Transcript: Session 1C: Talent Is Universal, Access Is Not: Why Partnerships Matter

Nakanya Magby:

Before we get started with our session, I just want to take some time to share a quick note about the California Center for School Climate. The California Center for School Climate is a California Department of Education initiative led by WestEd. We provide free support and training on school climate and data use to local education agencies in California. And we invite you to visit our website at ccsc.wested.org to learn more about the supports the center provides to districts and schools across the state.

In our keynote this morning, Dr. Porscha spoke about transformative relationships in creating a healing centered school climate. And so related to today’s topic, those connections happen in the presence of community connections. This session will support the work of true community connection. So I’d now like to introduce our guest speaker for this session, Jessica Ochoa. She’s an accomplished public education and civic sector trailblazer with nearly two decades of diversified experience with a commitment to leadership and service. She is currently the executive director of communications and community relations with the Inglewood Unified School District and serves on the board of directors for the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators. Jessica understands the importance of access and has an unwavering commitment to social justice. So with that, I will pass it to Jessica.

Jessica Ochoa:

Morning, everyone. I’m super excited. I hope everyone’s as motivated as I am with our keynote speaker. I definitely walked away with some nuggets of inspiration, and I’m super excited to dive in into today’s session, Talent is Universal, Access is Not. I am a firm, firm believer that every student has the potential to be successful. There is talent in every child. Unfortunately, access is not always available to every child. And so with that, partnerships definitely matter. Partnerships have afforded access and experiences to our students here in Englewood, changing the trajectory of their lives and the future paths that they hold. So welcome to today’s session. Talent is Universal, Access is Not: Why Partnerships Matter.

So for today’s presentation, as I shared with you, I’m going to read to you guys the brief description that I have set forth for this workshop. Get ready to unlock the full potential of education transformation in this workshop. Talent is Universal, Access is Not: Why Partnerships Matter. It’s more than just partnership. It’s uniting power and purpose. Together we will close the opportunity gap and remove the red tape to afford equitable and transformational access for all youth. Red tape exists in every public education, so we need to find ways to remove that red tape to afford that access for our youth. You’ll learn how to level up the playing field to be able to bring in new resources, opportunities, and experiences to the communities, the school communities in which you serve, being able to remove the barriers which facilitate the access of the whole child and the whole community.

So welcome, welcome. Keynote speaker. So she was definitely very, very, very, very inspiring. And so with that, there are some key points that I definitely was able to walk away with, particularly to today’s main focus of transforming school climates and mindsets and ecosystems. And so a piece that really resonated with me was when she touched on the three C’s towards the tail end of her keynote, she talked about care, commitment and connections, and she tied that connection to students. When students know that you care, then there’s this level of commitment that is established. Once there’s this commitment of establishment, there’s a connection. That rule in my opinion, applies for our partnerships as well. At the end of the day, it goes back to the key value of relationships, relationships, relationships definitely open doors and opportunities to be able to unite purpose and power of access, but also build opportunities for our youth.

She also touched on the challenges that many of our school districts are facing, that being school closures and consolidations. That is the mere reality of many school districts across the state of California, across the nation in and of itself. And so with that said, there are those tough conversations and decisions that are being made at a district level to one, consolidate or two, to close. We are having students advocate for their schools not wanting them to close. There’s a deep connection to their schools, it’s their safe space, it’s where their friends are at, but it’s being able to share with them why it is that these decisions need to take place, but at the same time, be mindful of their own wellbeing, their own ecosystem, their own school climate that is being impacted.

And the third piece that really resonated with me was moving from the model of traditional to systems thinking, being more the mindset of a more holistic way, the power of human investment. And so that’s a piece that I’m going to talk about within our partnerships and facilities is that power of human investment, the dividends that are invested in our youth and what that results are. So with that said, with our objectives for today is gaining understanding as to why partnerships matter. Tying that back to the school climate, how to build strong partnerships in public education, going back to relationships and learning how to maximize your opportunities, really diving into the access piece. So let’s connect. So we’re going to do a small little poll really quick just to know who is in the room.

So if you guys don’t mind just taking a few minutes, or a few seconds rather, to cast your vote. So currently taking the lead here, we have a lot of individuals from the county offices across the state, school staff, school administrators, district staff, district administrators, community-based organizations. Okay. So overall, we’re almost have about equal representation now that everybody’s been able to cast their vote. And so there’s a lot of individuals in the room who are decision makers, who have the ability to have those conversations at the table with other executive leaders to really think outside of the box and really be able to transform what those experiences are for our youth. So welcome, welcome, everybody, to today’s session, and I really hope that you guys are able to walk away with a couple nuggets to be able to continue to drive the work in your guys’ own spaces.

All right, so knowing who is in the audience. As shared, we have a number of individuals who are from the county office and other executive leaders or administrators, not only at the district level, but also in the school level and also community-based. I do want to engage in just a brief reflection. I’m going to pose a few questions to you guys. And if you guys just if you don’t mind participating in the chat answering one or both questions that I have that you guys will see in the following slide. So let’s reflect, before I dive into the rest of the presentation, I want to pose two questions to everyone. How important is it to unite power and purpose through the lens of organizations’ missions? And two, how does your role impact the scalability and sustainability of partnerships? Is that even something that you have engaged the idea of? Is that even within your scope or is that something that you may want to dive deeper and see what you can do to foster those connections?

So please, if you don’t mind providing those responses in the chat, and we can have a brief reflection as individuals participate. I have someone who just shared it’s very important, you need a whole village to raise a child. Absolutely. I can’t agree with you more. Thank you for sharing. I’ll give a few minutes for additional responses to come through. Okay. Helped everyone know which direction we are going in and also makes the work more impactful. Absolutely. Should act as a north star, many hands make flight work, develop consistency, systems-wide, and enhance student outcomes. No, absolutely. One thing that I can share is uniting power and purpose through the lens of organizations’ mission. Our missions drive the work that we do and really help us narrow the focus of why we do the work that we do. And that goes true for many organizations.

And so when I look at our partnerships, I really look at do our missions align? Is there alignment in the work that we do? Understanding that alignment allows me to have a more care purpose as far as how I’m able to fill the gap here in the district. What is the gap? What is the need? Where are the opportunities? So that I know how to forge those relationships and really drive those conversations. When there’s a common purpose and there’s an alignment, then you’re able to really continue to foster those relationships and conversations to create an outcome to better serve our students. Woops. If you don’t mind going back one, I do apologize. And the scalability and sustainability, that goes back to the relationships. You may have activations and opportunities that it presents itself, but it’s what can you do to continue to foster and build and sustain those relationships across different venues within the space of education?

And so that’s going to be a piece that we’ll continue to dive in, in the future slides. All right, so let’s talk about partnerships and next slide. So for partnerships, partnerships have been a blessing in disguise for the organization that I work for. Unfortunately, we are a district in receivership, which means that we are being overseen not only at a county level, but also at a state level due to some challenges that were dealt with due to prior administration. And so with that in mind, a big challenge when I came into this district was seeing the disparities or the disrepair in our facilities. I’m a true believer that our facility should be as worthy of our children, and our children deserve nothing but the best. Students spend the majority of their day at school and the environment in which they’re in should be conducive for them to learn. And so I noticed that was a big need in our district and understanding that we are facing budget cuts. There’s constraints.

And so we needed to really be able to think outside the box to how do we really maximize our dollar in our district looking at our general funds, our grants, our developer fees and our bonds? And so we’re in a very unique situation here in our district where not only the district is going through some changes, also our community, the city of Inglewood is becoming a mecca of sports entertainment. And so the city’s becoming very diversified. There’s a lot of new businesses that are being brought in, but some to name is, we have the Intuit Dome, which will be home to the LA Clippers. We have the SoFi Stadium, which is home to the Rams, the Chargers, and we have the Forum, the YouTube Theater. And so just to name a few. And so with that, we also will be the host city for the Olympics, for Super Bowl, for the All-Star games, for the World Cup.

And so you’re probably thinking, well, what does that mean for the district? That means there’s opportunity for alignment to work with these larger organizations and city to help support and foster those experiences for our students, whether it’s in the field of athletics, internship opportunities, the workforce, and so much more. And so with that, how do we compete or how do we get to that same level? We have a lot of talented students in our district, but unfortunately, we don’t have the resources to be able to support the existing talent that is present. And so what I’ve done since I’ve been here is really get to know the community, whether you are from Northern California, Southern California, or the Midwest, the East coast, small, small community, urban, suburban, inner city, everybody has tangible partners in which they can work with. Everyone has the Nikes of the world.

And so the scale may look different, but being able to harness those partnerships is definitely doable. And so for me, what I’ve really done in the investment in hopes that what I’m yielding is the sustainability and growth of our organization, making this district a destination district, enhancing our facilities, our resources, our program offerings for our students to want to come to Inglewood, who want to stay in Inglewood and the future generation of Inglewood. And so I’ve really just indulged myself and made myself present, getting to know our community partners, understanding what their mission is, understanding who their teams are, really just having organic conversations on how we can create social impact not only in our communities, but in our schools as well. And that’s where the purpose and power come in place when you truly are able to solidify that alignment piece. Knowing the need.

A lot of individuals here are administrators not only at a school site, at a district level, but on a county and community base. And so it’s really understanding what is the need at our schools? What is the need as a district, how can we build that need with resources and opportunities, particularly through those relationships of partnerships? And you’re able to create those frameworks of outreach and purpose and to be able to really drive that conversation. A big piece for us when that has helped us really foster the support has been our elected officials working closely with the city, but also at a county and a state level, and letting them know where the gaps are, what is the need and what could we do to join forces to really afford that access to our youth. And so with that, I’m going to dive in how our partners have really supported us through their philanthropic initiatives, private donations, to continue to uplift the experiences for our youth.

Whether it’s been through academic programs that support our CC pathways, our enrichment programs around sports and band, but also understanding the lack of resources or getting creative with the resources that we have as a result of the deficit in which a lot of our districts are facing with the budget cuts as well. So with that in mind, let’s continue with the following slide. And so with that, the marketing piece is a big connector when it comes to the partners to really being able to amplify and really forge that strong connection to the community, not only to communicate, to be able to share the great work that is existing, but who is coming alongside you in the journey of transforming the public education system or an ecosystem in which our students are learning. And you’re able to forge that through having a very comprehensive marketing strategy. You can go ahead and really forge a strong marketing strategy.

And so I work very closely with our facilities department. And so it’s not just, hey, here’s a great idea. We have Coleman Field. It hasn’t been upgraded in decades. We need to secure some dollars. It’s not just an organization giving us money, but it’s really being able to dive in through the process of really reimagining what that space is going to look like. What is the cost? What is the timeline and how do we celebrate those wins with our partners acknowledging their commitment to our district, to our students, and to the greater community in which we serve? And how is this not only going to impact our youth today, but how is this going to impact our youth of tomorrow? And that’s where that sustainability and scalability piece comes in, because now you’re creating buy-in not only from your internal stakeholders, but the constituents of this community, and really being able to forge or reimagine the potential of what else we can do together in partnership.

And so part of the marketing design when it comes to securing the dollars for our facilities, whether it’s a project that we’ve done that we just completed, which is our Coleman Field, it requires a lot of internal design and approval, not only from the state, but on a county level. We also have given purpose for unused spaces in schools and really reimagining how we can maximize the space to give our students new instructional experiences and really amplifying our curriculum and our pathways, which lead to academic improvement for our youth. There is a lot of construction that takes place at our school district as a result of these specific partnerships because when it comes to facilities, sometimes you think about the bonds that have been passed. We look at developer fees that are also in place, our grants or general funds.

And so all of those financial pieces are definitely interwoven. But keep in mind that we’ve been able to build out our infrastructure facilities through private donations, which has been a huge success for our district. And so the other part to the marketing piece is really looking at the construction, the timeline that is needed. But I think the big piece, the big win in this marketing tool is really the celebration. Whether the celebration, there’s an initial celebration of the groundbreaking or it’s the ribbon cutting of this project to commemorate the contribution, the donation, the final product, the end use of what our students will soon be able to partake in. And lastly, it’s the use of the space, allowing our students the opportunity to be in a space that they’re worthy of. A lot of shared, and a lot of our facilities are in disrepair, and there’s a lot of work that we’re doing.

And I have to really be able to commend our partners for their large contributions in our projects. We’re not talking about private donations or private initiatives of $10,000. We’re looking at projects that could range anywhere from 300,000 to $4 million. And these are individuals who are interested in our district, who really see the value and the need in our district, who are willing to donate a substantial amount to really impact positively to change the trajectory and path of our students in a collective union through their organization and ours, to really be able to change that culture for our youth. We can move forward. So here in these images, it’s a collage, as you will see. The big piece for us is being able to advertise and promote on our communication platforms. It’s important to let our constituents and our partners know the work that is being done, that we value them and we acknowledge them.

And so every month, we push out a monthly newsletter that gets shared with our constituents of our community, our local elected officials share it out on their newsletter, but also in our internal communication channels, letting them know everything that is taking place through our bonds, our gen funds, developer fees, private donations, you name it, everything is all encompassing. And so we have a lot of work that is being done, a lot of construction projects that are taking place. And so this is just a great way to be able to elevate and showcase the work that is being done. So in the top left corner, this was actually the initial, this is a picture of the ground breaking that we did here at Coleman Field. And so Coleman Field had not been touched for decades. And through a phenomenal partnership and conversation with Nike, NFL, the Chargers and the Rams, we were able to build out a brand new track field and scoreboard.

And let me tell you, the space looks amazing. We have high quality turf for students, and you can compare that to what the professionals are utilizing in their spaces. But what it has done to transform even that initial experience when someone walks up to our stadium is breathtaking. And knowing that they were able to offset that cost to ensure that we are able to offer our students those experiences has been priceless. We will soon be having a ribbon cutting ceremony, paying homage to this remarkable partnership in the next month. The lower left corner of your screen, we have our county administrative, remarkable fearless leader of ours who’s speaking to our guests. That day was our initial ribbon cutting ceremony for our Coleman Field weight room. Our students are now able to work out in state-of-the-art equipment to better themselves and their skill sets to be able to play out on the field, whether it’s football, basketball, soccer, you name it.

And so that was a contribution through Play Equity in LA, which is a non-profit organization here in LA County who truly believes in play equity and making sure that access is afforded. And the CEO, Renata Simril, once said, “Access is universal.” Or I apologize, “Talent is universal, access is not.” And that’s where I got that from. I said that speaks volumes. I can’t agree more. I just ran with it and said, hey, access is needed here in this district. How can we afford and give our students those experiences and opportunities that they well-deserve? The lower left corner, we have a virtual reality room, a partnership through the College Football Playoff Foundation, school specialty and other entities, giving our students that ability to engage in a virtual reality curriculum at one of our elementary schools. In the top corner, at one of our high schools, connecting it back to our pathways. We have a state-of-the-art, the latest technology.

Our students have the ability to compete at a large scale our e-sports center, again, thanks to many of our remarkable partners who were willing to invest and bring this resource and this program to our students at one of our high schools. Let’s continue on. And so discussing what I just shared in the previous slide is a list of partners. And so right behind me, you can’t see because I have a backdrop, is what I am re-envisioning to be our sports complex. Our district office happens to sit in the same parcel where our Caroline Coleman Field is currently, and we have a baseball diamond directly behind me. And I definitely see this space becoming a state-of-the-art sports complex in our community that will soon be able to complement the remarkable sports stadiums that are only a mile away from us where our students will be able to train and play on just state-of-the-art facilities, really being able to ignite their true potential.

Being able to see the value worth as far as what they bring forward on a day-to-day basis because we have such elite athletes who come out of Inglewood, like Lisa Leslie. I’m currently working on a project with her. And so there’s a lot of notable athletes who’ve come out of Inglewood and a lot of notable athletes who will come out of Inglewood. And so that’s a big project. As I shared right now, we currently have Nike, NFL, the Chargers and the Rams, LA 84 and Play Equity who’ve already invested in this vision, bringing forth state-of-the-art weight room, the state-of-the-art track and field, the scoreboard. And now we’re building out the rest of the future of our sports complex, bringing in an Olympic sized pool, softball and baseball fields, basketball courts, tennis courts to complement both the sports that we offer, and being able to compete at a more elite level.

And so those conversations as far as how we will continue to foster and forge those relationships are taking place now, working with other agencies to really be able to share with them the vision that we have and how they can be a part of this legacy project that we are creating here in Inglewood, understanding that we have the Olympics taking place in the next four years, what that can do to help bolster the morale or just the motivation and inspiration in our youth, allowing themselves to see themselves playing possibly or being part of the Olympics or at a larger scale playing professionally, working closely with the Lakers, the Clippers, the Dodgers, Hollywood Park. We’ve talked about the Ballmer family, the Intuit just to continue to share the wealth and finding that alignment, uniting that purpose and power as I shared, is really, really important.

Because once you find that alignment piece, the opportunities are endless. Going back, I shared, we have the eGame gaming room list of the partners who played a pivotal role in those contributions alongside our Caroline Coleman Field, which we will be having the ribbon cutting ceremony soon, and then the weight room as well. And those were our four sponsors of our weight room. And we’re talking about contributions and private donations, anything ranging from 300,000 to over $4 million. And this is a testament that goes back to the power of relationships. Relationships are really, really key to be able to afford these types of partnerships and being able to bring these resources to our students is powerful. And so everyone has the ability to be able to forge these types of relationships, whether it’s everybody has the Nikes of the world.

Whether you’re in a small suburban area, large inner city, there are organizations, non-profits for private organizations or other entities who want to be a part of the public education systems, but sometimes they don’t know how to. So we need to not be afraid to start those conversations because the possibilities are endless as far as where they can go and how you ignite that alignment. And so here I would like to share with you guys the initial first base of what we hope to create in our legacy project is our state-of-the-art sports complex. This is just the initial birth of our vision of how we would be creating this space. And so as you guys can see here, we have our brand new Coleman stadium, our brand new field track, and our scoreboard at a distance. On the larger image on the far right is our district office is actually where I’m sitting currently. And then in the far end is actually city hall.

And this was all done through the power of partnerships of them being able to see and really see the value of their investment in our students, that it may not yield them immediate results, but it’ll definitely yield them results in our future generation as generations continue to come, continue to play on this field, to inspire them to be the best that they can be because talent is universal. And now they have access to state-of-the-art facilities in which they can ignite their inner purpose. And so these are just three images to be able to just share with you guys what a contribution could look like when it comes to athletic programs. Next slide. Our weight room. Our weight room is amazing. This space here was not really being used. We just had really outdated equipment. And so with the conversation of Play Equity and LA 84 and other entities, they saw the need. They knew that our students were talented and deserved to have the best knowing that we have and are working towards building out a state-of-the-art sports facility here in our district.

They saw the value in their investment, and it goes back to their mission. Play equity. They believe in social equity for students in the space of sports. And so they were willing to make a large contribution to our district specifically for this weight room. And this is the space here. As you guys can see, it’s about 1,000 square feet, if I’m not mistaken. It’s a pretty large space for our students. And so we’re really, really excited to be able to offer this experience to our students, through our partnerships. Next slide. E-sports. So this is a space at one of our high schools, Morningside High School to be exact, where we were able to come together. There’s various partners to be able to facilitate this remarkable partnership. We host it here at SoFi, the National College Football Playoffs championship game. And as a result of their philanthropic initiative and movement, we were able to make connections with them and find a way to create a social impact project here in the city, particularly in our district.

And to an alignment with school specialty, the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, the Los Angeles College Football Playoffs Foundation. We were able to work closely with our educational services division alongside other entities here in our district to bring to fruition an unused space and reimagine it and allow it to become what is now known as the Monarch’s E-Sports Center Room. Our students have the ability to engage with state-of-the-art technology, be able to compete at a large scale with other school districts who have this pathway in their schools. But it’s more than just gaming. It’s all the career pathways and opportunities that can be afforded through these internal experiences. And so this has been a great success for us, for our students. If you ask our students, they’re like, “We don’t want to leave this space. We love this space.” And so you can only imagine how that boosts the school culture and the climate of our children. Now, moment of truth. I know I shared a lot. If you guys have any questions for me.

Nakanya Magby:

So thank you, Jessica, so much for that. Love the pictures. It really brought things to life for us, so thank you for that. So we do have some questions that we pulled from the Q&A in the chat. So we’ll start with question one. How do you shift your partnerships to keep up with the changes in diversity in your community to ensure equitable representation? And let me know if you need me to read it again.

Jessica Ochoa:

No, no, no, no. I just want to make sure that I’m… Are they able to elaborate a little bit more on that question? I can’t-

Nakanya Magby:

Sure. So you mentioned keeping up with the changes in diversity in your community and thinking about those partnerships that you are constantly in communication with or seeking out, how do you make sure that your finger is on the pulse of those changes in diversity in the community to make sure that those community partnerships represent as such?

Jessica Ochoa:

That makes sense, that makes sense. And so when it comes to the partnerships, the beauty behind our partnerships is once you start building that momentum with your partnerships, you are introduced to other partners in the community, which has really allowed us to really scale the number of partnerships that we have brought to Inglewood. Another piece to ensure that we have a good pulse of the need by diversity or representation in our district is I’m at the table with our executive leadership. I’m working closely with our administrator who oversees our LCAP codes.

So being able to have those one-on-one conversations or small group settings with our stakeholders to understand what is the need, what is the interest, so that I’m able to take that back and internalize it and say when I’m having a conversation with our partners, I need to have that in the back of my mind to be able to say, “Hey, here’s an idea,” or, “Hey, here is a need that was shared by a parent or by a staff member or by a student,” to then say, “Hey, what do you think if we’re able to continue to forge this conversation with other administrators in our district to find a solution to the problem, in essence?”

There’s a gap and how can we really formulate and bring that to fruition through a vision and the project? And so that’s a lot of work that continues to be done. It’s never ending. It’s definitely very organic in my opinion, but it’s about being present. And so just making sure that as you’re at the table having conversations, you’re taking in those opportunities where you’re like, oh, that’s a need. Oh, I think that’s what students are asking for. And so you’re able to elaborate or pose those questions, help me understand the need. And so I’m able to then walk away and work with our partners to say, “Hey, I have a proposal for you. This is how we would offset, this is what I can bring to the table. Can you help us with the other half?”

Nakanya Magby:

Sure, sure. Thank you for that. And James, in the chat said, “That is my experience as well. As you partner, the networks expand and refine.” So makes good sense. Thank you for that. The next question, you mentioned that you have made strides in making connections with your community partners. What are some practices you have used to strengthen existing partnerships with your partners or to develop new partnerships? And then think about maintaining those partnerships. Are there any recommendations for maintaining? So practices to strengthen existing partnerships and maintain or develop new partnerships.

Jessica Ochoa:

Absolutely. And so for that, I think it’s important to one, every city for the most part has their Chamber of Commerce. And so it’s important to be a part of those community organizations where there’s different stakeholders who come together to be able to share the highlights of their organization and how it benefits the constituents of the communities. And so that’s been very beneficial for me. It’s more grassroots. It’s organizations who serve the community in which you’re serving. But what’s really helped me is just being very much present in events that take place not only in the city, but in greater San Luis. And so it’s making the investment in time. A lot of these events do take place in the evening, but it’s willing to make sure that your district is represented in those events to start building those relationships.

How do you sustain those relationships? There’s ways of acknowledging our partners. You can acknowledge your partnerships in board meetings. You can host events, thanking them for their contribution to the district. But as there’s events that take place in the district as a result of that resource, that’s an opportunity to bring that partnership back to say, look, these are a few of the results that are being yielded as a result of your investment to our students. And those pieces or those engagement moments have really resonated deeply for our partnerships for them to be able to come back and see their investment in use. Hopefully, I answered the question.

Nakanya Magby:

You did. Thank you so much, Jessica. So you mentioned creating partnerships that support students’ talents. How do you assess or elevate what those talents are in utilizing those to find your partnerships that support student interests and talents?

Jessica Ochoa:

So with that in mind, I can tie back to, just because it came to mind, is our athletic programs. And so we are forging our students access with state-of-the-art facilities is one, but it’s also looking at life outside of the professional arena. As young youth, they aspire to play professionally, whatever that sport is, but understanding that not everyone’s going to get drafted right out of high school, but it’s how do we get our students to college? That’s a big piece for us. What is their interest outside of them loving football or loving to play baseball? And so one of the things that we’ve done in conversation with our partnerships is one, giving our students the opportunity to engage in panel conversations, to be able to meet individuals in the field of sports entertainment, whether you want to become a recruiter, a journalist in the space of sports, connecting with LA Times.

And so allowing them to be in spaces, executive spaces of different career pathways for them to be able to envision themselves in those spaces. But to that piece as well is a lot of our students don’t have the monetary means to even get themselves into college. So now you’re forging these other relationships with our local college institutions. And a lot of that, one of the barriers that we come across is financially they can’t afford. And so our students are then able to partake in internship opportunities or as a result being some athletes with really great grades, a lot of our partnerships offset that through scholarship opportunities or even participating in events. They walk away with scholarship opportunities. And our students, the largest sponsorship, or not sponsorship, scholarship, if I remember correctly, was about $50,000 that they were able to use towards college.

But we’ve also forged other relationships through our Historic Black College Foundation, and we bring historic Black colleges to our schools where our students are getting on the spot, full-ride scholarships to these four-year college and universities at these historic Black colleges across our nation. And so it’s multifaceted, to be honest with you. It’s just looking at how are we able to support our student through the whole community, the whole family, the whole child approach, which I could also kind of dive deeper into how does that help or how do we navigate those spaces of our families? We need to make sure that we’re educating our families of how they can support their child as they venture onto that next chapter in their lives.

Nakanya Magby:

Correct. Very good. Thank you so much for that. And so in closing, what’s one key takeaway that attendees can take with them to support partner development as our final question?

Jessica Ochoa:

No, absolutely. For me, it’s don’t be afraid to bring a seat to the table. We can’t wait for a partner to reach out to the school district to say, “Hey, we want to partner with you.” If there is an organization that you feel would be a great benefit to your school district or to the program in which you serve, reach out, seek that individual that you can have that conversation with is really, really, really going to be really important. As shared, your network will continue to build and refine, but we all have a starting point. And so for me, what I’ve done is I reach out, I go to these events and begin to network. I begin to introduce myself, share with them what my role is in hopes that at least I can walk away with one number that I am able to follow up on an email or on a call and see where that conversation goes.

Nakanya Magby:

Makes sense. Thank you so much, Jessica. This has been awesome. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to see inside of the work that is happening at Inglewood Unified School District. We are so appreciative of your time and sharing this rich content with us.

Jessica Ochoa:

Thank you.

Nakanya Magby:

And then again, we’d like to thank Jessica so much for sharing, and we thank you all for joining us today, and we’ll see you all soon.