California celebrates five years helping students and families plan for school and career through Cradle-to-Career

What you need to know: Five years after it was established under the Newsom Administration, California's Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System is helping students, families, educators, and policymakers better understand the path from school to career. By securely connecting information across education, financial aid, workforce training, and employment, C2C gives Californians better tools to make informed decisions about their futures, while helping the state strengthen its workforce and economy.

SACRAMENTO - Governor Gavin Newsom today celebrated thefive-year anniversary of California's Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System, a first-in-the-nation initiative established under his administration to better connect education, workforce training, and employment.

Since its creation in 2021, C2C has become a cornerstone of the Governor's effort to strengthen California's education-to-workforce pipeline - giving students and families better information to plan for the future, while helping educators and state leaders identify ways to expand opportunity and prepare the workforce California needs.

"Five years ago, we set out to better connect education with opportunity. Today, California's Cradle-to-Career Data System is helping students and families make informed decisions about school and careers, while giving us better tools to strengthen our workforce. This is about making opportunity more transparent, more equitable, and more accessible for every Californian."

Governor Gavin Newsom

Since taking office, Governor Newsom has made expanding educational opportunity, increasing college affordability, strengthening career education, and preparing Californians for good-paying jobs central priorities of his administration. This effort supportsGovernor Newsom's Executive Order N-30-25, which directs state departments to build a more efficient, effective, and engaged government.

"The Cradle-to-Career team has done incredible work over the last five years," said Government Operations Agency Secretary Nick Maduros. "Through their efforts, we're finally able to use state data to answer questions that were previously unknowable. Along the way, they've also helped connect California students to millions of dollars in additional aid. And they're just getting started."

"Five years ago, California committed to a bold vision of putting data insights into the hands of people across the state. We worked hard to connect information that was previously locked in silos. Now the information shows a connected picture: from TK through higher education, and from workforce training to jobs and opportunity," said Cradle-to-Career Executive Director Mary Ann Bates. "We committed to listen first, then build. Every data tool we have built relied on ideas from people across the state. And that's our vision for the next phase of C2C: A data system built by and for Californians."

Helping students access millions in available financial aid

Working with the ScholarShare Investment Board and the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, C2C identified 40,000 community college students eligible for more than $20 million in unclaimed scholarship funds.

Local colleges can now use that information to reach students directly and help them claim financial aid that can make college more affordable.

From separate systems to one connected one

Before C2C, information about education, financial aid, workforce training, and employment lived in separate state systems. Today, that information is securely connected, making it easier to answer questions that matter to students and families, including:

• How do students transition into and through higher education?
• Who enrolls in college? What types of degrees do students earn?
• How long does it take students to graduate?
• How much do working students earn while enrolled in college?
• What do graduates earn once they enter the workforce?

A first-of-its-kind Student Pathways Dashboard

In 2025, C2C launched the Student Pathways Dashboard, giving students, families, counselors, and educators access to information that helps answer real-life questions about college and careers.

Since launch, Californians have visited the dashboard to explore:

• College enrollment and completion
• Time to earn a degree
• Student earnings while enrolled
• Earnings after graduation
• Different pathways from education to employment

Built by and for Californians

C2C was designed alongside students, families, educators, researchers, and community organizations. From its logo to its public dashboards and engagement strategy, Californians helped shape the system to ensure it reflects the needs of the people who use it.

Largest expansion plan of data system set in motion

C2C is now expanding through partnerships with the California Workforce Development Board, Employment Training Panel, and Employment Development Department.

By adding more workforce and training information, the system will help California better understand how people move between education, training, and employment, giving state leaders stronger tools to improve workforce programs and meet the state's economic needs.

What's ahead

C2C'snew strategic plan continues the Newsom Administration's commitment to strengthening California's education-to-workforce pipeline.

In the coming years, the system will:

• Launch new dashboards that follow students transferring from community colleges to four-year universities.
• Provide new insights into California's teacher workforce.
• Expand secure access for researchers.
• Show which education and training pathways lead to jobs and long-term opportunity.

Together, these efforts will give students, families, educators, researchers, policymakers, and communities better information to make decisions that strengthen California's future and ensure the state's workforce remains competitive.

The Cradle-to-Career Data System is California's official source of linked statewide information on how education and employment shape opportunity and well-being. It connects information across early education, TK-12 schools, higher education, financial aid, workforce training, and employment to help Californians make informed decisions and help the state build stronger pathways to opportunity. Learn more at c2c.ca.gov.