By: Cintia Lopez-Montes
With a packed agenda, Cradle-to-Career’s first Governing Board Meeting of 2026 covered a broad range of topics. From acknowledging C2C’s 2025 accomplishments to discussing C2C’s future operations and strategic planning process; there was no shortage of decisions and topics discussed. The Board also heard presentations about learning agendas, the CalKIDS data project, and an update from a data provider, the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC). Lastly, the Board voted to amend C2C’s Governance Manual, paving the way to onboard new Advisory Board members on a three-year cadence instead of annually.
The C2C Governing Board meeting was held on February 25, and the Board welcomed a new member, California State Senator Chrisopher Cabaldon, who was represented by his designee, Tobias Uptain-Villa.
Updates from Board Chair and Executive Director
C2C Governing Board Chair, Gavin Payne, began his remarks by thanking the members who served on the Executive Director Review Committee with him. Chair Payne promoted Executive Director Mary Ann Bates’ recent speaking engagements, including appearing on Member Su Jin Jez and the California Competes’ “Degrees of Change” podcast. Additionally, Member Thomas Vu invited Director Bates to the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities’ (AICCU) board meeting as part of its outreach efforts to encourage AICCU organizations to participate in the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) data sharing agreement.
Chair Payne highlighted some of C2C’s wins from 2025, which included our series of Workforce Data Expansion Task Force meetings, the release of our Student Pathways Dashboard, how C2C served as an incubator to bridge the knowledge gaps between three data providers, the ScholarShare Investment Board (SIB), the California Department of Education (CDE), and the California Community Colleges (CCCCO). C2C’s role as an incubator on the CalKIDS project enabled three previously siloed data providers to efficiently partner on a data sharing solution, reducing the need for multiple legal agreements and making it easier for students to access their scholarship funds available to them.
Chair Payne officially introduced the C2C Forward Foundation, an initiative to help C2C expand its capacity.
“C2C Forward will allow us to collect philanthropic dollars to be able to advance the work of C2C. I’m very happy about the prospects of that going forward.”
-Chair Payne
Director Bates reflected on C2C’s accomplishments in 2025, focusing on the release of the Student Pathways Dashboard and its use by the public, including the Public Policy Institute of California and The HEA Group Data, which have both used our data in various visualizations.
“I just want to express appreciation to you and the entire team. C2C and the work that is being produced is really changing the dynamics of the way that we work in California. In segments, in systems. I want to appreciate and acknowledge that. That is a testament to how much has been done.”
-Member Nathan Evans in his response to Director Bates’ 2025 reflections
Presentation on Learning Agendas
New Practice Lab Chief of Staff Amira Boland joined us virtually to talk about how learning agendas can help in understanding and structuring what type of effort is needed and where it is needed. Learning agendas can spur research that identifies which approaches work, why, and for whom, so those lessons can be applied across contexts to improve outcomes.
Boland shared that learning agendas are a great tool to help in the decision-making process, and can help you understand and structure the type of effort that is needed to reach strategic goals.
“It helped us to bridge silos across multiple agencies because then they could align research dollars and obviously federal agencies even still have very large um research budgets that they’re allocating and that it also helped to catalyze innovation beyond the federal government. We had researchers, practitioners, state, tribal, territorial and local leaders across the country piloting and testing innovations and generating evidence to better serve their communities.”
-Amira Boland
CalKIDS Data Project
C2C’s Director of Data Programs, Ryan Estrellado, and ScholarShare Investment Board (SIB) Executive Director, Cassandra DiBenedetto, presented on how C2C is working across silos to help C2C’s data partners — SIB, CDE, and CCCCO — reach students who have available scholarship funds.
SIB data on its own includes students who have unclaimed accounts, but not where the students go to college. Colleges know which students are enrolled, but not which students have unclaimed accounts. C2C was able to link data between 3 entities and prepare outbound files that would be used to help current CC students claim their unused funds.
“This is government efficiency and effectiveness in action where state leaders come together to bring new solutions and strategies to better serve the California public.”
-Ryan Estrellado
Approval of Governance Manual Amendments
The Governance Manual Review Committee convened over the winter to make amendments to C2C’s Governance Manual. The Board deliberated on the amendments during the February 2026 Board meeting.
During agenda eight, Vice-Chair Robert Tagorda led a discussion on updating the C2C Governance Manual. While the Committee incorporated many corrections related to typographical errors, the main topic of interest was the recruitment cycle of Advisory Board members. Under the proposed amendments, C2C’s Advisory Board application process would take place on a three-year cadence instead of annually. This change is aimed at improving efficiencies and strengthening knowledge and connections.
“The annual selection, combined with on-boarding and off-boarding activities, represent a significant workload for both the Board and the Office. By moving to a one every three years cycle, not only would we streamline the process, but we would also create an opportunity for the Advisory Boards to form stronger professional bonds and connections.”
-Vice-Chair Tagorda
The Board voted to approve the Committee’s amendments. The next cycle for recruiting new Advisory Board members will take place in 2028.