West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon Is Appointed To America's College Promise National Board

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- West Sacramento (CA) Mayor Chris Cabaldon, who chairs The U.S. Conference of Mayors' (USCM) Standing Committee on Jobs, Education and the Workforce, today joined President Obama for the launch of the America's College Promise Campaign at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan.

Mayor Cabaldon has also been appointed to the National Advisory Board of America's College Promise to help connect and engage mayors in an effort to garner support for President Obama's proposal to guarantee a universal two years of higher education to every qualified student in the country.  Modeled after similar local and regional programs that are proving to be beacons of success in cities like Chicago, Long Beach, Denver, Pittsburgh, Richmond and Kalamazoo, the President's initiative/program/Campaign proposes a comprehensive approach to educating our nation's students, training them for jobs that pay living wages, and ensuring their contribution to the national economy.

"As economic stewards of cities, the nation's mayors have long supported higher education access and success to better prepare the country's workforce and propel America's prosperity and competitiveness.  From Long Beach to Kalamazoo, mayors have blazed the trail, modeling best practices with successful local College Promise initiatives," said Mayor Cabaldon.  "I am honored to continue the service of our nation's mayors in this capacity and work towards providing universal access and completion to community college."

Conference CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran congratulated Mayor Cabaldon on his appointment.  "One of the most pervasive challenges in our cities is persistent unemployment and underemployment even in the face of unfilled jobs with local companies. Mayors know better than most that the skills gap is threatening the economic strength of our cities and our nation," said Cochran.  "The College Promise Campaign aims to meet this threat head-on in a way that demands shared responsibility and contribution from government, colleges, and students -- a collaborative partnership approach that mayors strongly endorse."

In 2013, The U.S. Conference of Mayors endorsed a goal for the nation to achieve the highest proportion of students graduating from college in the world by 2020, and the goal that all Americans should be prepared to enroll in at least one year of higher education or job training to secure America as a world leader in the proportion of citizens completing college. The Conference also resolved to work with Congress to restructure and dramatically expand college financial aid, address college completion and strengthen the higher education pipeline to ensure that more students succeed and complete their degree; and invest in community colleges to equip a greater share of young people and adults with high-demand skills and education for emerging industries. The Conference also sent a letter to House and Senate Education leaders in March of this year expressing the organization's strong support of America's College Promise in order to bring our nation's historic commitment to public education in support of a strong economy into the 21st Century.

For further information regarding America's College Promise, please visit collegepromise.org.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors.

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SOURCE The U.S. Conference of Mayors