SACRAMENTO – California's Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System is celebrating its five-year anniversary, marking a significant milestone in connecting education, workforce training, and employment data to empower students, families, and policymakers across the state. Established under Governor Gavin Newsom's administration in 2021, C2C provides a unified platform to help Californians make informed decisions about their futures and strengthen the state's economy.
Governor Newsom emphasized the system's impact, saying, "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." The initiative aligns with the Governor's priorities of expanding educational opportunity, increasing college affordability, and preparing residents for good-paying jobs.
A key achievement of C2C includes identifying 40,000 community college students eligible for over $20 million in unclaimed scholarship funds, working with the ScholarShare Investment Board and the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office. This information now enables local colleges to directly assist students in claiming vital financial aid. Government Operations Agency Secretary Nick Maduros noted, "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."
Before C2C, critical information regarding education, financial aid, workforce training, and employment was fragmented across separate state systems. The C2C system securely connects this data, offering insights into student pathways, college enrollment and completion rates, earnings during and after college, and transitions from education to employment. In 2025, C2C launched the Student Pathways Dashboard, providing public access to these valuable insights.
Cradle-to-Career Executive Director Mary Ann Bates highlighted the collaborative development, stating, “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.” The system is set for further expansion through partnerships with the California Workforce Development Board, Employment Training Panel, and Employment Development Department, aiming to provide deeper understanding of movement between education, training, and employment. Future plans include new dashboards for community college transfers, insights into the teacher workforce, and expanded researcher access, all designed to strengthen California's future workforce competitiveness.