We are honored to share Becoming an Ecosystem, California’s Expanded Learning Strategic Plan 3.0, and the five Strategic Priorities that will guide how people, programs, and partners steward this work together.

Becoming an Ecosystem builds on A Vision for Expanded Learning in California and Strategic Plans 1.0 and 2.0, advancing the next phase of California’s statewide commitment to Expanded Learning. Co-hosted by the Expanded Learning Division of the California Department of Education and California AfterSchool Network, it is a strategic direction for how people, programs, and partners steward the Expanded Learning ecosystem together. It is grounded in today’s context and designed to evolve.

This work grew out of a design process that was centered on relationships and adapted as it unfolded. Partners across Expanded Learning and the cross-sector ecosystem serving young people gathered for shared listening. They shaped what they heard into priorities and built ways to work together with integrity.

Those priorities are now ready to share, and we invite you to read them as a compass. Each one names a Universal Goal for all young people, families, and communities, and a Strategic Intention that describes how Expanded Learning can begin to move toward that goal by year three.

Youth, Family, and Community Voice + Power

Universal Goal

All young people, families, and communities belong in spaces where they share power to create opportunities and environments that reflect their identities and lived experiences.

Strategic Intention

By year 3, Expanded Learning systems will shift from input-based engagement to shared decision-making by establishing structures where youth, families, and community members co-design, lead, and hold accountability for programs, policies, and funding priorities at local and statewide levels.

Thriving Workforce and Conditions for Care

Universal Goal

All young people are supported by a thriving and well-resourced workforce that is valued, equitably compensated, and recognized as essential, where care practitioners of the broader youth-serving ecosystem have the conditions, skills, and support to show up fully for those they serve.

Strategic Intention

By year 3, Expanded Learning systems will cultivate a thriving, well-resourced Expanded Learning workforce by establishing career pathways, investing in continuous professional learning, and advocating for compensation and working conditions that honor out-of-school-time practitioners’ critical role in young people’s lives.

Healing-Centered, Culturally Rooted Programs

Universal Goal

All young people experience high-quality, healing-centered, and culturally rooted programs and experiences that are meaningful, inclusive, and responsive to who they are and where they come from.

Strategic Intention

By year 3, Expanded Learning programs will center healing and culturally-sustaining practices by developing shared quality frameworks co-created with communities, investing in trauma-informed practices at the site level, and ensuring program content celebrates the identities and strengths of the young people served.

Collaborative Partnerships & Community Systems

Universal Goal

All young people, families, and communities have coordinated, compassionate, and culturally responsive support wherever they are, in programs, schools, and communities, grounded in authentic partnership.

Strategic Intention

By year 3, Expanded Learning systems will bridge gaps between schools, community-based organizations, and families by formalizing cross-sector partnerships, co-locating aligned services at program sites, and establishing shared data and referral protocols.

Policy, Funding, and Systems Alignment

Universal Goal

All young people, families, communities, and the workforce that serves them are sustained by a fully resourced, equity-driven youth-serving ecosystem where California’s policy environment removes barriers, aligns cross-system partnerships, and cultivates conditions for collaboration accountable to those most impacted.

Strategic Intention

By year 3, the Expanded Learning ecosystem will advance policy and funding alignment by developing transparent investment frameworks, establishing cross-agency coordination, and building public accountability structures that demonstrate how resources reach those with the highest need.