Over the holiday season, at one of the celebrations I attended, someone asked me what I do for work. I said, “Social impact and education advocacy.” Their response was quick: “You all must be feeling pretty beat up after this year.” They weren’t wrong to notice the twists and turns and the aggressive rollbacks of programs, initiatives, and investments that have supported a more just and equitable education system. But my answer surprised them: “Actually, no. Because advocacy works, even now.” That idea has been on my mind a lot lately, and we have been talking about it at EdTrust-West over the past year. As we start 2026 and EdTrust-West’s 25th anniversary year, it is even more top of mind.
Our job as advocates is often to point out what’s not working. To raise awareness and drive action on issues that need attention, and to bring people together to tackle them. Our work is finding solutions. And yet, often once we find one, we’re onto the next. We’re at the next community meeting, strategizing around the next urgently needed solution. We don’t always take a moment to acknowledge that our efforts work. That partnering across communities, around the state, leads us to tangible changes in policies and practices that end up changing lives.
Toward the end of last year, two reports highlighted the life-changing impact of policies championed by EdTrust-West. These two new approaches—one focused on college student financial aid and the other on strengthening the teacher workforce—began as ideas, were developed in collaboration with communities and coalitions EdTrust-West leads and partners with, and ultimately became law in California.
“An increase of almost 1,500 additional students enrolling in college,” according to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). That’s the impact of California’s legislation to require all public high schools to help students fill out a financial aid application before they graduate. $500 million in student aid that could help students go to college was being left on the table in California. In just a few short years, the fruits of the #Allin4FinancialAid campaign we led—and the policy we championed, developed in collaboration with our community partners in Southern California, Val Verde Unified School District, and BLU Education Foundation—have resulted in not only more students applying for financial aid, but also more underserved students going to college. Advocacy works.
“The Golden State Teacher Grant Program has been critical for enabling tens of thousands of educators to enter the profession with fewer loans and to serve in high-need schools and subject areas,” says the Learning Policy Institute (LPI). Only a few years ago, the news headlines about California’s severe teacher shortage painted a dire picture. And educators that EdTrust-West talked with shared their thoughts had an idea about how to attract more teachers, specifically more teachers of color, more teachers to teach in schools that need them most—by easing one of the biggest barriers of teacher credential programs. The recently released LPI report says their findings of the program’s positive impact on California’s teacher pipeline are, and I quote, “overwhelming.” Advocacy works.
I’m humbled and proud to know the backstories of both of these efforts. I remember the impromptu strategy sessions with partners in hallways in between meetings when EdTrust-West launched the All in for Financial Aid campaign in 2019. I remember mobilizing partners and writing support letters for Assembly Bill 1623 in 2019, the original proposal for the Golden State Teacher Grant that would go on to be included in the governor’s budget that year. And I remember seeing EdTrust-West’s STEM Teacher Drought report, which recommended prioritizing financial assistance for teacher candidates that teach in hard-to-staff schools, being cited in the bill analysis for that very proposal.
I’m a researcher by training. I know numbers. What’s so powerful to me about those numbers cited by LPI and PPIC is that they represent real Californians. People whose lives are markedly changed by the work we’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of, in partnership with many of you. The work EdTrust-West is proud to lead on. The work so many of you reading this have championed and worked for. These wins are collective wins. Part of what makes advocacy work is collective action.
This year, EdTrust-West is celebrating our 25th anniversary. We’ve spent 25 years being courageous in our leadership, having the unapologetic audacity to believe—to know—that education policy change does, in fact, change lives. That advocacy works. Throughout 2026, we’re going to highlight more of these examples of courageous leadership and more stories of when advocacy works. And just like those wins, this is a collective 25 years. We couldn’t do this alone, and we’re stronger in community with you.
We should not shy away from advocacy just because it’s hard. In fact, we should lean in and push harder, because when done well and in coordination with committed partners, we can win. And we have.
In the coming year, we hope to extend evidence from these advocacy wins and see community colleges resourced so that we can help more college students complete financial aid applications as well, and see funding for the Golden State Teacher Grant Program made permanent. I hope you’ll join us as we push for these policy changes.
So I’ll close out with a final invitation—come celebrate with us. Ed Equity Forum 2026: The Courage of Our Convictions is in San Diego, September 22-24. We’ll have the engaging breakout sessions and networking time as always, but we’re leveling up the joy and connection this year to help us mark our big milestone. I hope to see you there in the fall and around the state in the months to come.
Onward, together.
