Skip Navigation
archived information

California Rural Partnerships Alliance

The California Rural Partnerships (CRP) Alliance was designed to support and strengthen the ability of rural and rural-serving California cross-sector career pathways partnerships to gather, share, and use data. The alliance includes rural and rural-serving partnerships that are comprised of K–12, higher education, and industry or labor force development representatives. These consortia are designed to support students in grades 9 through 14 (community college) to prepare for jobs in the regional economy. REL West is providing support for data sharing, data use, and capacity development to CRP Alliance members through research and coaching.

Alliance Objectives

The overarching goal of the CRP Alliance is to support and strengthen the ability of rural and rural-serving California cross-sector partnerships to gather, share, and use data to inform career pathway development. Specific objectives are to:

  • Increase the capacity of regional partnerships to access and use cross-sector data for education and career pathways implementation, development, and progress monitoring.
  • Support a deeper understanding of the extent to which the supply of community college program completers aligns with the labor market demand for middle-skill occupations in rural California and in each of four rural regions of the state and how this knowledge can be applied to program development and improvement efforts.
  • Support a learning community of rural California consortia to build a shared understanding of data use challenges and to identify strategies to overcome them.

Resources

  • Webinar Series: Rural Data Use
    The REL West California Rural Partnerships Alliance hosted a series of webinars focused on supporting rural cross-sector career pathways partnerships to improve their data-based decisionmaking. Webinar 1 highlighted the challenges that these partnerships face and identified resources and tools to improve cross-sector data use, sharing, and capacity development. Webinar 2 examined the following question: How can data be used as a catalyst for regional conversations around high-demand and high-wage career pathways? Webinar 3 shared strategies and resources for advancing and strengthening regional, cross-sector career pathways work in California. Webinar 4 was designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of rural and rural-serving career pathway partnerships around data sharing and data use.
  • Study: Community College Completion and Middle-Skill Occupational Demand in Rural California
    A review of the education credentials of graduates from rural secondary and postsecondary education institutions and the extent to which they are aligned with local workforce demand.
  • Video: Moving from Local to Regional Data-Driven Decisionmaking for Rural Career Pathways Collaboratives
    This REL West video and the associated resources are designed to help rural cross-sector leaders prepare for and engage in cross-sector data work to inform the development of education and career pathways in their regions. Drawing on the work of the California Rural Partnerships Alliance, the video provides evidence-based strategies to “build a case” for partnering around career pathways, targeting your current and prospective partners; outline some cultural and structural factors that help “pave the way” for successful cross-sector collaboration; and “take action” to use data to inform the development of career pathways and improve them over time. A video discussion and reflection guide will help viewers make the most of the video.

Projects

Partners

The CRP Alliance supports cross-sector teams from rural and rural-serving partnerships that represent K–12, higher education, and industry or labor force development.