California Newcomer Education and Well-Being

Program Components

Grantees hire linguistically and culturally responsive staff to support the following program components: connections for basic needs support, family engagement and empowerment, and youth engagement and development.

Connections for Basic Needs Support: connect families with resources and services to address critical basic needs, such as food, housing, and health care, to support family stability and well-being. Allowable activities include:

• Resource mapping;
• Partnerships with local organizations to assist in addressing basic needs including physical and mental health, housing, food, transportation, and childcare, etc.;
• Partnerships and outreach to increase access to public benefits; and
• Partnerships with legal immigration service providers to conduct on-site outreach for the CalNEW program.

Family Engagement and Empowerment:  Integrate parents into the school community and equip them with the resources, information, and capacity to partner with schools in supporting their children’s education.  Allowable services and activities include:

• Individualized support to immigrant families;
• School events focused on engaging, informing, and supporting immigrant families;
• Parent workshops to introduce immigrant families to leadership opportunities and inform them of available feedback; and
• Targeted parent education such as digital literacy, early literacy, English as a Second Language, and citizenship classes.

Youth Engagement and Development:  Support the academic, linguistic, and socioemotional growth of students and build pathways to postsecondary success. Allowable activities include:

• Academic enrichment, including out of school time and summer programs;
• Civic engagement activities (i.e., newcomer leadership councils), leadership development, support groups, extracurriculars, and athletics; and
• College and career counseling and preparation programs

Grantees

In State Fiscal Year 2024-25, the Department received an appropriation of $6.9 Million for the CalNEW program. There are 20 school districts and one County Office of Education in the CalNEW community of care. See the table below for a list of grantees.