Racine –StriveTogether will add four new community partnerships, including Racine, Wisconsin, to its national Cradle to Career Network.
The national collective impact initiative now includes 53 community partnerships from 28 states and Washington, D.C, all working to connect cross-sector leaders around a common vision – improving education outcomes for kids.
Higher Expectations from Racine, Wisconsin; Impact Tulsafrom Tulsa, Oklahoma; Portland ConnectEd from Portland, Maine; and Yonkers Thrives from Yonkers, New York, are the newest community partnerships to join the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network, which connects more than 8,000 organizations and impacts 5.5 million students.
“Across the country, cradle to career partnerships are bringing their communities together to improve student outcomes,” StriveTogether Managing Director Jeff Edmondson said. “Each of these communities, and the Network as a whole, are committed to putting the child at the center of their work and building on what really works for kids. We are excited to welcome Higher Expectations to the Cradle to Career Networkand look forward to seeing how they drive change in their community.”
StriveTogether supports network communities with resources and a nationally recognized collective impact approach, known as the StriveTogether Theory of Action. Collective impact has emerged as a successful way for communities to align resources around shared outcomes throughout the education continuum, such as kindergarten readiness, third-grade reading or post-secondary attainment.
Network members connect with each other to share knowledge to help progress their work, learning form the successes, failures and insights of each cradle to career partnership.
To become a Network member, community partnerships must meet a set of benchmarks that indicate it has engaged a cross-sector group around a common education vision. The partnership must also demonstrate it can support the creation of a sustainable infrastructure to drive change, and commit to being accountable for improving an identified set of academic outcomes and indicators.
