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Hello, and thanks for joining us for sustaining us here on KPBS.

I'm David Huizar.

What is a good education worth these days?

In this case, the academic skills that can empower our youth to succeed here in the U.S. and have the opportunity for a good future.

Often this can begin with a good high school curriculum, then a two or four year college degree, or an even more ambitious goal of higher ed.

For some, this formula is easy to achieve.

For others, there are obstacles and challenges that can prevent youngsters from getting the education they deserve.

However, what if there were a new type of school that gave everybody, all students from all backgrounds and all walks of life a new opportunity to succeed no matter what their zip code or their socioeconomic status?

And that is where we begin our broadcast.

This is the intersection of Vermont and Manchester in South Los Angeles, an intersection with a complicated history.

In 1992, after the Rodney King verdict, thousands of angry residents took to the streets in what is commonly known as the L.A. riots.

Well, decades later, parts of this south L.A. neighborhood are still somewhat of a wasteland.

Abandoned stores, empty lots, blighted streets and sidewalks.

Over the years, many real estate developers, business interests, companies, they ignored this neglected area.

A lot of promises that ultimately never really materialized.

Well, some of that is about to change.

Or at least on Vermont and Manchester.

A new school is being built out here.

Not just any school.

This is going to be seed L.A., an urban public boarding school like never witnessed before in Southern California, a college preparatory curriculum based upon things like science, technology, engineering, the arts, mathematics, transportation, the humanities, and the life skills.

A boarding school for a community of kids that might otherwise not have had this option.

See, L.A. is just the fourth school of its kind in the nation to be part of this unique and innovative education project.

Joining the Seed School of Washington, D.C., the Seed School of Maryland and the Seed School of Miami.

This is a public school 100% free.

The money for seed L.A. is courtesy of a public private partnership that includes some very generous philanthropists.

Tax credits, help from L.A. Metro, the city of L.A. and the county of Los Angeles.

SEED is an acronym for Schools for Educational Evolution and Development.

400 students beginning in ninth grade are going to eventually live here on campus five days a week in a 24 hour learning environment.

L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell helped bring seed to Los Angeles.

My predecessor actually began the process of looking at what it would look like to have a publicly funded public private partnership, if you will, for a boarding school right in the middle of South L.A., a boarding school that would help train our future leaders in STEM and technology, in transportation, in the humanities and a boarding school.

Unlike as a West Coast girl born and raised, wasn't really, truly available to all, including kids in L.A. County who may be systems actually either touched by our juvenile detention system, our child welfare services, our foster care system, or if they have a parent who's been system set.

So that's a population, I think, that you don't think who don't believe that they really have access to a boarding school education.

Mitchell represents the Second Supervisory District of Los Angeles and several parts of unincorporated L.A. County.

Supervisor Mitchell says her district is kind of a microcosm of the landscape of California, with what she says is one of the most diverse electoral and socioeconomic districts in the entire U.S..

Supervisor Mitchell knew this was a community that desperately needed an education option like the Seed school.

I was also taken by really the focus of see in terms of the kinds of students that they are nurturing, the kinds of families that are attracted to their model of boarding school education.

And so it's a unique space in South L.A.

The actual footprint where the campus will be has has interesting history.

For Angelinos, it's it's an intersection that was directly impacted by the 1992 uprising.

It's an intersection that has been vacant since then.

So it's a constant reminder of a sense of loss in our community.

It's a piece of property that the community has been promised over and over again was going to be an asset.

And there have been ribbon cuttings and promises that were unkept.

So to think about that physical land and what this amazing new benefit will be, I think will say a lot to the residents of South Los Angeles, that it is going to become a space, a nurturing space for all of L.A. County's kids to be able to see their way to a future.

Sofia Echevarria has found a way to her future.

After a road well traveled, Sofia spent much of her childhood in crime ridden Washington, D.C., in the nineties, where much of the D.C. school system ranked near lowest in the nation.

And yet, Sofia eventually graduated from seed Washington, D.C.. She talks about her journey.

It wasn't until I was maybe six years old, five or six years old that I began to realize that my parents didn't have a good marriage.

And a lot later, I learned that my father was still dealing with addiction with crack.

And that's something that my parents fought over.

And it caused a lot of strife in their relationship, and it ended up winning over into our family lives.

When Sofia was in the sixth grade, her life was about to dramatically change for the better.

We had a visitor.

We had two visitors come to my elementary school, West Elementary School, in Washington, D.C. and they told us that they were starting a new school and that it was going to be the first public charter boarding school in the country.

And I didn't really know what a charter school was, but I knew what a boarding school was.

However, after Sofia's mom learned more about the program and even attended an information session with a seed school, she was convinced this was the best decision for Sofia to be part of this new and innovative seed program.

Although there was now the process of being selected.

Then there was a lottery later that year.

This was back in 1998 and I think I was number 13 in the lottery.

And my number got for.

The luckiest number in the world for Sofia.

Her life changed forever.

And most critical in all this was the idea instilled into Sofia and her classmates that higher education was the probability.

The biggest change I saw in myself while attending seed was that so?

None of my immediate family had gone to college or university or kind of really completed any education past high school.

And it's not that I didn't think I couldn't go to college.

It was more so that I began to feel like I'm supposed to go to college.

A goal realized this once troubled inner city girl from the tough streets of Washington, D.C.. Now an amazing young woman was accepted to one of the best universities in the nation, Princeton.

Today, I am the alumni representative to the board of the Seed School of Los Angeles, and it's the inaugural board.

And I, I really feel like everything has come full circle.

And I'm so glad to take all of my experiences that I had as a student when I was at Seed, when I was younger.

And to have those experiences mean something that constructs an even better experience for this crop of students.

Ruth Stanford is the chair of the Seed School of Los Angeles County Board of Directors.

Everyone understands academics, right?

You know, everyone understands math, English, science, all of those kinds of things.

But to really reach your potential, you need to be able to fire on all cylinders.

And that's what life skills are.

Ruth says she had heard about this great program in Washington, D.C., the nation's first urban public boarding school.

So there is a robust program around restorative justice, around resolving conflict, which is very, very important.

And also just being able to have informed discourse.

Right.

And to be able to sort of dial back some of the temperature that is out there.

Right.

So that we can discuss things in a way that allows us to actually solve problems.

Seed definitely invested in Sofia.

Regardless of the circumstances that we may have been born into.

We have every right.

It's a possibility.

You deserve a chance.

You deserve an opportunity to see how far you can go.

So why not take advantage of as many resources as you can?

To see what you can do with yourself.

And joining me now to discuss this further is Leslie Paul.

Leslie is a CEO of the Seed Foundation.

Also joining our panel is Stephanie Wiggins.

Stephanie is the CEO of LA Metro.

Thank you so much, both of you, for being here.

It's an honor.

Thank you, David.

Thanks for having us.

Thank you.

Stephanie, let's begin with you.

Two part question.

First, talk about L.A. Metro, exactly what L.A. Metro does.

Your busses are everywhere.

Your rail is everywhere.

The subway is everywhere.

And then, obviously, what is the transportation Agency?

What is L.A. Metro doing involved with seed?

Sir.

Thank you, David.

We are a planner, designer, builder and operator for the country's largest, most populous county in the United States.

We have bus and rail, as you've mentioned.

We have regional bike share and express lanes among other services.

And we serve more than 10 million people.

Nearly one fourth of California's residents are in L.A. County and they live and work and play within our service area.

So why we are involved with seed, it really has to do with workforce development and a pipeline.

The transit industry as a whole has been experiencing this shortage of highly skilled workers.

In addition to, you know, we experienced the silver tsunami.

We have a number of employees for retirement age.

We have a unique opportunity partnering with the County of Los Angeles and the Seed Foundation to really be part of exposing providing awareness intentionally about transit, careers, transportation, careers for the community of L.A., which is really an incredible program that really helps create and develop students to be prepared for college.

And we have a number of career opportunities at Metro that we want to expose them to.

And Stephanie, another part of that question, because obviously there are many seed partners, there's sort of this public private partnership.

I had talked a bit about it in our field report.

Can you just talk a little bit more about some of the partners that you work with?

Well, infrastructure is really a global issue and there is a ground transportation, public transportation, which is within our area of focus.

But there are other aspects of infrastructure that we work with that we have an opportunity as we focus on STEM education and awareness about infrastructure roles because it's a it's a global issue.

So we work with partners, obviously in L.A. County, County of Public Works, We work at the federal level with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

We work at the state level with Caltrans in particular, as well as the California Transportation Commission.

But we also work with private sector industry.

So private sector companies and firms that are in the engineering discipline, they're in the construction discipline, they're in the architectural disciplines.

So there are a number of partners in infrastructure that we work with on a daily basis.

And talking about partners, Leslie, you have many partners, including L.A. Metro, with see talk about some of that public private collaboration.

Yeah.

You know, I think that the Seed School of Los Angeles is an it was an excellent example of it takes a village, right?

So I think we typically use that phrase when we're talking about it takes a village with children, but it takes a village to raise a seed school.

And so I think that there are both the philanthropic community.

And when I look across the Los Angeles landscape, has been a tremendous partner.

I think community based organizations, they have been a tremendous partner.

I just think individual organizations within the community, the county of Los Angeles, like like that, the success of Seed really is it's a it's a shared success.

We the foundation, has the privilege of actually being the operator and partnering with the local board to run this school.

But really, this is the work of a very diverse group of thought partners and decision makers across Los Angeles County.

And I think that, you know, all eyes, all will see like their handprint in this, like we've just needed an entire village to raise this project literally out of the ground.

Leslie, how exactly does a student get chosen for seed or I probably should rephrase the question How do students and families choose seed in the field report?

I also mentioned there's kind of a lottery system.

Talk more about this entire dynamic.

Yeah, I think it's really about choice.

I think I'll start there because, you know, I think I'm one of four girls and my mom knew something about each of their girls.

My mom and dad knew something about their girls and and it caused them to choose different schools.

And I think so first is first, first and foremost.

Like we believe that families know something about their children.

They know something about what they need, something about what they want for them and what they aspire for them.

And so first, I think a family identifies that a five day a week, 120 hour public boarding school with a STEM focus and with a partnership with Metro and a partnership with other folks.

Like like some family says, that's the option for this one young person.

So first it starts with choice.

And then because we are a charter school in the in California, any time we get more applications than we have slots, we have to do a lottery.

And so families will go into the lottery and they will get selected through the lottery.

But again, it starts with choice and then it starts and then it goes to the lottery.

And that's how families get in.

I think you asked a question earlier or what we saw when we spoke earlier about some other preferences and that we are we have the opportunity to give a weighted preference to young people who are considered resilient.

And that's just that just really means young people who have faced some challenges and are resiliently pursuing, persevering, persevering through them.

But but we can give a preference to resilient youth and landless.

Speaking of that resiliency, Leslie, and then we will get to Stephanie.

I know with resiliency, the school does give priority to students who, if I'm not mistaken, have experienced homelessness, foster care, possibly with a probation, child welfare or or students who have a parent who was or possibly is incarcerated.

Is that part of the priority or are you going to try to reach out to other students as well?

Certainly many students in underserved communities.

You know, lives can be tough these days.

And so first and foremost, we are open to any young person in Los Angeles County.

And then by and by way, a lottery.

If you actually have if you had some contact with the Department of Children and Family Services and a number of other preferences, we will you will get a weighted preference.

So, yes, so we are giving a preference and we it is our desire to ensure that seat actually serves families for whom it will make a significant difference.

But again, we're open to all young people in California.

I mean, in Los Angeles County, we actually will do outreach across the county.

We look forward to actually having a significant amount of the young people who live in that community attend the school because there is power.

Right.

And seeing being in that community and looking at that project and saying, you know what, That's our school.

My young person goes to that school, so we will give preference.

It is a weighted it is a weighted preference, and it just gives someone a better chance of getting picked in the lottery.

Stephanie The the location of where this school is being built, its historic Manchester and Vermont neighboring obviously Florence and Normandy, the intersection some say it's infamous with the historical ramifications.

Obviously these intersections in the aftermath of the L.A. riots after the first Rodney King verdict.

Specifically, why was this area chosen for the seed school?

Talk about that.

There are well, from a transportation perspective, the Vermont corridor is our second busiest transit corridor in the entire county.

So we know there's a high need community along the Vermont transit corridor and a high need for higher quality transit options.

And so it's a perfect opportunity to align our desire to improve transit options in that corridor.

It's actually the Vermont Transit Quarter project is in our sales tax measure that's been approved by the voters coupled with the the supervisor for that district that had identified this vacant property that had been vacant really since the civil unrest of of 1992.

And it married with our desire to provide better quality transit service with our need to really develop a pipeline, an opportunity for careers in transportation with the county of L.A. is desire to really revitalize this vacant land and to also have an opportunity for it to be a mixed use site.

There's got to be housing adjacent to the sea, to L.A. School.

We want a grocery store, we want neighborhoods serving retail.

And it really is the type of transfer, missional opportunity that brings together multiple benefits for this community.

So it was really, again, working in collaboration with our partners in the county that this site was selected.

David Mike, can I actually interrupt for one second?

Cause I when you listen to Stephanie actually sort of do that list right of the benefit, and then you ask the question, and if I go back to your question about resilient youth, like how much like how much more like when you think about resilience, youth, right.

Youth who have actually experienced homelessness or some housing insecurity, youth who have had some contact with the Department of Department of Children and Family Services, youth or families who have had some contact with a probation officer or youth who have who've had an immediate family member who have been incarcerated.

Like like how much like what a benefit that they actually would get a preference, right?

Like, like when you sort of think about just the beauty of this project, of this complete project, I think you want your resilient youth right?

You want you want to actually feel like, you know what, I actually could actually aspire.

I can I can benefit from this tremendous work that the city and the county are doing at this site.

Leslie, also talk about life after seed, in other words, for your students.

How do you work with them after they graduate?

Is there networking?

Do you follow the students after their high school boarding school graduation?

What's the process there?

Yeah, you know what?

I actually want to go back map from something that Stephanie said earlier when she talked about the pipeline needed to actually build the workforce in Los Angeles County.

And so my sort of back map from.

Okay, so there is a needed pipeline.

Well, then some of those folks that we need actually will need to actually have certain expertise and some of them will have to have gone to college and graduated and obtain a degree.

And so part of the answer to that is, see, we're not the complete answer, but we are part of the answer.

See, seed believe that every young person should have an opportunity.

There should be a moment in time when they're sitting around the dinner table with their mom, their dad, their grandmother, aunts, and they open up a letter that says you.

And I guess maybe it's not a letter anymore.

Open up an email or text message that says you've been accepted.

And so it's getting accepted.

It's just the beginning.

And so, see, Spence, consider full time one, establishing a scholarship for some of our students who have who for whom.

Affordability is a challenge.

And then we do what's called intrusive advisory.

And we where we do, we spend time with the student and the family, ensure that they're prepared for the college experience.

We actually just completed college outreach visits for students across the country, so we go and lay eyes on students on the campus.

We create professional development opportunity for them.

We have every summer.

That's what's called a student graduate institute where we bring students together and we do workshops and seminars on what they're facing.

And then we spend time with students as they're beginning to transition out.

So I will be on a plane, a train or somewhere going to student graduate of our current seat students over the coming weeks because we believe this is a this is not just to sort of get them into college and say goodbye.

We believe that when you are working with first generation, low income minority students, that you have to not only see them to college, but through college.

I mean, we look forward to the partnership with Metro because Metro will also provide opportunity and exposure for internships and help our students to see what careers exist.

And also, I'm looking forward to our students creating careers that currently do not exist in transportation and mobility.

Stephanie, final question.

You're a transportation expert, not necessarily an education expert.

All your pay grade is way above mine.

With that said, you're the perfect person to ask because you get an objective opinion.

Why is this education option?

Why you see it's such a special place?

The way Leslie was explaining different from others.

Stephanie Well, I think LA is a special place because again, first of all, they have a track record of excellence in their engagement with their community.

The graduation rates not only from the public boarding school but also from college, which is really important.

But we have the opportunity here to tailor, you know, the diverse learning needs and interests with also exposing the students to opportunities within transportation and infrastructure more broadly.

That is a unique opportunity for our industry and for our agency in particular.

So it's a rigorous academic program coupled with a nurturing boarding school environment.

And then we have the unique opportunity to really have this STEM kind of enhancement element of it where we get to bring not only exposure and awareness to career opportunities and infrastructure projects and programs, we are able to support them with hands on experience and then ultimately employment, whether it's internships while they're in school, whether while they're in the public boarding school or in college, and of course, a full time career.

We want to see this as kind of our long term succession planning, opportunity and speed.

L.A. is uniquely positioned to be that for us in L.A. County.

Yeah, I think we're uniquely positioned to seed the next leaders, the next managers, the next executives.

It's an honor.

Leslie, Paul and Stephanie Wiggins, your dedication and your conviction that are both amazing in this program of education.

Thank you so much for really a great interview.

You say that.

Thanks.

Good to see.

Stephanie Needless.

And for more information about our program, just click on KLCS.dot org and then click contact us to send us your questions and comments or story ideas so we can hear from you.

Or contact me directly at @DavidNazarNews on Twitter.

That's @DavidNazarNews on Twitter.

And be sure to catch our program here on PBS or catch us on the PBS app for All Things Sustainable.

Thank you so much for joining us for this edition of Sustaining US here on KLCS PBS.

I'm David Nazar.