level Delegate representing AD 18. My stint was short but jam-packed. We all know the results of the 2024 presidential elections.

This article is to introduce you to the NEXT opportunity available to those who asked me “How did you become a delegate?” This article will answer the question, “What are the ADEMS and how do you become one?”

According to the California Democratic Party, or CADEM, Assembly District Election Meetings (ADEMS) are held in each of the 22 CDP Regions in February of each odd-numbered year to elect 7 “self-identified female” and 7 “other than self-identified female” to be Assembly District Delegates (ADDs) to represent the Assembly District they are registered in. These elections are open to all California Democrats. (Source: CADEM)

ADDs and the Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC) plan and attend informational meetings throughout the region. They represent their communities, collaborate with other DSCC delegates throughout California, and vote at meetings and the CA Democratic Party Convention.

Why do ADEMs matter?

Whether you are an ADEM candidate, encourage someone to become a candidate, or vote for ADEM candidates in your Assembly District, your voice matters. This is an opportunity to affect the priorities and direction of CADEM at the grassroots level, locally and statewide. Why? Because big decisions get made at the CA Democratic Party Convention, such as which ballot measures and candidates to endorse and what ends up on the CADEM platform.

At CADEM, we are “Forever Organizing,” engaging in long-term coalition and community building because we know there are no “off-years” in building the Democratic base. Becoming an Assembly District Delegate is a fantastic opportunity for you to join these efforts, step up your political activism, and help us shape California’s future.

(Source: https://adem.cadem.org/about/)

The responsibilities you must commit to once elected as an ADEM are:

Participate in at least one convention every year. You are responsible for your travel, lodging, and meals. Costs can exceed $500/meeting depending on how early you plan.
Participate in the CDP endorsement process as they select candidates in the next election cycle.

ADEMS have the option of:

Join CDP Standing committees and provide input to functions like Fundraising, Legislation, Resolutions, and Rules.

If you are NOT interested in pursuing candidacy as an ADEM for your district…
I still encourage you to participate in the ADEM election for your district. You can also encourage people you know to run who may be interested in civic leadership.

If you ARE interested in pursuing candidacy as an ADEM for your district, read on. Note that deadlines and other instructions listed come from https://adem.cadem.org/deadlines/ and other subpages on the ADEM website.

Note that as of January 15, 2025, the instructions on how to become an ADEM are at the BOTTOM of this article since the deadline to register interest has passed. Consider reading that content for the NEXT election cycle in 2027!

New as of January 8, 2025! ADEM Key Dates

January 8, 2025

Candidate Registration Window CLOSES at 12 p.m.
Deadline to Withdraw Candidate Registration at 6 p.m.

January 9, 2025

Final Candidate List Posted
Candidate Statement Submission Form OPENS at 12 p.m.

January 16, 2025

Candidate Statement Submission Form CLOSES at 12 p.m.

January 24, 2025

Electronic Ballot Request - Voting Registration CLOSES at 12 p.m.

January 31, 2025

Electronic Voting Credentials Mailed

February 22, 2025

Saturday ADEM Meetings

February 23, 2025

Sunday ADEM Meetings Electronic Ballot Voting CLOSES at 6 p.m.
In-person - Voting Participant Registration CLOSES at 6 p.m.

February 26, 2025

Deadline to verify Voter Registration CLOSES at 12 p.m.

March 3, 2025

2025 ADEM Results

STEP #1: Confirm your interest to register your candidacy.

Note that you can explore current candidates, by district number, at https://adem.cadem.org/candidates/. Scroll down to the bottom of this article for these instructions.

STEP #2: Register as a candidate for your Assembly District.

Scroll down to the bottom of this article for these instructions.

STEP #3: Register to receive a vote online ballot for the February meeting.

To receive a vote online ballot in the Assembly District Election Meeting, you need to complete a separate registration form. This option is best for those who do NOT intend to register for candidacy. When you register for candidacy, you can check a box to confirm your interest in the ADEM ballot Online.

The Registration form opens from Jan 6th 2025 12:00 PM to Jan 24th 2025 12:00 PM. After this time, if you have not registered, you will be unable to vote in the Assembly District Election Meeting in your region.

STEP #4: Submit your candidate statement by the deadline.

If you registered your candidacy, you will receive a confirmation email. This email will have:

Your PIN, a 10-digit number with the format ##-#-#######. This is required to vote.
First and Last Name
Candidate Name

You will also get another email that provides instructions for your candidate statement. On January 9, 2025 the Final Candidate List will be posted on the website. The Candidate Statement Submission Form will open at 12 p.m. on January and close on January 16, 2025 at 12 p.m.

[Mer will add more information here once she receives her email.]

STEP #5: Vote in person at the Assembly District Election Meeting.

Register to vote for the Assembly District Election Meeting, in person. The Registration form opens from Jan 6th 2025 12:00 PM to Feb 23rd 2025 06:00 PM

Your online voting credentials will be mailed to you on or before January 31, 2025 to the registered mailing address that you provided. Online voting will open on January 31, 2025 and will close on February 23, 2025 @ 6:00PM.

Your voting credentials will include your PIN (Application #) and unique password. If your voting credentials are lost or you do NOT receive them by USPS on or before February 21, 2025, you should vote in person at any in-person voting location listed here. You may go to any ADEM voting location in the State to cast your ballot in-person.

STEP #6: Confirm the results of your election.

The ADEM meetings will be held across the state on Saturday, February 22, 2025. On Sunday, February 23 the electronic voting closes at 6 p.m. The ADEM results will be posted online by March 3, 2025.

How do you become an ADEM?

While all registered California Democrats are eligible, there are specific steps that need to be taken within a prescribed timeframe every odd year. The case study for this article is THIS year, 2025.

There are SIX (6) steps to pursue candidacy as an ADEM and the first two steps must be completed by Wednesday, Jan 8, 2025.

Confirm your interest to register your candidacy or vote.
Register as a candidate for your Assembly District.
Register to receive a vote online ballot for the February meeting.
Submit your candidate statement by the deadline.
Vote in person at the Assembly District Election Meeting.
Confirm the results of your election.

STEP #1: Confirm your interest to register your candidacy.

Note that you can explore current candidates, by district number, at https://adem.cadem.org/candidates/. If you recognize any names, you may want to reach out to ask questions about why they are running for additional insights. Whether you see a long or short list of candidates for your district, don’t let that deter you from registering your candidacy. If you know you do NOT want to register as a candidate, reviewing the list of candidates early may inspire you to vote and encourage others to join you.

STEP #2: Register as a candidate for your Assembly District.

The Registration form opened on Dec 9th 2024 12:00 PM and closes on Jan 8th 2025 12:00 PM. Per the website, “If you are unable to register to vote by reason of citizenship status and would still like to run as a candidate, please use this form: https://fs3.formsite.com/CADEM2011/deffrxyfak/index.”

The Candidate Registration form is straightforward with 15 fields to complete before hitting submit, 12 of them are required. Note that you will also need to pay a $40 fee when you submit the form. The questions are:

First & Last Name
Date of Birth (MMDDYYY)
Cell Phone
Street Address, County, City, and Zip Code (will determine your district)
Email Address
Ballot Name (here you can choose to use a nickname or other way to list your name)
Gender
Check the box if you would like to receive your ADEM ballot Online.
Check the box if you would like to be eligible for the Executive Board
By checking this box, I affirm that I have received, read, and will abide by the CDP Code of Conduct. (cadem.org/code-of-conduct/).

I hope the information in this article answered your questions, directed you to resources, and helped you map out your steps according to the ADEM timeline. For additional information, check out https://adem.cadem.org/resources which includes the 2025 process, meeting procedures, and more.

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Host Your Own Song & Dance Party

1/2/2025

This Saturday and Sunday, January 4-5, 2025, I have the honor and privilege of hosting a two-day Virtual Pop Up Healing Center with friends and colleagues that I love and admire. In addition, I am hosting a one-hour Song & Dance Party on Zoom called "Setting Our Souls FREE Through Song & Dance." This article is to support ANYONE in hosting their own Song & Dance party in person, online, or through a hybrid event that offers both options.

Ready, Set, Party!

I have hosted singing and dancing parties since my 20s, but I really got the hang of it in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In June 2020 I co-hosted a 7-Day Virtual Pop Up Healing Center with friend Adelina Tancioco.
Since summer of 2020, I've hosted dozens of workshops, including several Dance and Release parties.

I've learned a lot about how to host a party, whether in person, online, or both. It's my pleasure to share my best tips and tricks with YOU so that you can host YOUR OWN party one day, or enhance the parties you already host.

The 6 Steps are on the right and can be downloaded by clicking HERE or on the graphic. They are:

Build Your Team - Find people who can support you.
Schedule the Party - Choose a date, time, length for the party, and whether it will be In-Person, Virtual, or Hybrid.
Outreach - Everyone on the team has a responsibility to outreach to their networks.
Build the Playlists - Build playlists for 1) Singing (Karaoke), 2) Relaxing, and/or 3) Dancing, depending on your program.
Find Plants - Identify at least 1 person to lead for each of the elements.
Host the Party - Enjoy the day with whoever attends.

After hosting your first Song & Dance Party, consider Planning Another Party! Host another party for a holiday (e.g., Galetine’s Day, birthdays, reunions) or host a party just because!

Finally, I encourage you to think of Song & Dance Parties as opportunities to bring people together. They should be more about QUALITY (who shows up) not QUANTITY (how many register or attend).

Make It Your OWN!

Song & Dance Parties can be simple or as complicated as you want to make it. For example:

A Simple Party...
May only use one (1) playlist and programmatic element:

Singing (Karaoke),
Dancing, OR
Chilling (like a soundbath).

A Complicated Party...
May use all three (3) playlists (and others!), as well as incorporate other programmatic elements, such as:

Use a spin wheel to switch up which playlist is activated during the party. Go back and forth from singing to dancing to chilling at different intervals and sequences.
Teach choreography like a line dance or simple repeated moves to make it more like a dance class. You can find a lot of ideas for dances on YouTube.
Use a theme to spice up the decor, attire, and song choices for the party. I have done 80s and 90s Top 40 Hip Hop themes, as well as 40s themes (think Great Gatsby).
Make the party competitive so that people can win prizes for topics like Best Dancer or Best Singer.

These 4 Steps are on the right and can be downloaded by clicking HERE or on the graphic.

Resources to Support

Below are the resources I shared with attendees at the January 5th workshop, feel free to use them or gain inspiration from them for your own playlists!

Karaoke Video Playlist on YouTube - https://bit.ly/mer-karaoke-jan2025
Dance Playlist on Spotify - https://bit.ly/mer-dancemix-jan2025
Chillaxin Playlist on Spotify - https://bit.ly/mer-chillaxin-jan2025

0 Comments

Back to Blog

What the CA Cradle-to-Career Data System Could Have Done for Me

12/30/2024

Originally published December 2021, this article was updated in December 2024, three years later.

In October 2021, I learned that the California Cradle-to-Career Data System would not only become a real thing, it was going to hire it's first leadership team. I threw my hat in the ring, and decided to develop a student journey as part of my cover letter.

The following is a Student Journey demonstrating the future success that I envision for California’s Cradle-to-Career Data System (C2C). It captures my actual story, and proposes what might have been different IF this longitudinal data system has been in place growing up.

As the C2C launches its tools in 2025, I look forward to comparing what is true of the Data System to this original vision. Follow and learn more about the C2C at https://c2c.ca.gov/.

Download Mer's Student Journey (3-pgs)

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Board Recruitment: Activating Artifacts

11/9/2024

I have had the privilege to serve on multiple boards, steering committees, and commissions since 2008. Every opportunity gave me a new reason to expand as a woman of color in leadership, flex as a powerful professional and person, and strengthen my community by using my voice in the service of others who don't get to sit at the tables I get to sit at. The following are just some of the tables I've had the privilege of pulling up my chair to, you can see my full resume HERE:

Advisory Council Member | California Medicine Scholars Program (CMSP), Nov 2024 - present
Steering Committee Member | Bay Area K16 Collaborative, July 2022 - present
Inaugural Board Chair and Member | LEAD Filipino, Jan 2021 - present
Community Engagement Advisory Board Member | CA Cradle to Career Data System (C2C), May 2022 - Aug 2024
Advocacy Fellow, Advisory Task Force, and Policy Council | National College Attainment Network (NCAN), Oct 2021 - Sept 2024
Steering Committee member | Southern CA College Attainment Network (SoCal CAN), June 2009 - Dec 2016
Chair & Member | Women Development & Earth Foundation (USA and Philippines), Dec 2008 - Dec 2014

Tips for Recruiting New Board Members

As someone who has been recruited for a board, and who recruits board members, I have learned a lot about what works and what does NOT work. The following are my Do NOWs, Do LATERs, and Do NOTs. For both the Do Nows and Do Laters, I will recommend how you can use artifacts to activate people to support your cause.

Whether a board prospect joins your board or not, every person you talk to about joining your board should be convinced that they should support you in some way, shape, or form. Don't let the ask to join your Board be the END, let it be the BEGINNING.

DO NOW

DO NOWs are the things you want to do in the next three (3) months if you are actively recruiting board members.

NOW (if you haven't already)

ARTIFACTS! Develop a clear procedure and agenda template to drive discussions with board prospects. This can include, but is not limited to:
- What to share BEFORE the meeting (e.g. share a board overview handout 1 week before);
- What to discuss DURING the meeting (introductions, about the org, board responsibilities and meeting schedule, answer recruit's questions, next steps); and
- What to do AFTER the meeting (send follow-up within 2-3 days with the handout and any materials requested by board recruit, invite to upcoming events).

Within 1 MONTH

ARTIFACT! Develop a 1-2 page handout that is board-member facing which:
- Describes the nonprofit. Includes history, mission, vision, values, principles, programs, etc.
- Describes the Board of Director Responsibilities. This can include, but is not limited to:
  - Terms: How long is a term (2-4 years) and are there term limits (2-3 terms).
  - Meeting Participation: How often are the meetings, how long and where are they (e.g. Zoom), what is on a typical board meeting agenda, and is there an expectation on attendance (75%).
  - Fundraising Requirement: Is there a fundraising commitment, like a Give (personal contribution) or Get (support fundraising), and is there a minimum expected amount ($2K annually).
- Important links. This can include the website but websites should NEVER be the go-to for board members since they are expected to support internal decision making.
  - Useful links include the organization website, direct links to the pages about who is on the board, who is on the team, who are the current funding or other partners, annual reports, etc.
  - Note that organization websites only have approved public-facing content. Board recruits need access to information about the operations and governance of the organization that is often not available on websites.

Within 3 MONTHS

ARTIFACT! Develop an internal one-page flier to support staff in navigating questions with board prospects. This can include, but is not limited to:
- Who can speak with board prospects. For example,
  - It could be the Executive Director (ED) or Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
  - On more mature boards it can also be the Board chair or any board member, as well as Director- and other C-suite level staff.
- What documents or webpages to reference when meeting with the board to answer questions.
- The types of questions the org has received from prospective board members in the past and what the answers are.

DO LATER

DO LATERs are the things you want to make a plan to prepare for and accomplish in the next three to 12 months in order to have the most robust, comprehensive suite of procedures and artifacts for your board recruitment.

Within 6 MONTHS

ARTIFACT! Draft a Board Packet in partnership with the Board Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary (depending on what roles exist on the board).
If possible, launch a Board Packet Ad Hoc Committee for a short project so that any board member can work on this project, meet on an as needed-basis to arrive at a consensus, and prepare to present to the full board.
ARTIFACT! Determine if Board Members should sign a Board Agreement. If so, draft the agreement to include:
- Purpose of board members
- If they have the ability to assign a delegate (someone who can attend and make decisions on their behalf and in their place, also called an "alternate")
- What they are agreeing to (their expectations)
- What the benefits are (what do they get, e.g., listed on the website)
- How long the term is (signing for one year? two?)

Withing 12 MONTHS

Have a board-approved Board Packet (requires agendizing at a regularly scheduled board meeting and board approval).
Distribute the Board Packet to all current board members.
Make a plan for the ED/CEO to review the Board Packet with board members 1) individually as part of quarterly or annual check-ins and 2) at least once as a board during a regularly scheduled board meeting.
Integrate the Board Packet into the board recruitment procedures (e.g., share before meeting with a prospect, share as part of onboarding a new member).

Do NOT

DO NOTs are the things you want to AVOID doing when you prospect and recruit new or returning board members.

Do NOT:

Leave it at the conversation/meeting.
- Follow up within 2-3 days to recap what you shared, reiterate the ask and any timelines, and thank them for their time and consideration.
Include them on board-related emails or invitations UNTIL there is written confirmation of their interest.
Create Board Packets that are overly cumbersome and long as they will overwhelm members.
- Instead, create no more than a 4-page packet that is ONLY focused on what impacts the board (description, requirements, benefits, committees).
- Create other documents that can be shared with board members at their discretion and request for other things like the organization's history, operations, etc.

Do NOT make ASSUMPTIONS, such as:

If they say YES, they can commit to everything you THINK a board member should do.
- If what you THINK is not written down explicitly, until it is, the board member will need to learn how to be a board member, which means they won't know in advance what they're committing to.
If they say NO, it's over. Think of it as No now.
- Make a plan to follow up to keep them engaged and if you truly believe they're the right fit, follow up NEXT year.

Do NOT EXPECT:

The recruit to follow up with YOU. If they do, that's great. But YOU are the one with the ask so YOU should follow up to close out the conversation.

I hope that you enjoyed this article and that is has set you up for success to have the strongest, most mature and active board possible!

Have questions or want to get support creating your first set of board procedures? Contact Me!

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Mer on the Mic

5/7/2023

2 MIN READ

I’m grateful to nonprofit organization LEAD Filipino for having a local open mic night that I could write for. Bahay! Home of the Kreatives is a community-made environment where local FilAm, AAPI, BIPOC, Queer, and Trans creatives are invited to shape what an unapologetic, safe, healing, and sharing space looks and feels like in the heart of the ever-changing San José. I encourage you to sign up for a future open mic as an audience member, vendor, or performer!

On May 6th I joined LEAD Filipino at My Gypsy Soul for my first open mic performance in ages. There I read two pieces that I wrote in January 2023: “Turning 40” and “2023.” You can read both pieces below.

Turning 40

This year, I turned a few new pages
Remembered that my body ages
Remembered that the things it chases
Have been things that lead to disgraces.

This year, I upgraded my book
Celebrated the risks I took
Celebrated the folks I shook
Caused good trouble, made them all look.

This year, I shed unwanted fears
Oiled up my chains, tightened my gears
Oiled up my skin, braced for the sneers
Pushed back hard for my family’s cheers.

This year, I learned how untangled I
Can become that which they decry
Can become that which they deny
Should have the power seen in my eyes.

This year I turned 40, all the wiser
More of a watcher, more of a fighter
More of a speaker, more of a writer
Unleashing all that hides inside her.

This year, and the next year, watch out now
I am no longer scared of how
I am no longer backing down
Untangled from them, watch them bow.

2023

Tainted
Coming out of 2020
Painted
Red with tears in 2021
Waited
For better days in 2022
Today
Wondering if the pain and fear are done.

Wondering
Is 2023 the year that I
Stop fearing if I’ll die
Before I say my goodbyes
Blundering
About with fear still in my eyes
Tired of all their lies
Staring up at the skies

Thinking that this year it just might be
Bringing the positive energy that I need
Blinking away all of the nightmares that feed
The shrinking that’s happening inside of me.
But maybe it’s because
I’m wound and I’m riled up
I’m bound and defiled up
Straight dripping with stardust
While knowing that I must
Unleash what I’ve hidden
Goodbye and good riddance
To dusty old sleaze men
Who think i’ve become them
Lord no, it’s not within
Me to forget herstory
Sweet like cat purrs to me
Unconscious but can see
You kill my community
Destroyed what was true in me
Distilled what was good in me
Til all that you could see
Is what you now rue in me
Dripping gold like a queen
Shining bright, dynasty
You cannot murder me
Not in 2023.

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Caring for Community Womxn on Galentine’s Day

2/28/2023

6 MIN READ

This year I hosted my first Galentine's Day event in San Jose with co-hosts Dr. Jennifer Briscoe and Marlene Zapata. I specifically reached out to them because of our shared herstories as Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women Commissioners. I had the privilege of serving from 2019 through 2022, and serving as its Chair from September 2020 through December 2021. I am grateful to Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez for appointing me to this commission, which introduced me to my sister Commissioners Dr. B and Marlene.

Why host a Galentine's Day Dinner?

Ever watch the show "Parks and Recreation?" One of my favorite characters is Leslie Knope, who hosts an annual Galentine's Day dinner for her coworkers and friends. In early 2023, I felt like I was still trying to get back to a sense of ease and safety when it came to networking. I struggled in 2022 to travel and go to large group events again. I was exhausted trying to relearn how to be an extrovert, and after talking to womxn who I love and admire, I knew I was not alone in this. Thus, I was inspired to encourage my sisters to join me in coming out of our pandemic-formed shells.

My personal mission is to build the capacity of people who build the capacity of others. I also endeavor to cultivate safe spaces and help others do the same. The lightheartedness of celebrating other womxn in your life, on a day that is traditionally focused on romantic rather than platonic love, felt like what I needed. So I figured, other women must need this too, and I was right. The response from both those who could and could not make our dinner was overwhelmingly positive.

The goal of this blog is to inspire other womxn to host their own Galentine's Day events in their cities and counties. Note that the toolkit and templates provided can be adapted for any event theme or holiday.

Planning My First Galentine’s Day Event

I volunteered to project manage this event and recommended San Jose to be the focal spot for the first Galentine’s Day. I also suggested that the first event be intimate at 20 people or less, so that we could reserve a small room or a few tables at a San Jose establishment. Last, we provided a menu of light activities for folks to do together so that the event was not too structured but did offer ways for folks to engage (e.g. trivia, game, white elephant gift, peer share prompts).

For those interested in hosting their own Galentine’s Day event in their city or county, I developed a Galentine's Day toolkit, informed by the co-hosts. With templates, a guide, and our own event as a case study, you have all you need to plan this event! I am excited to plan a second event in 2024, stay tuned on any enhancement we make to our toolkit and templates.

Last, if you are interested in planning your own event, note that the first may take 6-10 hours depending on how many co-hosts you have and your specific role.

For me as the project manager, I estimate it took me 8-12 hours roughly over 1.5 months. Moving forward, I estimate it will take me at most 3-5 hours now that I have a toolkit and templates in place! These resources also make it possible to plan the event by email for the most part with an optional 1-2 planning meetings with your co-hosts. Once you have your first event under your belt, and your own adapted toolkit for your local nuances, you can plan this event easily, annually, offering a beautiful space for connection and affirmation for the womxn in your community.

AdvancED Tip:
Once you have your first event under your belt, and your own adapted toolkit for your local nuances, you can plan this event easily, annually, offering a beautiful space for connection and affirmation for the womxn in your community.

The Timeline for the 2023 Galentine’s Day

The following is what it looked like to plan my first Galentine’s Day event, from start to finish. The event was planned and executed in 30 days by 3 hosts.

January 15 - Draft an Action Plan and reach out to Co-Hosts
- Reached out to 3 and landed on 2 for a total of 3 hosts including myself
January 20 - Draft Invitation List and test out RSVP Form (Google Docs)
- Each co-host given 8-10 slots, including themselves, for a total of 24-30 invitees
- This assumes up to 50% will decline due to commitments
- Co-hosts began early outreach to high priority invitees to get a feel for who may show up
January 24 - Draft invitation Communications and finalize Plans
- Drafted graphics in Canva
- Drafted sample emails so co-hosts use the same language
- Last call to confirm venue, fill out the guest list, schedule a check in meeting, and test the RSVP form
January 25 - Draft a Venue Wishlist and reach out to venues
- Developed Event Research Factors with rating scale
- Identified 8 venues, rated, and provided notes after venue outreach
January 27 - Send invitations to Invitation List
- Co-hosts track their RSVPs by sharing access to the Google Form’s Gsheet
February 4 - Program finalized
- Co-hosts agree on activities, materials, purchases, packing list, and run of show
February 6 - Week Before Reminder sent to registrants
- Includes location, attire, parking details, anticipated prices, activities, FAQ, and a copy of the Guest List for those who opted into sharing their contact information
February 13 - Day Before Reminder sent to registrants
- In addition, the co-hosts clarify their roles so they have shared leadership over the program
February 14 - Day Of Reminder sent to registrants
- Includes instructions on how to pay for the day including cash or PayPal/Venmo to host that invited them
February 15 - Day After Thank you sent to registrants
- Includes reminder of how to pay, a copy of the printed receipt, and a photo of the group

A Toolkit with Templates to host future Galentine’s Days

One of my favorite artifacts after an event or project is a “toolkit.” For me, a toolkit includes answers to the 5 Ws and H:

WHO - The Team and The Invitations
WHEN & WHY - The Agreement on what the event is and is not, and The Day Of
WHERE - The Venue
WHAT - The Program
HOW - Spread the Joy using the toolkit and my Action Plan with templates, developed in partnership with all hosts

You can access my resources here:

Galentines’ Day Kit Feb 2023
Galentine's Day Venue Factors and Research (Google Sheets)
Galentine’s Day Guest List Template (Google Sheets)
Galentine’s Day Name Tag template (Canva)

Have ideas for future Galentine’s Day events or feedback on our toolkit and templates?
I look forward to your thoughts! Please post a comment.

Thank you so much for putting the time and energy into coordinating this. Seemed like something we all needed today and in general! Is there a way to get a listing of the attendees? Would love to follow up with them. Thanks again!

This was super fun! Thank you for hosting! Overall, it was such a loving and inspiring space! I super loved the heart intention craft and hearing everyone's intention <3 <3 <3 The goodie bag was sooo great.

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Big Dog Vineyard Wedding | Curry + Nuñez

11/25/2022

Article by Marissa Martinez & Meredith Curry Nuñez
7 MIN READ

The wedding of Meredith "Mer" Curry and Michael Nuñez began not the morning of Sunday, April 24, 2022, and not even a month prior when they had to last minute confirm a vineyard as the venue, not 2 years earlier when Mer proposed to Michael -- it all started 8 years earlier when Mer and Michael were set up on a blind date.

Mer is currently the Executive Director of the Northern California College Promise Coalition (NCCPC) and is the founder of AdvancED Consulting, LLC. Michael works as a consultant working with local firms like AdvancED Consulting after previously owning and operating several health clinics around Silicon Valley. They are both dedicated to supporting college access and career development for Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) students, young adults, and entrepreneurs in the local community and across CA. No wonder close family brought them together back in 2014! It started with a blind date at San Pedro Market in downtown San Jose, a place they both loved to frequent long before they met. That first date quickly blossomed as they toured the City of San Jose together, fell in love with its local parks, and even managed local and national events as consulting event coordinators. How fitting that 8 years later they would work together to coordinate the biggest event of all -- their own wedding!

Credits: Miguel Ozuna Photography
Engagement photos, Alum Rock Park in East San Jose, CA

Fast forward to Spring 2022 and the happy couple was ready to exchange their vows in a San Jose park, looking forward to starting their new chapter in the heart of their city. Not unlike any wedding, theirs had a hiccup or two -- but when they found out that the park could no longer meet the needs of their big day, 42 days before their scheduled wedding, they had to pivot fast.

Fortunately, as with everything Mer & Michael do, they solved the problem, made the most out of the situation, stayed local, and found an absolutely beautiful venue in Big Dog Vineyards.

Big Dog Vineyards is a locally-owned boutique winery nestled in the Milpitas Hills. This was the first time the bride, groom, and most of their family and friends had ever visited the vineyard. Mer & Michael are now members because of how much they enjoyed their experience and the wine.

Thanks to Kayla Andres and Jessica Jay, Mer & Michael had all the support they needed to capitalize on every square foot of the gorgeous venue, from the front lawn to the house, to the back patio.

Credit: Miguel Ozuna Photography
Big Dog Vineyards, Milpitas, CA

The wedding ceremony was hosted on the front lawn, overlooking the beautiful Silicon Valley. It was picture-Esque watching the wedding party walk down the aisle and see the bride and groom share their love in front of the majestic tree.

Credit: Miguel Ozuna Photography

Throughout the ceremony, evening, and reception the theme of the night was not only Mer & Michael’s love for each other but also the love they have for their family and friends and the love their community has for them. They had their own logo which appeared on the invitations, wedding website, printed programs, and even coasters, thanks to Angel Trazo. The ceremony was officiated by Michael’s best man, cousin, and prior business partner JT White. The talented styles of Astralogik, a Queer Pinay Duo from the Bay Area, played all night with hits from the oldies to the 90s, including serenading Mer with “At Last” by Etta James as she walked down the aisle.

Dinner and appetizers were provided with care by family and local caterer Porras Solutions, with amazing attention to detail from Chef Carlos Porras. Their menu included delicious dishes like Adobo Braised Brisket and Coconut Braised Lentil Empanadas, Latin Adobo Roasted Tri Tip, and Patatas Bravas. Each of their dishes had signature sauces like salsa verde, honey tamari, and pepper aioli.

The desserts were both handmade and baked locally by K’s Desserts which serves the 408 and 209 area codes in the Bay Area. She crafted cupcakes that looked like succulents, chocolate dipped pretzels and donuts.

Filipino delicacies like lechon and lumpia were generously provided by Mer’s family Elenore and Bernie Dupitas, who have a Filipino restaurant called Pinoy BBQ ATBP in Milpitas. Thank you to family who also contributed homemade cookies!

Credit: Miguel Ozuna Photography
(Left) Astralogik | (Right) Porras Solutions

The wedding party’s boutonnieres and bouquets were all lovingly hand-made by Michael with help from his family and friends. The opening prayer was led by Adelina Tancioco, a friend of Mer’s who partnered with her in June 2020 to host a 7-day virtual Pop Up Healing Center. Roderick Bersamina, a long-time friend of Mer's, recited spoken word poetry written just for the occasion.

Credit: Miguel Ozuna Photography
Succulent bouquets by Michael Nuñez

After the couple said “I do,” guests were ushered to the back patio for the cocktail hour. The lumpia and empanadas were tasty and the sangria and wine were flowing. It was the perfect start to the evening as the emcee Susan Ramsey, host of The Sansu Show and long-time family friend of the Currys, introduced the wedding party and the married couple.

The reception was hosted back on the front lawn just as the sun was setting. The handmade, local vibes continued as the dinner tables and gathering spaces were decorated with the wedding favors: succulent arrangements by Michael and his mother Rose, mini canvas paintings by Michael’s dad Ray and his uncle Richard, and lemon-scented custom candles by Michael’s aunt Ramona Cresci. Mer’s friends Alerie Flandez and Amparo Diaz graced the event with their own creative stylings, from Alerie’s gorgeous gift card box to Amparo’s crocheted ring pillow and flower child baskets. You could tell just by looking all around you from the tables to the decorations that everything was thoughtfully created. Thanks to Miguel Ozuna Photography, every beautiful moment from the rehearsal dinner to the wedding day was captured.

Credit: Miguel Ozuna Photography
Centerpieces by Michael Nuñez, Rose & Ray Nuñez, and Ramona Cresci

Credit: Miguel Ozuna Photography
(Bottom left) Ring pillow by Apple's Handmade Creations

The entire day (and the weekend) was a literal labor of love. As a couple rooted in their passion for nature and commitment to serving their community, the local vineyard with the attention to detail by so many local caterers of color was the perfect setting for the first day of Mer & Michael’s next chapter.

Mer & Michael send all of their love and gratitude to the family, friends, vendors, and community that made their wedding day, and their relationship, so special and unique.

Credit: Miguel Ozuna Photography

Memorable Moments from Mer & Michael

The bridal party hangout leading up to the wedding getting ready in the Bridal Suite and the Groom’s Room, both part of Big Dog Vineyards BDV Bridal Suite.
The joy that the bride and her entourage felt getting ready upstairs with Roan Make-Up and Lulu’s team of hair and makeup stylists.
The sunset over Silicon Valley during the dinner, especially when Mer surprised Michael by singing “Unconditionally” by Katy Perry with her family and friends dancing a flash mob in the background.
The dance party under the tree, stars, and patio lights as the wedding came to a close.

Credit: Miguel Ozuna Photography

Mer & Michael’s Inspirations

Michael has had a green thumb (more like his whole body!) since he was a young child. Throughout his life, he has had a passion and unique talent for growing succulents and crafting beautiful arrangements. That’s why everything from the bridal party flowers, to the table centerpieces, to the cupcakes, to Mer & Michael’s signature logo was adorned with succulents. The blending of various succulents and cacti mimic the blending of Mer & Michael’s families, both mixed: Mer a Black and Filipina, and Michael with Mexican, Native American, El Salvadorian, and Sicilian roots.

Mer loves to plan events. And she loves to plan events with local small businesses that are women-, immigrant-, and/or BIPOC-owned. She was grateful to work with local vendors to design a wedding that was more beautiful than her wildest imagination, thanks to coordinators Beth Norber of BN Events and Victoria Hurly. She believes that when you take a breath, set an intention, and take a step back to let things fall into place as they will, as they certainly did in the 42 days it took to plan the wedding, it’s a sign that the universe is at work to manifest those intentions. Mer also believes that she was able to react with calm and composure to the drastic changes in her wedding plans because of her years-long meditation practice, which you can learn more about in her blog article One Thousand Days of Calm.

Credit: Miguel Ozuna Photography

Our Tips (from Mer & Michael)

Work with an Event Coordinator, or ideally, a Wedding Planner. Even with our experience, we wanted to be able to step back, be an audience member, and not care about all the finer details. Having someone to assign some or all authority to makes a big difference. Most wedding planners will have templates and resources to help you build your task lists, run of shows, invitation lists, etc.
Use an online wedding planning tool whether or not you have a coordinator to provide a one-stop-shop for your guests and wedding party. We used Zola.com but there are several options out there.
Make sure to manage and closely track your budget. Track what you budgeted against what you actually paid. Include expenses even if you already have them or family/friends are covering/donating them, it’ll help you know whether you are saving money or not. So you don’t have to start from scratch, check out the M&M Wedding Budget (for copying).
Crowd-source your DJ song list and share that with your DJ ahead of time. So you don’t have to start from scratch, check out the M&M Wedding DJ song list Google sheet (for copying).

Credit: Miguel Ozuna Photography

Credit: Logo by Angel Trazo

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Op-Ed: Community Organizing At Its Finest - Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA)

11/27/2020

4 MIN READ

We are not separate from each other. If we take a simple product, such as a scented candle - note that the wax, wick, and essential oils are manufactured in different parts of the world; the global political economy connects us all. In the community organizing circles I’ve been a part of in San Jose, CA the fantasy vision is an international working class revolution. Similarly to the candle, creating wide-spread change cannot happen without intention, hard work, and of course, time. One cannot decide who or what comprises a community, but it takes strategy, commitment, and honestly, all of us working together to protect the most vulnerable. A splendid example is the work being done by Filipino organizers in Santa Clara County on the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA).

In September 2020, Susan Wild (D-PA-7) introduced The Philippine Human Rights Act (H.R. 8313) to the United States House of Representatives. In essence, the act suspends U.S. military aid to the Philippines until the Philippine Government addresses and responds to the human rights violations. The original cosponsors of the bill are local Santa Clara County representatives, congressional representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17) and congressional representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19). Over 90,000 Filipinos are living in Santa Clara County, many of them with families and friends still living in the Philippines.

Recently, Santa Clara County’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) hosted a public hearing on whether or not to pass a resolution supporting the PHRA. On October 27, a warm pandemic Tuesday evening, Santa Clara County’s HRC voted unanimously in passing a resolution to support the PHRA; California State Assembly members Ash Kalra (CA-27) and Rob Bonta (CA-18) announced their support of the resolution and the PHRA. Community organizers from LEAD Filipino, Mayla Movement South Bay, and Kabataan Alliance initially approached Santa Clara County Board President, Supervisor Cindy Chavez to ask for her support of the PHRA. The collective worked with Dr. Justin Boren, the chair of Santa Clara County’s HRC for its next steps in writing and presenting a resolution to the commission for consideration. The pieces needed for the resolution to be written, PHRA created, and relationships mobilized is rooted in years of intention and work by activists in the United States and internationally.

Most activists understand on one level or another, they are putting their bodies and lives on the line each time they take action in building momentum against an established government regime, even overseas. President Duterte’s Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 allows for the Duterte’s Administration’s Anti-Terror Council to designate individuals as terrorists and publish their names on government websites and newspapers. Under The ATL’s implementing rules and regulations, there is an inclusion on extraterritorial application that has led to a practice called “terror tagging” or “red tagging”. Shortly after the Santa Clara HRC’s public hearing, panelist and expert witness Adrian Bonifacio, chairperson of Anakbayan-USA, was terror tagged by the Facebook Page, “For the Global Public” (listen more in an interview at PFA 94.1 at 43:45 here). Anyone attempting to publicly criticize the Duterte Administration is labeled a communist terrorist and subject to defamation and targeting by the Philippine Government. As a Black and Filipina woman, Meredith Curry, owner of AdvancED Consulting has concerns that this article, written in partnership and in friendship with myself, will put unwanted attention on us and our loved ones. Because you don’t actually have to be Filipino to be in danger, as proven by countless victims including Brandon Lee, a Bay Area native who was critically injured after an attempted assassination in 2016.

Duterte’s regime has targeted more well-known Filipinos as well, such as the red-tagging of Miss Universe 2018, Catriona Gray, and Santa Clara-born actress, Liza Soberano. If you read the linked article, you’ll see that threats of violence were made towards women who were taking part in an online discussion advocating for the rights of women and girls. General Parlade stated to Liza Soberano, a participant in the online discussion, “There’s still a chance to abdicate that group” otherwise she would “suffer the same fate” as Josephine Ann Lapira, a young activist killed in a 2017 battle between the military and the Communist Rebels, The New People’s Army (Oct 2020). According to Malaya Arevalo, the National Secretariat of the Malaya Movement and expert witness at the Santa Clara HRC public hearing, 13 human rights workers, 17 journalists, 50 lawyers and judges, 113 environmental activists, and 259 farmers have been killed since Duterte took office - without counting the 30,000 casualties with Duterte’s war on drugs.

During the Santa Clara County HRC public hearing, a member of the committee asked how the PHRA would affect the lives of Filipino-Americans. There were several answers to this, one being that it would be safer for undocumented Filipinos to seek help without fear of being deported. Another would be freedom of speech, a right protected in America and yet unavailable to its brothers and sisters living in another country. America has long touted its reasons for military presence and occupation of other countries as defending democracy and freedom, but we won’t get into that here. The point is, the PHRA is in alignment with the American values of freedom, liberty, and justice, without needing to use its military force. The United States is a powerful country, not only because of their military resources but also because of its wealth and influence; it would be unpatriotic to witness the suffering of other Americans, their friends and family, without stepping in and supporting a non-violent response to stop a violent situation.

The red tagging/terror tagging of other Americans without a response of support from the United States is a precedence we do not want to set. The Philippine sovereignty needs to be accountable to its people, especially if it is an ally of the United States as a defender of freedom; we should work together to make the world better for citizens living in both countries. The letter Susan Wild (D-PA-7) used to gather support for the PHRA from her peers succinctly gives information about the PHRA and how it will work, as well as previous legislative efforts made by Barbara Boxer, a previous California Senator.

Effective community organizing involves everyone in the community. The diasporic Filipinx community has included in its organizing, all levels of government in the United States in conjunction with the national and international efforts of International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP), GABRIELA, LEAD Filipino, Mayla Movement, Kabataan Alliance, amongst the many others involved. Much of the movement is fueled by the passion of student activists and young people who care deeply about families, communities, and true freedom. I identify as Vietnamese American and look to these folks as an example of unity and resilience as they continue to fight for their people despite the barriers and dangers of organizing against the Duterte Regime.

If you would like to do more to support the PHRA:

For more information on the PHRA: https://humanrightsph.org/
For more information on getting elected officials to sponsor the PHRA: PHRA Toolkit
To see the Santa Clara County Human Rights Commission Meeting mentioned in this article: https://sccgov.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=12861
- To hear Adrian Bonifacio, Chairperson of Anakbayan-USA discuss being red-tagged after the Human Rights Commission Meeting in an interview at KPFA 94.1, listen at this link at 43:45.

For actions against Red Tagging:
- Report this Facebook Page used to terror tag/ red tag individuals
  - Official Facebook Page - Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior - China & Philippines
- Follow @bayan_usa on Instagram

1 Comment

Back to Blog

One Thousand Days of Calm

8/31/2020

5 MIN READ

I have so far invested over three years to my practice and it has been the best investment of my life.

I've met the most extraordinary professionals who have practiced 5+ years, 10+ years, and 20+ years, all very much human, all very much benefiting in their own ways from their own unique practices.

I didn't just try mindfulness meditation, or any kind of meditation. My best friend Lara recommended the mobile app Calm to me during a stressful time of my life, and for me it's made all the difference. I know friends and colleagues who've tried all kinds of different meditation apps, websites, YouTube channels, etc. This article will highlight the resources I or my trusted allies have used and vetted, so that you can choose for yourself what is right for you. Whenever possible I like to try all the different options, because from day to day I never know what will speak to me, so I keep my mind and heart open.

There are options for you that are free or require monthly or annual subscriptions. I am not being paid to push any of these products, I just get a lot of questions about what I use or what I know is useful, so this is where I document my findings. I hope you find something here that speaks to you, but if not, it doesn't hurt to give something new a try!

1,000 days of mindfulness meditation

Yesterday (Sunday, August 30, 2020), I hit 1,000 days of daily meditation practice, using the mobile app Calm!

This is just one of what I hope to be many huge milestones for me as I pursue personal well-being, clarity, fulfillment, and most importantly, appreciation for my life as it is, in this moment.

I've had the Calm app since December 14, 2016. At this point in the game, I have to admit I am a champion of Calm. Whether or not I'm a formal affiliate (in the works), I am definitely an admirer and evangelist. Not just because it's a great app whether you use the free version or the subscription version, but because they also facilitate a fantastic Facebook community and YouTube channel, all for free-zies! They help millions!

In this review, I'll explain what I used, why I used it, and how I think it helped me in real life.

So what has it done for me?

Mindfulness meditation is now the undercurrent to every waking, conscious moment. It manifests itself in the following ways and this isn't a comprehensive list:

I am more present with people, and perhaps more importantly, with myself when I'm alone.
When I am present to myself and what's happening in my mind, I am able to observe it and realize that my thinking is not reality - it's just thought.
If I realize my thoughts are unhelpful, such as the all-too-familiar bouts of negative self-talk, I can pause, recognize that it's negative self-talk, offer myself silent words of affirmation, and direct love to self in the same way I would direct it to a friend if she was beating herself up for something.
I recognize my self-worth and accept myself, and not despite my flaws and imperfections, but because of my flaws and imperfections. They are what make me, me. They are what differentiate me from you. They are what give me room to grow and explore my perception of imperfection, and at the end of that journey, find acceptance and appreciation for that which makes me, me.
I recognize the worth and capabilities of others. I see them more as who they are, rather than what I might wish them to be.
I can let go of attachment to outcome. Rather than doing something with an expectation it will look like XYZ at the end, I put 100% into the doing, allowing the result to be what it is. I tap into gratitude for what it is, not what I thought it was supposed to be.
I see the world clearer. I practice beginner's mind daily and find awe in the beauty of the garden my partner tends to, the singing and fluttering of the hummingbirds, the gorgeous blueness of our California skies.
I see the day for what it is - an opportunity to live the best life I can right now. And I embrace that opportunity with gratitude and joy.
Even in this very tumultuous time, when I understandably must fight bouts of depression, doubt, anger, disappointment, and frustration, I can tap into my practice. I know that these feelings are like warm lava in my belly, short-fast breathing, tension in my head. I can recognize these sensations in my body, pause, take deep breaths (in for 4-pause for 4-out for 8), and make myself feel better. This doesn't mean the issues and problems of the world are solved. But it does mean I'm in a calmer, more peaceful place to respond to the world around me.

Whether you are just starting out with meditation or have been doing it for awhile, continue your practice! It can only bring greater peace to your life, no matter how much time you can dedicate to it.

You are making an investment in YOU. No one else can do that for you.

Calm is the leading app for meditation and sleep.

With 7- and 21- day programs, daily meditations for children and adults, music, and sleep stories, use the app to find 5 minutes or more of quiet solitude and peaceful introspection.

Cost? Sign up for free for limited features. To unlock all features, the membership plan is $69.99/yr. You can even gift the Gift of Calm to someone who can benefit from it! Ready to stick to it for life? Get the Lifetime membership for $399.99.

Learn how it's made a difference in my own life below. At the end of this article, find tips for other apps you can look into!

Track Progress + Guest Passes

What it's got:
Whether you are using the app daily or whenever you can, it's nice to see your progress. What it has today that it didn't have in December, is the cool new Guest Pass feature! Right from the app, you can share a 30-Day Guest Pass to Calm with unlimited access to all of Calm's content.

How I use it:
I don't really use Share your Stats, but I am inspired by having a long-standing streak. I've shared the Guest Pass now with three friends, and I'm excited to hear what they say! They'll get access not just to the Daily calm, but also to Sleep Stories, music, the Calm Masterclass, Calm Kids, and Calm Body! I've also been sharing the app by hosting live group meets where I play the app and facilitate our group through the experience. Beginners love it!

Beautiful, visual memes

What it's got:
I appreciate the Daily Calm because it is refreshing to get a different message to meditate on once you become a regular user. You can also use the memes, music, and soundscapes as additional pick-me-ups throughout your day.

How I use it:
In the beginning, I didn't use the Daily Calm much because I focused instead on just learning how to practice with different series like 21 Days of Calm, 7 Days of Sleep, 7 Days of Calming Anxiety, and 7 Days of Self-Esteem. Now that I've used the app daily, I've been through all of the regular content, and some of the daily content is sounding familiar (starting to repeat). So I've started to spend 10-30 minutes a day on silent meditation (less guidance so just you and yourself) using the Timed Meditation, Calm Light, or Open-Ended Meditation.

Music and Meditations

Music for all times of the day
Music isn't for everyone, but it is 100% for me. I've been singing, dancing, and listening to music since the womb. I love using Calm's instrumental music as background noise while I work, shower, meditate, stretch, and more. Check out this 30-minute Relax piece on YouTube.

Meditations for what ails ya'
What I appreciate most about Calm is the thoughtfulness and intentionality in the narrator, Tamara, and her messages.The writing really speaks to you and is relatable, no matter what you're going through in life. For just a taste, check out this Mindfulness Meditation on Santosha (11:16) on YouTube.

Are there other apps out there to consider?
Of course there are!

One of them is InsightTimer. This I use when I'm not using Calm.

.InsightTimer has 60,000 FREE guided meditations and music tracks. Unlike Calm where you purchase a subscription, InsightTimer has a "donation" model where you can donate to individual meditation teachers.

InsightTimer sponsors live events with renowned teachers like Jack Kornfield. Listen to guided meditations as short as 5 minutes and as long as an hour from familiar voices like the Dalai Lama, Elizabeth Gilbert and Tara Brach.

Are you a gifted meditation teacher?
InsightTimer is looking for you! "Make a difference. Add an income." Become a teacher!

Enjoy Affirmations from Calm

5 Comments

Back to Blog

Financial Literacy is the Pathway to Financial Aid

6/26/2020

5 MIN READ

This article picks up after the 4th article in a series on
"Financial Aid, College Choice, and COVID-19"

In the last article in the series, Financial Aid, College Choice, and COVID-19, I spoke about the importance of supporting our students and families as they navigate the next steps in their college journeys by making sense of their financial aid options.

In Supporting Students & Families through the Conundrum, I encourage college-bound students to “consider the power of savings and learn how to budget. You can make it work if you know what’s in front of you and take the time to thoughtfully plan it out.”

This guidance should be given to students much earlier in this process, way before they apply to college. Comprehensive college access programs that work with first-generation and pell-eligible students often have a component in their curriculum that focuses on financial aid. Among the learning outcomes of such lessons, students will hear about budgeting and learn terms like “interest” and “credit” so that they can effectively manage their financial aid awards, like loans.

In The Financial Aid Conundrum, I encourage us to take a step back and ask ourselves, “are our students truly equipped to tackle conversations and decisions around financial aid?” Because if the answer is no, then the next question should be, “what are we doing, or not doing, to help students understand basic financial concepts and empower them to make informed choices on their own?” As we learn from Treasury.gov, the financial literacy of our students in high school is lower than most countries. Furthermore, socio-economically disadvantaged students score lower in financial literacy, the equivalent of three school years.

What should financial literacy look like?

According to Treasury.gov, “students’ financial literacy is associated with understanding the value of saving when we also account for math and reading and social background.” For 15-year-olds, this translates to:

Ability to balance their priority and plan what to spend money on.
Capacity to remember that some of the purchases have ongoing costs.
Ability to be alert to possible fraud.
Capacity to know what risk is and what insurance is meant for.
Ability to make an informed decision about credit.

When you review the list of key concepts above, you intuit pretty immediately why this all matters when it comes to college planning.

Here’s my attempt at making the relationships clearer:

How early should students build their financial literacy to prepare for college?

ASAP, early, and often! I agree with Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) who decided in 2014 that it was critical to provide teachers with access to “timely and relevant curricular resources, providing effective professional development, and advocating to increase access to financial education.”

NGPF’s mission is to revolutionize the teaching of personal finance in all schools in order to improve the financial lives of the next generation of Americans. As of 2019, NGPF's curriculum and professional development extends to 25,000 middle and high school teachers reaching more than 2 million students. This grassroots movement of personal finance educators has committed to Mission: 2030. That is, by 2030, ALL students will take a one semester personal finance course before graduating from high school.

Personally and professionally, I think we can and should do even more than one semester of a personal finance course during students’ secondary education. It should start as early as elementary school, have scaffolding throughout middle school, and be grounded in real-life decisions during high school. NGPF has a suite of curriculum broken into various units such as Types of Credit, Managing Credit, Paying for College, Budgeting, and Financial Pitfalls.

Even when students are armed with the basic financial concepts they need to tackle financial aid, they will still need support. This is why I’ve worked with Moneythink since 2019 to support first-generation, pell-eligible students in navigating the financial aid process.

Moneythink empowers students to invest in the future by building technology that clarifies college finances. In collaboration with the star-studded team at Moneythink, we hosted financial aid webinars in late April to support graduating high school seniors across the country. Check out the recording!

Moneythink is gearing up to release their new public-facing tool, DecidED, this fall!

DecidED completely removes the guesswork out of college affordability for students and their families, as well as enables counselors and advisors in the space to have productive conversations with their students about the tradeoffs of college options.

DecidED helps students and their families:

Make highly informed enrollment decisions grounded in an accurate and complete understanding of college costs;
Compare true apples-to-apples affordability levels, quality, and fit across multiple college options;
Consider how graduation rate and future salaries outcomes might influence their enrollment decision;
Weigh the tradeoffs of their college choices;
Create a data-driven financial plan to responsibly pay for their college years.

Check out how Moneythink is working to support students and advisors through COVID-19 and beyond. Follow and subscribe to Moneythink's email list to stay up to date.

“Together, we can help our students not just survive but thrive. Not just complete, but succeed. Our students can achieve #lessdebtmoredegrees while we design a pathway towards an economically sustainable future for themselves and their families.”

Want to learn more about financial literacy and financial aid issues?

Here are a few resources to help you build your knowledge and comfort-level with discussing these issues with colleagues, students, and families.

I published a blog series called Financial Aid, College Choice, and COVID-19 highlighting the challenges our students face and the need for webinars provided by partners like Moneythink.
My blog series was highlighted by local Bay Area education leader Todd Hicks from Cristo Rey San Jose in his WACAC article Working from Home: Vol. 3.
I was interviewed by Next Gen Personal Finance for the Podcast: Meredith Curry on navigating the financial aid process in age of pandemic where I share my own experiences as a first-gen, pell-eligible student and as an educational equity champion.
I'm co-authoring a series of articles with CEO Joshua Lachs of Moneythink, check out the first article Moving Forward in College and Career in the Time of COVID-19.

2 Comments

Back to Blog

Heal at 11:11, Heal for Life

5/27/2020

3 MIN READ

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Meredith Curry, Owner & Principal Consultant of AdvancED Consulting, LLC
mer @ advancedconsulting.org

Over 20 Healers of Color From Across the Country Deliver Free Healing When It’s Needed Most

Heal in Solidarity: Starting on Saturday, June 6, 2020, AdvancED Consulting, LLC and Surrendered Healing, solo entrepreneur women of color from the Bay Area, will offer a Virtual #PopUpHealingCenter for free for seven afternoons straight.

What do we mean by healing? Well, does your heart hurt? Or your head? Does your bank hurt? Do any relationships hurt? Then you can use some healing! And this event has over 20 people ready to support your healing through movement, creativity, and mental enhancement.

"11 is a 'master number' which signifies intuition, insight, and enlightenment. When paired together, 11 11 is a clear message from the universe to become conscious and aware" (truththeory.com).

This is why every day from Saturday, June 6 through Friday, June 12, “Transform Through Covid-19” will start at 11:11 am with a grounding meditation to start the day led by Surrendered Healing Founder and Spiritual Healer, Adelina Tancioco. Next will be three 20-minute sessions from healers of color from across the country representing the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Fort Washington, and the Bronx. Each day will end at 12:45 pm with 15 minutes of rhythmic movement led by Meredith Curry, Owner of AdvancED Consulting, LLC, and music by Shanta Franco-Clausen, a.k.a. DJ Shugga Shay.

“Our work is sacred and so are we,” shares Tovi Scruggs-Hussein, Educational Leader & Healer with Tici’ess, Inc. in Oakland, CA who will lead a session called “$tackin' for Spirit: Keeping Your Money Conscious, Connected , and Courageous.”

We invite you to be a part of this virtual healing community by registering for “Transform Through Covid-19” and enjoying one day, or everyday of the week-long event. This is for you if:

You would love to create a daily routine of self care
You resonate with Healers of Color
You value wholistic healing
You appreciate a community of activists, healers, entrepreneurs, & other servers
You love having fun!

To learn more and register, go to www.advancedconsulting.org/pop-up-healing-center. Read the profiles of the event speakers and explore nearly two dozen sessions.

Fawad Akbar, Owner of Body Evolution in Newark, CA believes, “Two things define you. Your patience when you have nothing, your attitude when you have everything,” and he will share this with us in practice in his session “Full Body Workout with Body Evolution.”

“Transform Through Covid-19” is proud to partner with AAPI Women Lead founders Dr. Connie Wun and Jenny Wun who will lead a day of Healing & Solidarity. “What is meant for you cannot be unmeant for you,” shares Jenny who will lead a session with her sister called “Healing & Solidarity.”

The event also promotes a fundraiser to support the Liyang Network during COVID-19. 100% of contributions will go to services, resources, and supplies for the Lumad, the indigenous people of Mindanao, Philippines. “Lumad” means “native of the land” in Cebuano. In celebration of the Lumad and all Filipino cultures, there are healers offering sessions like "BAKS NAMAN! Self Care through Boxing;" "Dalawang Buslo, Two Baskets: Integrating Stress & Joy in the Present Moment;" and "Hilot Through Story."

For more information about Transform Through Covid-19: A Virtual #PopUpHealingCenter with 21 Healers of Color or to arrange an interview with the co-hosts Meredith Curry and Adelina Tancioco, please contact Meredith directly at [email protected].

###

Meredith “Mer” Curry is the Owner and Principal Consultant of AdvancED Consulting, LLC. Mer’s mission is to empower businesses striving to solve the world’s most complex issues through thought-partnership, education, and operational leadership. She also seeks to uplift organizations run by and/or actively promoting the betterment of hxstorically disadvantaged groups like minorities and womxn. Mer works with entrepreneurs, nonprofit and education organizations to increase capacity organization-wide. She works with their leaders and professionals to enhance fund development, board management, programming, data analysis, Salesforce, and general operations strategies and processes. For more information see www.advancedconsulting.org or follow Mer on LinkedIn and Facebook.

0 Comments

Back to Blog

Supporting Students & Families through the Conundrum

4/17/2020

7 MIN READ

This article is the 4th in a series on
"Financial Aid, College Choice, and COVID-19"

The time is now to support our students and families through this financial aid conundrum and ensure they’re making the best choices for their futures.

In the first article in this series, Financial Aid, College Choice, and COVID-19, I talk about the importance of all of us working together right now because as adults, as students, as human beings, if we’re going to get through COVID-19, it will be together.

In the second article, I talk about how we face a Financial Aid Conundrum that is persistent, systemic, fraught with pitfalls ready to take advantage of families, and overbearingly complex to tackle. I talk about this now because this issue is facing our students right now as they prepare to choose what college they will go to by the College Decision Day deadline of May 1 for many California public and independent four-year institutions.

When all is said and done, though, we must keep in mind the Power of Student Resilience and Choice.

That's why in this fourth article, I want to address the students so that they can recognize this power. I also address all adult allies so that we can support students in embracing said power.

Students, you can do this!

If you are a student, or you are a family member or guardian, consider the power of savings and learn how to budget. You can make it work if you know what’s in front of you and take the time to thoughtfully plan it out.

Times may be different than what you expected but that doesn’t mean you have to give up on your goals. You may have to cultivate a more open heart and mind to opportunities you weren’t thinking about, and you may need to work on your ability to adapt. You may need to “make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes,” as Sara Teasdale advises us (it's also my mantra).

In “An Open Letter To Graduating Students” published by Rose Nakamoto, Higher Education Leader and Growth & Change Enthusiast and Director of the Career Center at Santa Clara University, Rose offers you the following insights:

“Take an entrepreneurial approach and focus on sectors that are growing. Even if these areas don’t align with what you imagined you’d be doing after graduation, cultivate a flexible and open mindset - this will be essential for students in a COVID-19 economy.

Build your energy as if you’re preparing for a marathon not a sprint. In the weeks and months ahead, be patient with and kind to yourself and develop support systems. Consider the possibilities that may emerge (in time) for us as a society, when many communities and sectors begin to focus on rebuilding.”

Allies, we can help them!

Colleague Lara Fox, Senior Advisor at the Marin Community Foundation who served prior to that as the Founding Executive Director of uAspire Bay Area, has this advice for us adult allies and educators:

"It's crucial that counselors both stay in regular contact with 12th graders and ensure that students know they can appeal their financial aid offers if family circumstances have recently changed.

It's also essential that colleges prepare to respond to a likely increase in appeals, given that 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment in the past four weeks alone.”

I know the financial side of college can be daunting and overwhelming and I just hope families and educators will work together to ensure our students make the most of their options.

Allies, let’s help our students now as much as we can, while also thinking strategically about how to support future cohorts through this.

If you are a college advisor, counselor, or educator, consider teaching your students financial literacy, especially now, but also much earlier in students’ high school careers. Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) has a curriculum called “Paying for College.”

Here’s a snippet of what you can teach your students using NGPF's lessons:

With lesson
SC-4.5 - Financial Aid Packages, students will be able to:

Understand the rising national trends in student debt.
Explain the differences between different federal and private loans.
Identify various strategies they can use to be a responsible borrower.
Analyze three student profiles and determine the best course of action to take for their student loans.
Access a great activity called FINE PRINT: Financial Aid Package.

With lesson SC-4.6 - Time for Payback, students will be able to:

Evaluate how the type of college they choose to attend might impact their college experience and post-college lifestyle.
Make decisions during college to minimize debt while also maximizing their academic and social-emotional college experience.

With lesson SC-4.7 - Budgeting During College, students will be able to:

Explain the importance of a budget.
Identify common challenges college students face when trying to stick to a budget.
Envision their college career and make choices that will impact their college budget.
Create a monthly college budget.

With Activity CARTOONS: Student Loan Debt, students will be able to:

Examine a number of cartoons about student loan debt and choose one to analyze in more depth.
Explain the cartoon's key message about student loan debt and how it depicts that message.

Colleges, please consider your students!

To colleges and university financial aid officers and advocates, thank you for keeping students at the center. Please continue to do so.

Our colleges will also need to support families, now more than ever, so that they can advocate for the best deals that will lead to less debt and more degrees.

The Community College League of California Financial Aid Office Operations Taskforce released the report “Increasing Student Access, Success and Equity: California Community College Student Focused Financial Aid Policies February 2020” with the following guidance. Though written for community colleges, they bear consideration for all higher education institutions.

“It is important for trustee boards to establish policies and procedures that strike a balance: reducing artificial barriers that prevent low-income students from receipt of their awards, while ensuring that the college remains compliant with federal and state law. A financial aid office should feel empowered to make decisions in the student’s best interest wherever possible.”
“While it is important to minimize student debt, it is critical that our students be given the choice to determine what debt level is appropriate for them. Without borrowing, our low-income students will either need to work more rather than take additional classes or take out expensive private loans. Thus, the subsidized loan borrowing rate can have direct implications on the success of him or her at your college. Prospective students should be given all of the information they need to make an informed choice on whether or not borrowing is right for them.”
“Financial aid administrators have the ability to use professional judgment to replace the prior-prior year data with current year estimated income data, so that student eligibility is determined by their actual income while they are going to college. Aid administrators also have the ability to provide a “Dependency Status Override” for students under the age of 24 with special circumstances that prevent them from supplying parental income and asset information. Aid offices also have great flexibility in designing Satisfactory Academic Progress policies, and related appeal policies. CEOs should encourage financial aid administrators to design student-friendly processes and policies if this is the case at your college.”
“To help students through the confusion and jargon, work with your financial aid leadership to create and support a culture where financial aid staff help students to navigate the ins-and-outs of a complex system. While this is not an easy shift due to time and staffing limits, we lose too many students who are not able to complete these processes.”

And finally, some Best Practices they offer for higher ed:

Regarding Award Letters: “Help students understand their award by providing true and actual college costs by explaining cost-of-attendance calculations and indicating costs that are actually paid out (fees, books, supplies). Provide clear identification and proper grouping of each type of award indicating whether the award can result in a disbursement to the student. Avoid using financial aid jargon and include a reference to a glossary of terms used in the award letter.”
Regarding Outreach: “Identify disproportionally impacted students as defined in the college’s equity plan and provide targeted application support through the entire process for these populations. Partner with other student services programs to host “one-stop” outreach events.” Programs can be internal or external to your campus!
Regarding Culture: “Trust the student” by placing more focus on student needs rather than compliance above all else. Asses key decision-making in the processing of financial aid applications and empower front-line staff to make routine decisions that do not require director-level approval. Provide students with resources (in-person and virtual help, computer lab, etc.) to assist them with the financial aid process.”

Thank you for sticking through this series on Financial Aid, College Choice, and COVID-19!

Good luck to the #ClassOf2020 and all non-traditional students who are preparing their choice for College Decision Day this year!

To learn more about Moneythink, go to moneythink.org/.
To learn more about Next Gen Personal Finance, go to www.ngpf.org/.

0 Comments

Back to Blog

The Power of Student Resilience and Choice

4/17/2020

5 MIN READ

This article is the 3rd in a series on
"Financial Aid, College Choice, and COVID-19"

COVID-19 will impact college decisions this year.

National College Decision Day is historically on May 1. There are petitions to push back Decision Day to June 1 if not later. From the New York Times (March 15), the Washington Post (March 20), NPR (March 22), and CNBC (March 27), we hear that the college decision experience is impacting students and colleges alike with the cancelations of college visits and Admit Days nationally.

Affordability is an even bigger concern today than it was prior to COVID-19 with less than ¼ of students having a high level of confidence in their ability to afford college now (Carnegie Darlet). Families’ investments are getting hit and both students and parents are less sure about how their jobs and paychecks can contribute to college expenses this fall.

Students’ perceptions of where they want to go are changing. They’re considering less-expensive and local public schools over private universities far from their families, and 70% are thinking of staying within 3 hours (or 180 miles) from home (The Princeton Review). The American Council on Education has predicted a 15% drop in enrollment nationwide (and 25% international), and many institutions are preparing for the possibility of having to continue remote classes or delaying the start of the fall semester to reopen campuses (NY Times).

How can you help your students and families navigate this crucial time in their lives, so that they can still take advantage of opportunities that are best for the student?

Step #1: Choose a tool to analyze your student’s award letters.

In the first article in this series, "Financial Aid, College Choice, and COVID-19," I introduce you to partner Moneythink. I recommend Moneythink’s coaching tool that you can download to Excel. It pre-populates information from most colleges that have public direct and indirect costs data and all you need to do is override it with any actuals your colleges provide in their letters!

Why does Moneythink pre-populate information when other tools don’t? Because this highlights one of the main issues with financial aid award letters: they often have incomplete or misleading information. This could be in the form of information that is literally missing, like no reference to personal expenses or transportation, or no specific mention of PLUS loans though they are included in the package.

Step #2: Have your financial aid advocates at the ready.

Connect with your high school guidance counselor or college advisor. If you work with a college access organization you can reach out to your advisors and let them know you’re looking for help.

Take advantage of free webinars like Moneythink’s Financial Aid Award Compare Webinars scheduled on April 21 for Advisors and April 23, 28, and 29 for Students & Families.

Step #3: Collect and compare those awards!

You don’t have to review all of your award letters at once. In fact, you should review them as you get them so that you can advocate as soon as possible when you need to! The sooner that you appeal when it is the right move, the better.

As you get the awards, compare them.

Did College B offer you a better package (comparing gift aid to direct costs) than your first choice, College A? Get your appeal package together and let College A know about College B’s offer. See if they’ll budge!

For more tips on appeals, check out SwiftStudent which helps you write your financial aid appeal letters for free.

Step 4: Advocate! Advocate! Advocate!

Students are unaware that funding sources can vary year to year. Families often don’t know to ask if the institutional grant they were awarded is renewable for future years. Sometimes they don’t know to ask their scholarships where their money is going, and this matters because some colleges will take scholarship money reported to them and we’ll see a case of financial aid displacement. This means the colleges reduce the amount of gift aid like grants by the size of the scholarship.

Advocate for the best awards by ensuring they’re basing it off the most up-to-date information, appealing if you have a qualified circumstance, and applying to as many scholarships as possible.

Do what you can to fill whatever gap is standing in the way of you and your college. But be sure you’re thinking about more than just this year. Ask all the questions you need to so that you understand what financial aid could look like for your 2nd year and future years. Colleges often offer very appealing first-year packages but they start to look different in the 2nd year. That’s why groups like AAUW San Jose have a scholarship just for college juniors and seniors!

Step 5: Take out only the necessary loans and work study.

Loans can be a very important, necessary, and positive investment in your future. Taking out more loans than you need to, however, can be costly. There is also an opportunity cost when you work more hours than will allow you to focus on your studies.

The guidance from Moneythink for a college to be affordable is:

The GAP is manageable even if grants and scholarships may not fully cover all Direct Costs.

The loan burden is limited so you’re not taking on so much debt that repaying them after graduation is difficult.

The work commitment is low so you aren’t expected to work so many hours that it’s hard to find time to focus on school.

So be sure to pay attention to affordability, but don’t lose sight of other things that matter to you about the campus. Factors like the diversity, the culture, whether they offer the major or program you like, on- and off-campus activities, and whether or not you can really “see” yourself learning and growing there (whether you stick to the original major or not).

Lastly, whichever college you decide to pursue, if you believe the Enrollment Deposit is a barrier for you and your family, advocate for yourself. The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) has released a new form for counselors, college access advisors, students and their families: Enrollment Deposit Fee Waiver Form.

This form allows a student to request that their enrollment fee be waived due to financial circumstances. Enrollment deposits can be as low as $200 to as high as $600 (or even higher!), which can be a barrier, especially for low-income students. While everyone can use this form, each college can manage their own policies, choosing whether or not they will accept this form.

I believe that there are student-focused financial aid officers out there waiting to support you through these challenges, so if you’re ready to make your final decision but you can't come up with the deposit money for your preferred college, submit the Enrollment Deposit Fee Waiver Form ASAP. I highly recommend that you do this before the deadline. Not sure when the deadline is? Check NACAC’s College Admission Status Update page with over 1,000 college updates so far.

In the next article, I want to talk about Supporting Students and Families Through the Conundrum.

2 Comments

Back to Blog

Our College & Career Guide is here for Spring 2020!

4/16/2020

3 MIN READ

This is a passion project of mine and I just published my guide yesterday!

The OBJECTIVE of this Guide
is to share resources, organizations, scholarships, and more that I am aware of thanks to the many generous advocates and social justice champions in my network. I want to provide a free service to help students and allies learn about local resources to help them navigate college, career, and life. Here you’ll also find opportunities to help youth discover and reflect on your personal needs for growth and healing.

This Guide was developed for youth residing in Santa Clara County and this is my passion project. The guide includes groups like AACI, APALI, Braven, Filipinx Mental Health Initiative - Solano, LEAD Filipino, Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), Mental Health First Aid, San Jose State University, ScholarMatch, Silicon Valley Education Foundation, and YWCA Silicon Valley.

Click on the cover for the Guide!

"Thank you to my mother Helena Curry who instilled in me a strong work ethic, grit, and drive and paved the way by showing me what it means to be a true grassroots community leader and social justice advocate."

Acknowledgments

I thank the partners of AdvancED Consulting, the Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women, the Santa Clara County Office of Women’s Policy, and the many local and statewide college, career, nonprofit, civic, and social justice advocates who shared contacts, made introductions, and dedicated time to provide all of the wonderful information listed in this guide.

A big shout out goes to Amparo Diaz, Annie Do, and Michael Nuñez, all AdvancED Consulting partners, who supported the design and organization of content in this guide. Shout out to Kyra Young who designed all of the affirmation stickers and other AdvancED graphics you see throughout this guide and the AdvancED website and social media.

Thank you to my partner (in life and career) Michael who supports me in all things and empowers me to be of service however I can as my authentic self.

Thank you to my mother Helena Curry who instilled in me a strong work ethic, grit, and drive and paved the way by showing me what it means to be a true grassroots community leader and social justice advocate.

Thank you to my cousins Janella Parucha, Justin Parucha, Melinda Parucha, and Evita Dupitas who inspire me to be myself and love myself.

Thank you to my aunt Hedy Parucha and uncle Ben Parucha for their constant love and support.

Thank you to mentors like Dwayne, Claudia, Coleetta, Sr. Susan, Gloria, Allison, Tessa, MB, Trisha, Dr. London, Masai, Elroy, Eric, Kevin and so many more for your wisdom, selfless coaching, and well-intentioned feedback.

Thank you to great friends and colleagues like Lara, Gina, Erin, Meo, Serei, SJ, Alerie, Rod, Kadar, Matt, Meghann, Andrea, and Anthony for the strength you give me, each other, and the world, with all of your unique gifts and strengths.

1 Comment

Back to Blog

The Financial Aid Conundrum

4/15/2020

13 MIN READ

This article is the 2nd (and longest!) in a series on
"Financial Aid, College Choice, and COVID-19"

There are a lot of key financial decisions that we need to make as humans in this country. As you’ll see from the image below, they really start in high school with college-related decisions. When I think of this time in our high school seniors’ (and non-traditional students’) lives and put myself in their shoes, the two questions that come up for me are:

1. Am I going to college this Fall or Spring, and
2. If I am going to college, where?

Source: Key Financial Decisions (FastLane Education)

There is actually a third question, since there is a financial component to both questions. That question is

3. Depending on where I go to college, how much will I have to pay to go there?

and this question is what I refer to as the Financial Aid Conundrum. It’s a conundrum because, firstly, I really enjoy that word and have few opportunities to use it. Secondly, because the synonyms for conundrum are in line with what students, families and educators face when it comes to financial aid, synonyms like “enigma,” “mystery,” “brain-teaser,” and “problem.”

In the first article in this series, "Financial Aid, College Choice, and COVID-19," I talk about the power of networking and how I learned about Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) and their podcast "Tim Talks To..." In one podcast, what Melissa shares with Tim Ranzetta gets at the heart of what college-bound high school seniors are struggling with RIGHT NOW, and with 3.7M high school seniors expected to graduate from high school this 2019-20 school year according to the National Center for Education Statistics, it will require a huge, coordinated, all-hands-on-deck approach.

Let’s all work together, utilizing all the expertise and tools in our toolbelts to support all these seniors through not just high school graduation, but also through important decisions that will impact their futures.

Because many of these decisions are FINANCIAL.

Here is the financial conundrum broken down into three (3) issues. Grab a seat and get comfy.

Issue #1 This issue affects all students, but disproportionately for low-income students of color.

Moneythink has done a ton of research on this issue, and there’s plenty of great information out there speaking to the issues of college persistence and student debt. Here are three facts we want you to know:

That the nation’s $1.6T in student debt is fueled by opaque pricing in higher education. (NerdWallet)
That less than 5% of 4-year colleges are considered affordable for low-income students. (National College Access Network)
That 70% of college dropouts leave school due to pressing financial concerns. (Public Agenda)

What does this all mean? That despite our best efforts to get students to college, especially first-generation students, they are ending up with too much debt and the lack of clarity about financial aid is largely to blame.

Debt is a huge persisting problem since so few colleges are considered affordable to students struggling the most to pay, and to make things worse, students end up with debt whether they get their certificate or degree or not.

If students are choosing (though, we argue, without a clear understanding) to go to unaffordable colleges, they are more likely to drop out because of financial reasons. If they knew they were doing this, would they willingly take out thousands of dollars in loans without the promise of an actual degree to make it worth their investment? Most of us education advocates, advisors, and counselors would argue of course not.

So the question is, how do we get students to be more informed and empowered owners of their college choices?

Let’s first look at how students understand this choice, and who helps them to understand.

The student’s own access

As you can see from the image to the right, a student’s financial literacy and access to financial aid information comes from multiple sources with family, friends, school, community and social/media being the main influencers.

Whether a student knows the pitfalls of loans and debt, or the benefits of saving, or how to balance financial choice points with other factors, is all up to her/his influences. There are so many reasons why families don’t talk about money, some of it cultural, some of it political, some of it religious, the intersections are endless.

In Moneythink’s College Success Report which they published in 2016, student interviews revealed two driving factors of students’ financial vulnerability:

Unmet Need - the amount that is left to be paid after financial aid is awarded (not including loans).
- The number one issue with this factor is that it is difficult to calculate. Not because the math is unknown, but because the actual amounts to plug in the math are sometimes ambiguous, incomplete, or misleading.
- Organizations like Moneythink develop tools and provide content to help families figure out the unmet need (also referred to as the gap or The Bottom Line). We’re facilitating webinars from April 21 to April 30 to walk families and college advisors through the steps, check out Moneythink.org for the webinar schedule.
A Sense of Ownership - Students who view themselves as responsible for their financial situation have an internal sense of ownership over their financial situation.
- In many ways, the lack of communication about family finances directly impacts students’ sense of their ownership, and they may leave it up to others to make the decisions for them. Unfortunately, the student is the one stuck with the debt and too often, students aren’t realizing until semesters into college that they signed up for that debt. Here are two quotes from freshmen at UCLA interviewed by Moneythink:

Source: Financial Need & Ownership: Student Perspectives on Postsecondary Persistence (Moneythink)

This isn’t just a US issue, it’s a global issue. Unfortunately, the financial literacy of our students in high school is lower than most countries.

As you see in the image for Table IV.4.11 from Treasury.gov, socio-economically advantaged students score 80+ points higher in financial literacy than disadvantaged students, the equivalent to almost three school years.

Socio-economically disadvantaged students are less financially literate regardless of formal education available.

We see in Figure IV.6.2 that students’ financial literacy is associated with understanding the value of saving when we also account for math and reading and social background.

Socio-economically disadvantaged students are more likely to borrow money rather than save money or choose against an expense.

Source: Table IV.4.11 Socio-economically advantaged students score 89 points higher… (Treasury.gov)

Source: Figure IV.6.2 Students’ financial literacy is associated with understanding the value of saving (Treasury.gov)

Students are also not having open and honest conversations with their parents about how they will be paying for college, and not because they don’t want to, sometimes because they just don’t know how to. While as allies and advisors, we might want to be in these conversations with each and every student to guide and support them, it’s just not possible given our bandwidth. I recommend resources like Moneythink and CaliforniaColleges.edu that offer talking points for students on how to talk to their families about money.

Tools to bring clarity to families

Even if a student has open and honest dialogue with their families about money, the process of reviewing and analyzing financial aid awards is still very convoluted, and unnecessarily so. The financial aid award is the only document that will tell families how much college will cost. Unfortunately, despite the availability of an aid template provided by the Department of Education to both simplify and clarify financial aid, colleges have their discretion to use whatever manner of jargon and incomplete information makes sense for their cultures, which leads to misleading information that often prevents families from using them effectively to make informed, intentional decisions.

According to a report by New America & uAspire:

Financial aid awards use 143 unique phrases to describe federal loans.
Less than 33% of award letters differentiate between aid & loans, making it difficult to know what families actually need to pay.
Only 40% of awards included a calculation of what students would need to pay above and beyond the aid, and there were 23 different ways of calculating remaining costs.
30% of letters include grants, but don’t include college costs to compare against.

The Department of Education offers comparison tips on its website, and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) offers a worksheet, which students and families can print out, to help keep information about different colleges organized.

Community capacity

The research shows us that our community doesn’t have the capacity to provide quality college advising and counseling when it comes to financial aid, even with the best intentions at play:

The average public school counselor in the U.S. has a caseload of approximately 482 students – double the recommended amount. (NACAC)
38 is the average number of minutes of college assistance that a public school student receives from their guidance departments across 4 years. (CollegeVine, VCAOnline)
New survey results from American Student Assistance (ASA) reflect the experience of more than 1,000 school counselors on these topics:
- Fewer than one in five counselors felt “extremely comfortable” talking to students and parents about the financial aid process, and only 11% were “always aware” of their students’ financial situations.
- These numbers do not add up when 92% of counselors said they were also responsible for discussing college affordability with students.
NACAC’s research with PwC highlights the five (5) barriers to successfully financing a college education, showing that
- Less than ⅓ of counselors work at secondary schools where financial aid training is provided.
- The percentage of counselors and early-career college admission professionals who feel well-versed in important financial aid topics is not sufficient.

Despite the best efforts of our colleagues in the field, financial aid is incredibly confusing, it changes on the regular, information from the powers that be don’t regularly or clearly trickle down to the people on the ground that need to disseminate the information to students, and training is not readily available to solve for the lack in knowledge and experience.

The Powers That Be

The Federal Student Aid office has recommended that colleges include the cost of attendance in aid letters and clearly distinguish between grants and scholarships, which don’t need to be repaid, and loans, which do. (Federal Student Aid) The Powers That Be, or the colleges that are designing and distributing their financial aid award letters, are recognizing the problem but are operating on their own timelines and priorities to solve this issue for students.

Now that we’ve fully discussed why the Financial Aid Conundrum is such an issue not just for all students, but especially for low-income, first gen students, let’s look at the remaining issues because yes, there are still more.

Issue #2 College decisions don’t focus enough on the financial considerations and implications.

College decisions are about both WHERE a student is going to spend the next 1-6 years of their next academic and career journey, and HOW MUCH they are going to pay over time as an investment in their future. The process of evaluating financial aid awards requires multiple complex steps. Every single one of these steps requires a level of maturity and mathematical savvy, and for the right information to be in students’ hands all at once.

In Moneythink’s interviews spanning thousands of students, many students shared that they were left unassisted and confused during the process. In many cases, students were not adequately prepared for college. In some cases, students received the help that they needed to be accepted into the school of their choice, thanks to the support of well-intentioned family, engaged college counselors, and available college access programs. Unfortunately, they were often expected to figure out the rest once they got to college, especially when it came to the finances.

The financial milestones students face at this critical time in their lives will be:

Navigating the complexity of FAFSA, CA Dream Act, and/or CSS Profile, among other state and federal financial aid applications.
Resolving any requests for Verification information from colleges who manage their processes and timelines differently.
Reviewing and assessing their financial aid award letters which often look different and use different terminology.
Reviewing and accepting loan options and terms, deciding on appropriate amounts, and completing requirements for disbursement.
Applying to scholarships and understanding how those funds are applied to the costs of going to their selected college.

Organizations like ScholarMatch, Students Rising Above, Richmond Promise, the Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP), Destination College Advising Corps, and more, serve students during the crucial transactional steps of their senior year and will walk students step-by-step through the financial aid application process. Once students complete their FAFSA, they will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) and that will offer an Expected Family Contribution (EFC). A student EFC of zero (0) is the lowest possible value, and it means that the family has no ability to contribute to the student’s education. The highest EFC is $99,999.

Source: NGPF Reference: Financial Aid Flow

After a student submits their FAFSA, they may be asked for more information. This is called Verification. The SAR will note if the student has been selected for verification, or the college may contact the student directly. “Verification is the process your school uses to confirm that the data reported on your FAFSA form is accurate. If you’re selected for verification, your school will request additional documentation that supports the information you reported.” (Federal Student Aid)

Once you’ve made it through verification, you should have a final award letter, as opposed to an award estimate. You will need to review this award letter so that you understand:

How much is this college going to cost this year?
How much is this college giving you in gift aid (grants, scholarships) to go here this year (your first year)?
How much is remaining for your family to cover with self-help (work study, work, loans)?

Earlier I shared that there are tools out there to help figure out the financial aid award review process. The problem, however, isn’t the lack of tools to help clarify and make sense of award letters. There are tools out there like the FinAid Letter Comparison Tool (with an advanced version available), BigFuture’s award tool, or CaliforniaColleges.edu’s use of the CollegeOPTIONS’ Financial Aid Award Comparison Tool.

The real problem is that, while tools exist to compare financial aid awards for multiple colleges, these tools often require:

The ability for the student or parent to accurately read and analyze their financial aid award letters,
The collection of all award letter information at once, and
Manual entry of award letter information into a spreadsheet or online form.

There is no tool out there that supports students and families in better understanding their financial aid award letters that does not also require them to manually enter that information into some document. This is fraught with user error and is a barrier to entry in multiple ways (lack of technical skills, variance in how award letters name and describe aid, incomplete awards, etc.).

This is why I’m excited for Moneythink’s award compare tool coming out in October 2020 that will let you take snapshots of your awards for a super-fast analysis! Want to learn more about it? Click here to get on Moneythink’s listserve!

Issue #3: Students often don’t realize just how much power they have in their college choice.

Despite all this challenge and calamity, there is still hope!

Students DO have the power of their choice.
Students DO have the time and opportunity to look at all the information available and make an informed, intentional decision about where they’re going to go this Fall or Spring.
Students CAN and SHOULD resolve to make choices in their best interest that help meet goals they have designed for themselves.

And as the parents, advisors, counselors, educators, coaches, guardians, and adult allies in their lives, we CAN and SHOULD resolve to support them however we can to make the best, most affordable decision possible.

In this next article, I want to talk about how students can do this. It’s time to talk about The Power of Student Resilience and Choice because you DO have choices as a student.

Students: The power to choose IS ALL YOURS.

6 Comments

Back to Blog

Financial Aid, College Choice, and COVID-19

4/13/2020

4 MIN READ

This article is the 1st in a series on "Financial Aid, College Choice, and COVID-19."

The power of “friendraising” has never been more real than in a recent introduction by a local education advocate which led to a podcast interview. I’m here to tell a story that starts with education colleagues making connections, and ends with the power of student resilience and choice.

In this series, I start first with the alchemy of networking and friendraising because as adults, as students, as human beings, if we’re going to get through COVID-19, it will be together. Thus, I start with a Tale of Six Colleagues.

As I continue the series, I wish for high school seniors, transfer students, parents, educators, and their allies to know that when it comes to financial aid and college choice, we face a Financial Aid Conundrum that is persistent, systemic, fraught with pitfalls ready to take advantage of families, and overbearingly complex to tackle.

I then want to take a hopeful stance by talking about the Power of Student Resilience and Choice. I want students, and all of your allies, to understand that in your hands is the power to choose the best fit college for you based on what’s both affordable and a strong match.

Lastly, I will close with how we can all support students through this, whether you are a student or an ally. Supporting Students & Families through the Conundrum means securing the futures of our communities, our cities, our counties, our states, our nation, and our world. Again, we are all in this together.

Let’s begin with why networking matters.
If you already know why networking matters, you can skip ahead to the meat of this series with the Financial Aid Conundrum.

A Tale of Six Colleagues

It started with me (Colleague #1) reaching out to Todd Hicks (Colleague #2), Director of University Access and Success at Cristo Rey San Jose. Thanks to my career development and college access related projects with partners Management Leadership for Tomorrow and Moneythink, and general volunteer work across Santa Clara County, I had more than one reason to sit down with this local educator. Cristo Rey San Jose is a member of the Cristo Rey Network which has 37 schools across 24 states.

At the time I was in conversations with Todd about how to best support first gen students, I was in the planning stages of financial aid award review webinars with CEO Joshua Lachs (Colleague #3) of Moneythink. Moneythink empowers students to invest in the future by building technology that clarifies college finances. Thanks to Joshua’s leadership and his star-studded team at Moneythink, we were planning to host financial aid webinars in late April to support graduating high school seniors across the country through a crucial date that is fast-approaching: College Decision Day.

One conversation in Todd's well-organized office turned into multiple emails, text, and phone calls excitedly charged around the topics of educational equity, access, and student success. In our most recent insightful encounter, Todd introduced me to Christian Sherrill (Colleague #4), Director of Business Development and Advocacy at Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF). Appreciating every opportunity to meet a Teach for America Corps Member continuing to do great work for underserved populations, I eagerly scheduled our chat.

Reaching more than 2 million students nationally by serving 25,000 middle and high school teachers, I was thrilled to learn more about their free personal finance curriculum and professional development offerings. Christian shared that NGPF’s mission “is to revolutionize the teaching of personal finance in all schools and to improve the financial lives of the next generation of Americans.”

This wonderful chat with Christian in March turned into an introduction to NGPF Co-Founder Tim Ranzetta (Colleague #5) who also runs a “Tim Talks To…” Podcast. I was thrilled to listen to some of the episodes, such as Demetria Gallegos of WSJ on 9 Myths About Credit Scores from January 10, 2020 and Melissa Santoyo on the importance of financial education for first-gen students from November 29, 2019. Listening to Melissa’s podcast got me super excited for my chat with Tim because something she said really struck me:

"I think that we need to prioritize teaching kids how to read financial documents, how to interpret them, how to walk into a college application process feeling at least a little bit more confident about the things we're in control of... when it came to the financial documents, I felt rather helpless. Because, you know something that was supposed to be in my control, something that I should have been able to fill out and then move on with my day, that wasn't the case. It carried this immense panic, and stress and anxiety and worry, further exacerbating the general horrible feeling of the college application process. So something needs to be done, and it needs to be done earlier on."

When Tim asked me how I learned about Moneythink, I was pleased to share that it was through a mutual connection, Lara Fox (Colleague #6), Senior Advisor at the Marin Community Foundation who served prior to that as the Founding Executive Director of uAspire Bay Area. Lara not only introduced me to Moneythink, she also mentored me through my first year as a consultant. With connections made, Tim interviewed me for his podcast. What I shared then is a snippet of what you'll read in this series.

Now we’ve come full circle!

On to the challenge at hand...the Financial Aid Conundrum.

1 Comment

<<Previous

AdvancED on Purpose

ADVANCED ON PURPOSE

Archives

Categories

EdTrust-West Data Equity Walk

California Competes Postsecondary to Prosperity Dashboard

California Student Aid Commission Race to Submit Dashboard

Why do ADEMs matter?

Ready, Set, Party!

Make It Your OWN!

Resources to Support

Tips for Recruiting New Board Members

DO NOW

DO LATER

Do NOT

Turning 40

2023

Planning My First Galentine’s Day Event

​1,000 days of mindfulness meditation

Enjoy Affirmations from Calm

Students, you can do this!

Allies, we can help them!

With lesson SC-4.5 - Financial Aid Packages, students will be able to:

With lesson SC-4.6 - Time for Payback, students will be able to:

With lesson SC-4.7 - Budgeting During College, students will be able to:

With Activity CARTOONS: Student Loan Debt, students will be able to:

Colleges, please consider your students!

1,000 days of mindfulness meditation

With lesson
SC-4.5 - Financial Aid Packages, students will be able to: