Bridging the Gaps for Students in the Salinas Valley - Cross-System Efforts to Increase College Readiness - Brief

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob

Bridging the Gaps for Students in the Salinas Valley examines how a cross-system education partnership improves college readiness for a broad range of students. It describes regional context: high poverty, low educational attainment, and workforce demand shifting toward skilled employment. The brief explains the 2016 Bridging the Gap initiative, funded by The James Irvine Foundation, and outlines partners’ shared practices and values, supported by interviews, focus groups, and education insights from multiple organizations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Regional context and student needs

The Bridging the Gap (BtG) initiative

History and partnership structure

Leadership and key partners

Student demographics and serving population

Shared practices and values

Bridging the Gaps for Students in the Salinas Valley: Cross-System Efforts to Increase College Readiness June 2019 Thad Nodine Laura Jaeger Kathy Reeves Bracco A Series of Briefs from Bridging the Gap (BtG) This brief is part of a series that also includes Bridging the Gaps for Students in Long Beach: Cross-System Efforts to Institutionalize Dual Enrollment and Bridging the Gaps through Crosssystem Education Partnerships: Principles of Practice from Long Beach and the Salinas Valley. The collaborations in Long Beach and the Salinas Valley were implemented through Bridging the Gap (BtG), an initiative funded by The James Irvine Foundation. The Salinas Valley is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. Most of the salad greens grown in the United States, along with many other crops, are cultivated along this fluvial valley floor. The basin extends about 70 miles and is dotted with towns spawned by agriculture, from King City in the south to Castroville in the north, near where the Salinas Riverspills into Monterey Bay. The City of Salinas is the county seat for Monterey County and used tobe one of the most prosperous cities in the nation, with the highest per capita income in 1924. Like many farming communities in California, Salinas Valley’s residents now face high rates of poverty and have low levels of educational attainment, compared with state averages. About 43% of adults have less than a high school diploma, and over two-thirds of families speak a language other than English at home.1 The valley’s agriculture industry, meanwhile, is transforming itself into a high-tech enterprise and faces shortages of skilled labor and college graduates to fill career positions. Tourism offers minimum-wage opportunities, but the major industries offering well-paying salaries, including the health field and education institutions, depend on an educated labor force. In a land of bounty, many young people find themselves unqualified for the kinds of jobs that can support a family. “Don’t think college is the same as going to high school. The workload is a lot more than I expected it to be. It’s just really hard.” —College student In light of these region-wide challenges, a group of public education institutions throughout the Salinas Valley came together in 2016 to help more youth in the valley prepare for and succeed in college. They applied for and joined Bridging the Gap (BtG), an initiative funded by The James Irvine Foundation to build and strengthen student transitions from high school to college, particularly for nontraditional college students. In this brief, we draw from interviews with faculty, staff, and administrators, as well as with student focus groups , in order to answer the following question for those interested in strengthening or developing a cross-system education partnership in their communities: How has a relatively young education partnership worked across systems to improve college readiness for broad populations of students? Bridging the Gaps for Students in the Salinas Valley: Cross-System Efforts to Increase College Readiness EDUCATION INSIGHTS CENTER AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO 2 For the Salinas Valley partners, the answer to this question extends beyond a set of programs to implement and improve under the BtG initiative. To achieve their aims, the BtG partners developed common practices and values informed by student and community voices, rooted in the communities the partners serve, and driven by an intentional and sequential approach to change (see A Common Set of Practices and Values in the Salinas Valley on page 7) . History and Context The BtG partnership in the Salinas Valley drew from several previous regional collaborations, but it also broke fresh ground in spanning the 70-mile length of the valley. The BtG team is led by Hartnell College (Hartnell), a community college in the city of Salinas. Hartnell is joined by the region’s pu

FAQs

What regional challenges does the Salinas Valley partnership address?

The brief highlights high poverty and low educational attainment, along with many families speaking a language other than English at home. It also notes workforce shortages and that major high-paying industries require college-prepared labor.

What is Bridging the Gap (BtG) and when was it implemented in the Salinas Valley?

In the Salinas Valley, partners joined Bridging the Gap in 2016. The initiative is funded by The James Irvine Foundation and focuses on strengthening student transitions from high school to college, especially for nontraditional college students.

How was information gathered for this brief?

The brief draws on interviews with faculty, staff, and administrators, as well as student focus groups. These inputs support answering how a young education partnership can work across systems to improve college readiness.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob