![By: Abigail Habib, Inland Valley News Despite being one of California’s fastest-growing regions, and consequently one with significant economic promise, and leading the state in high school graduation rates, the Inland Empire has continued to lag behind in college attendance and graduation rates—50.7% and 26.2% respectively in comparison to state averages of 56.8% and 35.1%, according to data from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). Data from the 2020 U.S. Census reveal that African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans make up 57% of the Inland Empire’s rapidly growing population. Additionally, 22.3% of its 4.7 million residents were born abroad, 1.5 times the average number of foreign-born residents across the United States, accounting for the “information gap” regarding educational attainment in the area. In August of 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom first issued the “Freedom to Succeed” executive order. In what was also known as the Master Plan for Career Education, Newsom proposed to create a more inclusive workforce, “prioritiz[ing] hands-on learning and real-life skills.” The plan aimed to “align education, training, and hiring needs” by fostering a streamlined approach to collaboration to increase the accessibility and affordability of higher education and create pathways from the high school and college level towards “career-sustaining jobs” for all Californians. However, the plan Newsom has laid out—including a “career passport,” which would present verified information on a prospective employee’s academic transcripts and professional experience with the hopes of speeding up hiring processes—and the three new budget proposals for this year would cost approximately $105 million dollars if approved by the Legislature. The plan has also received significant criticism—including from Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, the chair of the Assembly Education Committee, who claimed the governor’s plan is “missing an opportunity for significant reform.” Data from the PPIC demonstrate a lack of trends regarding education levels among racial and socioeconomic groups but that these trends exist within individual school districts, pointing to the necessity of change within district policy. The Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) is pioneering one such program. Last fall, it piloted direct admissions to ten California State University (CSU) campuses for approximately 12,000 eligible high school seniors. These acceptances were based on data sent directly to the CSU, requiring no essays or letters of recommendation and waiving one application fee. Seeking to help students who will be the first in their family to attend college and those from low-income backgrounds, the program hopes to “provide every high school student with opportunities to engage with higher education,” according to a press release by the RCOE.](https://inlandvalleynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Gov.-Newsom-and-Riverside-County-Schools-Push-for-Career-Readiness-in-the-Inland-Empire-.jpg)
By: Abigail Habib, Inland Valley News Despite being one of California’s fastest-growing regions, and consequently one with significant economic promise, and leading the state
A bill aiming to protect the personal information of elected officials and candidates is on its way to the Senate Standing Committee on Appropriations. Assembly
By: Stacy M. Brown, Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent Washington, D.C. — Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the actor best known for his role as Theo Huxtable
By: Edward Henderson, California Black Media As the California Legislature heads into summer recess, California Black Media lists five bills Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last
Former California’s 63rd District’s Assemblymember Bill Essayli Article By: Abigail Habib, IVN After being appointed U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California by
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