1. The ability to adapt and thrive in the face of challenge. Let’s face it — systems change and transformation is challenging work whether you’re working in one community or scaling what works across a network of nearly 70 communities. Our work requires leaders undaunted by challenging the status quo and changing narratives around economic mobility. We will define how this network holds economic mobility and, importantly, how our work puts young people on the path to economic mobility.

This will include embracing the U.S. Partnership on Mobility from Poverty’s definition of economic mobility that goes beyond attaining economic success and speaks to power and autonomy and the feeling of being valued in the community. While we have always focused on improving cradle-to-career outcomes for every child, we have grown to appreciate the power that resides with youth and families marginalized by systems designed to discount them. We can transform these systems to deliver more equitable results by working with youth and families.

2. An explicit focus on racial and ethnic equity. Racial equity is both a value we must deeply live and an outcome we must achieve to realize our vision. We will operationalize the racial and ethnic equity and inclusion that we seek to advance in nearly 70 communities across the country. Meaningful equity work requires not just change but transformation — a thorough shift in organizational practices, norms, culture and composition, from hiring and recruitment to daily management. This work is hard, messy and complex. It requires healing, reconciliation and commitment. Our resolve comes from the simple belief that every child has value and promise.

Leaders must have the courage to disaggregate data to consider race, ethnicity and gender to inform strategies, drive accountability and engage in tough conversations. While talking about race and ethnicity can be emotionally charged, we have to get comfortable having uncomfortable conversations about the systemic racism underpinning the systems we need to transform.

3. A willingness to collaborate with others, importantly the youth and families most impacted by our work. This speaks again to recognizing the power and authority that resides in the community. Leaders must go beyond listening to community members to validate factors and hone strategies. Leaders must work with affected youth and families by bringing them to the table to develop strategies for closing gaps and creating opportunities. We have called out communication and community engagement as one of the critical capacities needed to transform systems, and we will continue to support our network members in their efforts to more authentically engage and activate community in the work.

So, I extend my deepest appreciation and solidarity to leaders across the Cradle to Career Network. Every time you challenge the status quo, have uncomfortable conversations and disrupt systems in your community, you are taking critical steps toward our shared goal of putting every child on a pathway toward success. You are vital to a movement that is impacting the lives of 13 million kids and counting. The road ahead is long, but this Network is unstoppable.

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Here are a few examples of how Thrive Chicago has partnered across the city to change systems:

Supporting youth to connect to opportunities

Thrive uses collective impact to unite partners around supporting youth aged 16-24 who are disconnected from work and school, called opportunity youth.

• Thrive convenes the Opportunity Youth Working Group, which used data to shift the City of Chicago’s understanding of opportunity youth. While the public narrative often associates opportunity youth with violence and men of color with low levels of education, data showed that the majority of Chicago’s opportunity youth have their high school diplomas, and 48% are female.
• This data analysis helped city leaders and practitioners develop recommendations for action, created with input from opportunity youth. The recommendations spurred citywide change, including reallocation of funding, shifts in programming (e.g. programming for high school graduates and women) and a change in how providers and policy makers talk about opportunity youth.
• One recommendations launched neighborhood-based Reconnection Hubs, physical spaces designed to help young people navigate the resources they need to reconnect to the education and workforce systems. These Reconnection Hubs, led by Thrive’s direct service partners, have connected 300 opportunity youth to work or school. The City of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services initially invested $500,000 to launch the Hubs, which are supported by both public and private funding.

Setting high school graduates up for success

Thrive coordinates efforts to make sure that high school graduates who plan to start college have the support they need to get there.

• Every year, 5,000 high school graduates who intended to go to college do not actually enroll in college in the fall. This is called summer melt. In partnership with Chicago Public Schools and postsecondary support organizations, Thrive Chicago raised funding for and helped support a Summer Transition Coordinator strategy in 55 high schools that had the highest rates of summer melt. Coordinators helped college-bound students navigate hurdles that had the potential to prevent them from making it to their postsecondary institutions.
• After implementing the Summer Transition Coordinator strategy, 1,000 more students successfully started college. The strategy is now integrated into Chicago Public Schools’ broader postsecondary enrollment plan, with funding designated to support it.

In its work to support young people to succeed in school and beyond, Thrive Chicago has put youth at the center, working across the city to change systems. Congratulations to Thrive Chicago for reaching the proof point designation!

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Boston Opportunity Agenda supports community partners across Boston to change systems for youth. Now, the Cradle to Career Network member is one of 15 communities to reach an important milestone along the StriveTogether Theory of Action, earning the designation of proof point. Here are a few examples of how Boston Opportunity Agenda has influenced the way the system operates in Boston:

Aligning on a shared vision

• With leaders from workforce development, education, philanthropy and more, Boston Opportunity Agenda developed a common definition of college, career and life readiness. Boston Public Schools is adopting the definition and is using it to make decisions, a constant even in leadership transition following a change in superintendents.
• Organizations across Boston are using the same set of measures and tools to improve outcomes for youth. The Summer Learning Community or Fifth Quarter collaborative began as a small set of funded organizations serving 232 youth but has grown in breadth and depth to a network of over 160 organizations serving over 14,000 young people.

Using data to create strategies

• Success Boston and the Summer Learning Community have seen population-level changes in their outcomes as a result of the improvements made using student-level data year over year. The work of Success Boston, the partnership’s postsecondary attainment collaborative action network, has resulted in increases in persistence, performance and progress as well as increasing the regional completion rate from 39% to 52%. These results were achieved while increasing the number of students completing high school and enrolling in postsecondary education.
• Boston After School and Beyond and Boston Public Schools developed a data sharing agreement for their collaboration, integrated with the academic school year system to allow the district and partners to track growth over the course of the entire calendar year.
• At Boston’s Bunker Hill Community College, data showed that Black and Latinx males had the lowest completion rates. The administration is now focusing on system changes to improve college completion and address that disparity. Partners are acting on this data as well. A coaching model being expanded through Boston’s Lumina Talent Hubs initiative now requires that young men of color comprise 40% of the coaching caseload. The Talent Hubs Initiative also set goals for the effort that are broken down by race.

Engaging the community

• There is a clear model for local collaboration in Boston. Every action network relies on youth and family voice. Some of the strategies employed by the partnership include family engagement committees with parents and parent coordinators, parent representation at leadership tables, employing youth to gather feedback from their peers, and a student advisory council that gathers feedback to strengthen policies and practices.
• Danubia Camargos Silva, a family engagement partner, shared, “When I first started engaging with Boston Opportunity Agenda, it meant a lot that the issues I raised as the only parent in the room were taken up by the partners. They went back and took a look at the things I said. They took it very seriously and I felt that I was heard. Today, three years later, I can see for the first time on the BOA report, family engagement is an indicator. That is big. They are shining a light on family engagement that was never there before.”

Investing in what works

Across Boston, public and private funding investments advance practices that work to improve outcomes for students.

• Boston Public Schools invested $3.2 million for the Fifth Quarter summer learning initiative.
• University of Massachusetts Boston and Bunker Hill Community College have implemented the navigation coaching pioneered by Success Boston, reaching all incoming freshmen.
• Funding from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development is expanding on the lessons learned from the Connection Center pilot, connecting youth with postsecondary education programs, workforce development and employment.

Boston Opportunity Agenda’s work shows how policies, relationships, resources and power structure can shift to support students and families of color and those in low-income households. StriveTogether is excited to celebrate the community’s milestone of achieving the proof point designation.

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— Stacey Abrams, activist, author and civil rights leader

Reflecting on the recent 10th annual Cradle to Career Network Convening, I am more convinced than ever that we are truly unstoppable when we unite for kids and families. Together, we are a national movement impacting 13.7 million youth and counting, fueled by a shared belief that we can — and should — do better for every child. We saw that in the results and progress shared from across the Network on the plenary stage and in workshop and session rooms.

We celebrated and shared some incredible work and impact nationally, including:

• Our 2019 Cradle to Career Champion and a new honor — the Courage in Leadership Award! Let’s congratulate again Susan Dawson, founder, president and executive director of network member E3 Alliance in Central Texas; and ROC the Future, a network member in Rochester, N.Y., and the recipient of our first Nancy Zimpher Courage in Leadership Award.
• Validation that our rigorous approach to quality collective impact produces better results for kids and families. These fantastic findings about the StriveTogether Theory of Action are summarized in this recent Stanford Social Innovation Review piece.
• More network members are advocating, mobilizing and influencing public policy to better serve youth and families. As one example, in New Mexico, Mission: Graduate scored a major legislative victory to curb student absences and improve school climate.
• Three more communities have reached the Proof Point designation: Promise Partnership of Salt Lake in Salt Lake, Utah; Northfield Promise in Northfield, Minn.; and UP Partnership in San Antonio, Texas.

If you are among the 500-plus changemakers who gathered with us in Washington, D.C., I hope you too spent time asking yourself how to better support the success of every child, particularly those facing the most barriers. As I said during the opening plenary, so many of today’s systems perpetuate inequities in the lives of black and brown kids. These are the systems we must transform.

And that work is no easy feat — it’s hard, challenging, messy and exhausting. We need a way to feel rejuvenated, and I think we have plenty of inspiration for the next 12 months from this year’s amazing lineup of keynote speakers including Stacey Abrams, David Brooks, Cecilia Muñoz, Richard Reeves and David Williams.

Here are some key takeaways that emerged from our plenaries:

• “Other people have to see themselves in our story. You have to be willing to create space for other people’s goals to join yours. That’s what makes it collective and that’s what creates real impact.” — Stacy Abrams, activist, author and civil rights leader
• “The data is so important, but data only tells you about the whole population. It doesn’t tell you about the young man or woman sitting in front of you.” — David Brooks, The New York Times
• “Doing, as important as it is, isn’t enough. To get to scale, we have to translate learning to policy so that it can happen everywhere.” — Cecilia Muñoz, New America
• “Evaluation is key. We have to move from policy-based evidence making to evidence-based policymaking.” — Richard Reeves, Brookings Institution
• “How do we take this research and empower folks on the ground? More importantly, how do we get on the ground to understand what the real questions are?” — David Williams, Opportunity Insights

Developing a culture of continuous improvement is one of our core principles — we try to model this annually when we make adjustments to the convening. Last year, we heard a resounding call to continue to center equity in our work.

We shared the work of the Racial Equity Planning Team for network member feedback, including our first racial equity statement. A number of people talked to a TEGA (Technology Enabled Girl Ambassador) about the statement and gave us valuable input. StriveTogether will soon have a racial equity statement to guide our work and we look forward to sharing it.

Recognizing the importance of peer-to-peer learning, we launched a new partner portal! This platform makes it easy to find what you need and connect with other network members. Over 100 people representing 51 partnerships have already logged on to the new portal!

I feel so proud and fortunate to be working in community with thousands of people across the country, breaking down barriers and building better futures for kids and families. But as much progress as we’ve made, we have more work to do to ensure 24 communities reach systems transformation by 2023. I am more confident than ever that we will achieve this goal through the unwavering commitment and unmatched efforts of everyone in the Network.

Thank you to everyone who joined in D.C. or watched our plenaries via livestream (that was new this year!). We know success in this work is possible because we are unstoppable together. As you find better ways to help every child thrive, I charge you to continue lifting up the voices and expertise of young people and to learn what success means to them.

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And that’s what StriveTogether is all about.

“We refuse to settle for a world where a child’s potential is dictated by the conditions into which he or she is born,” Blatz said. “We are committed to helping every child succeed in school and in life from cradle to career, regardless of race, zip code or circumstance.”

Like-minded local and national partners filled the room with us as the Cradle to Career Network showed up in full force at our nation’s capital where policies and systems are created. Systems, Blatz said, that “perpetuate inequities in the lives of black and brown kids. These are the systems we must transform.”

This is a big ask but essential work. Blatz shared how the Cradle to Career Network was up to the challenge:

• Cradle-to-career outcomes are improving across the Network and for children of color. From Oregon and Illinois to Wisconsin and Texas, she shared examples of how network members are closing disparity gaps in kindergarten readiness, early-grade reading and postsecondary enrollment.
• More and more network members are pushing for public policy that address inequities and increase investment in education. From an $11.6 billion increase in school financing in Texas to the establishment of the Utah Governor’s Early Childhood Commission, Blatz said these policy wins are examples that systems are changing to support better results for kids.
• More network members are following StriveTogether’s validated theory of action, progressing along the framework and moving to systems change. Blatz congratulated Northfield Promise and UP Partnership as the 12^th and 13^th communities to become Proof Points.

Blatz also talked about the importance of equity in grounding the work. She said, “We focus on race equity because we know that we have to take on systemic racism and oppression to get better results for kids.”

She described work over the years to make race equity more explicit in the StriveTogether Theory of Action^TM to creation of a planning team and their work. She asked network members to provide feedback over the coming days to inform this work.

“This is a journey for us, not a field trip. We are in it for the long haul. I invite you to hold us accountable for being courageous and unstoppable in our efforts to transform inequitable systems,” Blatz said.

Finally, she reminded us not to lose sight of youth that are at the center of the work. Every young person yearns for success and has their own vision for what success looks like. She shared a video that allowed us to listen to young people talk about success:

They have big dreams and goals. Dreams and goals not unlike my twin daughters when I ask them about their future and how they define success. Just like I encourage my daughters to dream big and pursue every opportunity, I want the same thing for every child. This is why I am energized to be part of something big, a movement sweeping across the country and impacting the lives of 13.7 million children and counting.

Learn more about the StriveTogether by following us this week, and join the movement by signing up for our monthly newsletter.

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At the 10th annual Cradle to Career Network Convening, StriveTogether recognized an individual and an organization exemplifying these qualities with our two annual awards: the Bill Henningsgaard Cradle to Career Champion Award and the new Nancy Zimpher Courage in Leadership award.

For its inaugural year, StriveTogether is proud to present the Nancy Zimpher Courage in Leadership award to ROC the Future, a Cradle to Career Network member based in Rochester, N.Y. ROC the Future is an alliance of more than 60 Rochester-area institutions and community partners that aligns community resources to support the success of Rochester’s children.

ROC the Future’s team and partners showcase the leadership characteristics embodied by Nancy Zimpher, founding board chair of StriveTogether. These qualities include taking risks to improve the lives of kids and families, holding partners accountable, challenging the status quo and advocating to include diverse perspectives.

“ROC the Future’s work to embed community voice in policy making is no easy task, yet it is truly what’s necessary to transform systems,” says Jennifer Blatz, StriveTogether’s president and CEO. Here are a few examples of the community’s progress in changing systems:

• The ROC the Future team recently adopted a new Outcomes Framework to understand core outcomes, prioritize actions that make a difference, target resources and monitor progress. The partnership also launched two new Outcomes Teams to improve early-grade literacy and high school graduation.
• The Rochester community has been recognized with three Campaign for Grade-Level Reading Pacesetter Honors, for leading by example to solve one or more of the challenges that can undermine early literacy. Rochester was recognized for progress in school attendance, summer learning and early-grade reading.
• ROC the Future has expanded its Leadership Table to be more representative of all the efforts in the community to improve education for children

StriveTogether also presented the Bill Henningsgaard Cradle to Career Champion Award, which commemorates the tireless advocacy of Bill Henningsgaard. Through his work with Eastside Pathways in Bellevue, Wash., Bill brought together partners with a common vision of a productive, fulfilling life for every child. In 2013, Bill and his son, Max, were involved in a fatal airplane accident. To honor Bill, this annual award is presented to individuals who embody the passion, commitment and persistence that he modeled every day.

The 2019 Cradle to Career Champion Award was presented to Susan Dawson, founder, president and executive director of Cradle to Career Network member E3 Alliance. In 2006, as collective impact work was just emerging, Susan trailblazed a path to get eight institutions of higher education, 17 school districts and more than 100 community partners working together to change the face of education in Central Texas and across the state.

From its beginnings with two employees and a tiny budget, E3 Alliance has grown into a pace-setting model serving more than 190,000 students annually, earning the Proof Point designation along the StriveTogether Theory of Action^TM. Key components of this success include forging partnerships, supporting effective data use and actively involving those most impacted. Here are just a few of Susan’s notable accomplishments:

• Susan created the Central Texas Math Alignment Taskforce to educate parents and students and get high-achieving students into the math classes they need to succeed in college.
• She initiated a regional school-based flu shot campaign, reducing absenteeism and returning $37 million in state funding to schools.
• Susan created Austin College Access Network, a coalition of community-based organizations, higher education institutions, school districts and other stakeholders whose collaboration increased first-generation college-goers from 1,500 to about 19,000.

Susan’s achievements are noticed throughout the Cradle to Career Network and her community, and she motivates others to work for the best for families and children. “Her commitment to changing the lives of young people is contagious,” says Colette Pierce Burnette, president and CEO of Huston-Tillotson University.

StriveTogether is grateful for the commitment and leadership of Susan and the ROC the Future team and is honored to recognize their contributions.

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Artwork by Guadalupe Hernandez-Rodriguez

Guadalupe Hernandez-Rodriguez has had a passion for art from a young age. From Bellevue, Washington, home of Cradle to Career Network member Eastside Pathways, Guadalupe dreams of being a concept artist. This fall, she’ll attend Western Washington University to study studio art or visual journalism.

Guadalupe’s scholarship-winning artwork connects with the theme of community. It shows three young people growing a tree together, symbolizing the desire to build an inclusive community. In this community, she says, youth will set an example for future generations that their goals are possible. “No matter the color of your skin, only you should define what you can amount to,” she said. 

Artwork by Connor Johns

Connor Johns is a student at the University of Cincinnati majoring in fine arts. He also grew up in Cincinnati, home of Cradle to Career Network member StrivePartnership, and he said he’s seen community transformation in his hometown. “I got to really see the city change and transform into something completely different and something just so cool to be a part of,” he said.

Connor’s scholarship submission shows a family interacting with a neighbor, a moment he says is key to improving a community. “These small gestures of just getting to know your neighbors and doing your part is really how a community begins to change,” he said.

Connor plans to work for a design firm after graduation and hopes to mentor younger designers to pay forward the support he’s received.

Artwork by Toscya Jordene Williams

Toscya Jordene Williams is from Green Valley, Arizona, home of Cradle to Career Partnership. She’ll attend the University of Arizona to study biochemistry and pursue a career in medicine, inspired by the women in her family who have done the same.

“As a pediatrician, I will be able to transform young lives by being a positive role model, overseeing not only their physical growth, but their mental and emotional health as well,” she said.

Toscya’s art depicts the connections, support and growth involved in an educational journey. Encouraged by her family to take school seriously, she believes every kid should have the opportunity to take advantage of education. “They should be able to dream about being anything they set their minds to. Whether that be as graduates, valedictorians, doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs, activists or scientists,” Toscya said. “They can pursue all of this with the aid of an education.”

Artwork by Aileen Shi

Aileen Shi is from Charleston, S.C., a community supported by Tri-County Cradle to Career Collaborative. She plans to attend Ringling College of Art and Design to study computer animation, focused on her goal of creating stories with a range of representation, including people of color and the LGBT community.

Her scholarship-winning art shows a confident young woman carrying books, smiling with the knowledge that she is a force of progress. Aileen says the opportunities opened through education make students and communities unstoppable.

“By using the power gained through education, you can overcome the expectations of those who underestimate you, and ultimately reveal the true potential of both yourself and your community.”

The selected artwork from the four scholarship winners will join the work of our 2018 winners at StriveTogether’s Cincinnati office. You can read about last year’s winners on our blog at these links: Denzel Chase, Lauren DeMarco, Amaia Johnson, Camille Richmond and Shani Salinas.

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On behalf of our partners in the District of Columbia, Raise DC is thrilled to welcome the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network communities to the nation’s capital for this year’s convening.

The District is popularly known for federal policy, historic monuments and swampy weather, but it is also a vibrant and diverse city (and hopeful 51st state) that offers scores of tradition and culture. For many of our 700,000 residents, “politics” means getting to use the excuse of being delayed by motorcades or rallies more than most. While you’re here, we hope you get the opportunity to experience some of the things that make DC so unique, like half-smokes, go-go music and history in all eight Wards, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Ward 2 and the Frederick Douglass House in Ward 8.

The theme of this year’s Network convening, “Unstoppable,” is a fitting rallying cry to keep us pushing forward in our work to remove systemic barriers that have been designed to hold back so many of our young people, particularly our black and brown children and youth.

At Raise DC, we are united in building a future in which every DC young person — regardless of their race, ethnicity, Ward, gender identity or disability — has access to equitable opportunities that allow them to define success for themselves and achieve it. We recognize that changing the narrative to positively show the potential and assets of each child and youth in DC (more than 150,000 of them in our cradle-to-career continuum) is critical to ensuring we can unite all of the sectors, partners and resources that will help us overcome barriers together.

We are working to be “unstoppable” in many ways, including through our:

• Bridge to High School Data Exchange: In partnership with DC’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education and dozens of school leaders from DC Public Schools and public charter schools, Raise DC launched a Bridge to High School Data Exchange, in which middle and high schools exchange critical information on students transitioning to ninth grade. Now in its fourth year, the Bridge to High School has seen participation from 95% of eligible campuses, having positively influenced more than 14,000 rising freshmen since 2016.
• Summer Melt Initiative: We partnered with DC College Access Program (DC-CAP), American University and DC Public Schools in 2018 to implement a text message platform to reduce the rate of summer melt among 3,500 rising college freshman by sending them reminders about deadlines, housing and advising. The program continued through the school year and expanded over this past summer.
• Change Networks: Our collaborative action networks continue to grow. More than 70 local organizations, schools and agencies now count themselves as members of our Early Grade Change Network, 9th Grade Counts Network, Disconnected Youth Change Network or Postsecondary Access and Completion Change Network. All groups are using continuous improvement to test strategies that will ultimately improve educational outcomes across our cradle-to-career continuum.

We know communities across StriveTogether’s Cradle to Career Network are bringing about great change, united in building an equitable future. We are eager to host this year’s convening and share some of what makes the District great, as well as hearing bright spots from partnerships across the Network.

Herbert R. (Herb) Tillery is the Leadership Council co-chair for Raise DC, a member of the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network in Washington, D.C. He also serves as the executive director of College Success Foundation – District of Columbia.

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At this year’s convening, network members and their local partners will celebrate successes, collaborate on challenges and learn how to accelerate progress to better support children and families. Read on to find out what’s new at this year’s event.

Welcome reception at the National Museum of Women in the Arts

Our convening will kick off with a welcome reception featuring a surprise student performance and a formal welcome from Rosie Allen-Herring, a Raise DC Leadership Council member and CEO of the United Way of the National Capital Area. You’ll have the opportunity to reconnect with peers and form new relationships, in a setting of unique exhibits featuring art from women around the world.

Unstoppable keynote speakers

This year’s keynote sessions will share stories of unstoppable communities and practical experience that you can apply to close gaps and improve outcomes.

• On Thursday morning, Richard Reeves with the Brookings Institution and David Williams with Opportunity Insights will discuss how to create better futures for youth and families by transforming systems designed to fail them.
• At lunch on Thursday, Cecilia Munoz, vice president for public interest technology and local initiatives at New America and a former senior staff member in the Obama administration, will share how changing systems and policies is key to addressing racial inequities and disparities for kids and families today.
• On Friday morning, activist, author and civil rights leader Stacey Abrams will share how community authority and mobilization are crucial to the advocacy and policy work that will improve the lives of children of color and children living in poverty.
• To close the event on Friday afternoon, David Brooks, op-ed columnist for The New York Times, and education, policy and philanthropy leader Jim Shelton will be joined by Cradle to Career Network members — South Bronx Rising Together, Bold Goals Coalition and United Way of Salt Lake — to share how the power of the Network is what makes us unstoppable.

Livestreaming

Due to unprecedented interest, this year’s convening is sold out. For Network members unable to attend, we are livestreaming plenaries for the first time. Stay tuned for more details!

Racial affinity groups

New this year, StriveTogether will be hosting two racial affinity groups Thursday evening.

• StriveTogether’s The Collective reception is for network members of color to build connection, lend support to each other and share resources.
• StriveTogether’s White Caucus for Racial Equity evening workshop is for white network members to engage in internal and interpersonal work around white privilege and white fragility. The workshop is aimed at building allyship and advancing racial equity and inclusion.

New session formats and levels

When we share our experiences, ideas and insights, we become unstoppable. This year, in response to participant feedback, we’ve expanded session formats to include:

• Collaborative sessions: 30-minute, critical problem-solving sessions.
• Meet-up sessions: One-hour, speaker-facilitated networking events that encourage communities to connect around similar topics, passions or roles.
• Talk sessions: 15-minute, high-energy speaker presentations followed by 15-minute audience question-and-answer sessions.
• Workshops: 45-minute sessions exploring priority topics, highlighting a tactic, tool or strategy helping to improve cradle-to-career outcomes. 

Network member input has led us to add session levels reflecting the target audience. Levels are based on the intended participant’s experience with the session’s topic area.

• Discover is for attendees who are just beginning work in this topic or outcome.
• Build is for attendees who have some experience with the topic or outcome and want to dig deeper to gain more tools or knowledge in that area.
• Accelerate is for attendees who have a lot of experience with the topic or outcome.

This year, workshops also align to the seven capacities identified in our strategic plan:

• Equity
• Leadership and talent
• Data and information
• Practice improvement and acceleration
• Communications and engagement
• Policy, advocacy and mobilization
• Sustainable resources

Keep an eye out for the release of our CrowdCompass event app to learn more about sessions and plan your convening experience!

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Systemic inequities fail children of color and youth living in poverty. Transforming these systems and building a civic infrastructure in communities that delivers better cradle-to-career outcomes is not for the faint of heart. It’s hard work. It takes time, commitment and perseverance. It’s work we embrace because we refuse to settle for a world where a child’s potential is dictated by the conditions into which they are born.

Nearly nine million of the youth impacted by the Network over the last year were children of color. Almost half of the Network reported outcomes improving for African American and Hispanic youth. Centering racial equity in our work is critical. Equitable systems serve every child and family better.

Our Cradle to Career Network members are creating more equitable systems through their programmatic and systemic work in communities. They’re using disaggregated data to have the tough conversations and implement targeted strategies that enable measurable progress. They are identifying and challenging the systemic barriers that prevent equitable results at scale. Every partnership must hold themselves accountable for delivering equitable results. It is the only way to achieve our cradle-to-career vision.

We have come a long way in just two short years since we officially became an independent organization. Our network members consistently share progress throughout their own annual reports. Now we’re doing the same. Our first annual report shares outcomes and operating highlights. It explains why we exist, what we do, how we do it and who we serve. It explores how we convene, coach and codify learning across the Network. You’ll also see stories from partnerships working to transform systems. Finally, you will learn how we are investing in change through the Cradle to Career Community Challenge.

While it’s important to take time to celebrate past results, I am so much more excited about looking ahead to the future. I’m energized by the incredible policy wins that our network member communities and states are experiencing, I’m excited about the opportunities for innovative financing to sustain the work, and I love hearing about how kids’ lives have been transformed by cross-sector partnerships. That’s what matters, after all — the 13.7 million and counting. Every one of those kids deserves every chance to reach their potential. The commitment of this Network to our shared vision of success for every child, cradle to career, affirms my belief that change is possible.

Read the full annual report here.

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