Going further together Listening to Heather McGhee break down “zero-sum” thinking and its crippling impact on our nation at the 2021 Annual Convening underscored for me the importance of the Cradle to Career Network. “We’re all on the same team.” If we are going to change the “zero-sum” thinking that has been holding back all…
Home is sacred. Home is safe. Yet as we heard from Matthew Desmond, author of “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” and Terri Ludwig, president of Ballmer Group Philanthropy at Tuesday’s keynote plenary at the Roots to Rise 2021 Cradle to Career Network Convening, home is, far too often, out of reach…
Next month, leaders across the country will gather for our first-ever virtual Cradle to Career Network Convening. During this time, we will connect, learn and navigate changes happening across 70 communities. We will continue our efforts to break down barriers and transform systems for more than 12 million youth and counting — including more than…
Lasting community change starts when the voices of the community are heard and community members are at the forefront, developing solutions and making decisions. Across the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network, efforts are growing to work alongside the community. Here are six insights from work in Baltimore, Md.; Redmond, Ore.; and San Antonio, Texas: First,…
Guest post by Erica Valliant, an organizer, activist and mother in Saint Paul, Minn. I am a mother of three sons in Saint Paul, Minn. My children are 7, 10 and 17. I do not have a bachelor’s degree, so I have only secured jobs that do not require a college degree. I began working…
“Much is at stake when African American communities are undercounted,” said Kareem Butler, 2020 Census project coordinator at the Chicago Urban League. At an event called 2020 census: Barriers to inclusion in African American communities, the Chicago Urban League hosted nonprofit organizations across the city to strategize about messaging and outreach material for African American…
Guest post by Ta’mya Davis, communications chair for the Teen Advisory Committee at Step Forward. My name is Ta’Mya Davis and I am a junior at Benton High School in Benton, La. I serve as the communications chair for the Teen Advisory Committee (TAC) at Step Forward, a member of the StriveTogether Cradle to Career…
Engaging the community is essential to our work at StriveTogether to ensure every child succeeds in school and in life. That’s why community engagement has been a core principle of our approach since the beginning. Cradle to Career Network members have also identified the need to strengthen communication and engagement, which led to this being…
Last week, I had the opportunity to join changemakers from across the country at the inaugural Upswell, Independent Sector’s forum for turning ideas into action. At the event, I facilitated two conversations focused on shifting power to communities. During those discussions and throughout the event, I heard examples of the importance of connections and community…
Below is a summary of our article on collective impact and community authority appearing in the winter 2019 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. The story of StriveTogether began on a bridge. In August 2006, leaders from three communities met in the middle of the Newport South Bank Bridge, known locally as the Purple…
When a community is together then mountains become movable Lights in a collective too bright to be dimmed We didn’t love our communities because they were beautiful. Our communities are beautiful because we loved them. — from Christian Paige’s “Trees” As spoken word poet Christian Paige shared in a performance that kicked off the opening…
