Committed Responsible Members

The Alliance partnerships are in every case led by individuals with a great deal of commitment. That commitment is linked to the inspirational visions of the partnerships which focus on educational success for young people and educational equity for all students regardless of race, ethnicity, economic background or other characteristics. The City Heights project in San Diego is led by individuals who are passionate about revitalizing an area that had been the poorest and lowest academically performing in the city. The leaders of the Santa Ana partnership are passionate about academic achievement for the largely Latino students in that city. One particularly impressive aspect of the Kern County partnership is the committed, hands-on leadership from the chief executives of the participating university, community college and school districts. In Long Beach, the partnership has weathered several changes of top leadership from each of the participating educational institutions and some changes in other key positions because of the steady commitment of a core of local leaders.

All of the partnerships have commitment from the very top of the participating institutions. University and community college presidents and school district superintendents and principals are active leaders in most of these partnerships. Deans, associate and assistant deans, assistant superintendents, and vice principals are active workers in all of these partnerships. The Alliance partnerships are not small projects in the educational communities where they exist but are central initiatives not only endorsed by, but actively promoted and supported by top leadership. In some cases, chief executives are hands-on leaders of partnership activities, as in Kern County.