The aim of PUERTA (Preparando Hispanic Estudiantes Realizando Their Ambitions) is to increase postsecondary education access, affordability, completion, and post-enrollment success for Hispanic, first generation and low-income students matriculating in pre/professional (Pre-Health, Pre-Nursing and Pre-Teaching) pathways.

Through a variety of initiatives EDUCA NORCAL aims to recruit, support, and retain diverse teachers. These initiatives include: supporting existing teacher residency programs; expanding to a new residency program; creating and implementing an online bilingual authorization program (not to replace the existing in-person BILA program); providing scholarships; and, creating affinity/identity groups.
 

WIDER (Windsor Initiative to Diversify Educators Residency) Program is designed to provide support to teaching credential students in the WIDER Program and their mentor teachers through in-kind and financial support. In-kind support includes professional development opportunities, cohort-based meetings, one-on-one feedback, and high-quality mentoring. Financial support includes stipends.

The Future Earth Climate Story is a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) summer institute for 25 secondary teachers from across the country who, through a competitive application process, are chosen to participate in a 2-week interactive exploration of ideas and multimodal praxis that will be held on SSU's campus.

Sonoma State University will continue leading the CSU Maker Initiative through the support of a model Makerspace in the library, expand the scope of the Maker Certificate Program to include higher education faculty and librarians, and convene a summit with a focus on advancing Maker in K-12 schools, community colleges, and universities. This Initiative supports the Chancellor’s Office project, “Teacher Excellence Project 2023-2024: Increasing Effective Practices on STEM Recruitment and Retention, Maker, and Sustainable and Environmental Literacy Education".

Focusing on two partner districts’ needs for TK/K, SPED, and BIPOC educators, NBECSR will design a Teacher Residency Program that increases and diversifies the pool of well-qualified teachers by (1) building the capacity of the districts and SSU to plan a successful Teacher Residency that incorporates pre-service teachers in grades TK-5 and (2) recruiting and retaining high-quality local teacher candidates who reflect the demographics of local students.

To meet the demand for bilingual teachers that represent their diverse communities and special education (SPED) teachers in California public schools, Petaluma City Schools, Old Adobe Unified School District, and South County Consortium in partnership with Sonoma State University’s (SSU) School of Education (SOE), will develop a collaborative partnership, the Petaluma Regional Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Residency (PRDEIR).

To meet the increasing demand for bilingual teachers in California public schools, Napa Valley Unified School District (NVUSD) and Santa Rosa City Schools (SRCS), in partnership with Sonoma State University’s (SSU) School of Education (SOE), will expand the existing North Bay Bilingual Teacher Residency Program (NBBTRP) to include future bilingual teachers of grades tk-12.

Sonoma State University's Teacher Residency Programs are committed to cultivating outstanding educators deeply rooted in our community, with a focus on promoting educational equity. This commitment is realized through a comprehensive, high-quality teacher residency program that incorporates expert, long-term mentoring, relevant coursework integrated into clinical practice, and mandatory professional development events for both resident and mentor teachers. 

SSU will train 6 students as "Reading Rescue Tutors". These students will be tutoring elementary-aged children in local elementary schools. Tutors will enroll in EDUC 295 and receive 1 unit credit for 45 hours of in-person tutoring. They will also be paid for the 10 hours of tutor training. This project is being support by the Benedict Silverman Foundation (BSF) who will provide funding for faculty time, tutor training, travel/mileage, supplies, etc.