September 2012

Highlights from Day Two of the Cradle to Career Convening

September 28, 2025

As the last day of the 2012 Cradle to Career convening comes to a close, I wanted to share some second day highlights: In the breakfast plenary, Reba Dominski of Target, Stacey Stewart of United Way Worldwide, and Michael Robbins of the USDoE spoke about how the business community uses data to impact practice, and [...]

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“Helping kids succeed is everyone’s business”

September 27, 2025

As we’re nearing the end of our first day at the 2012 Strive Convening, I wanted to offer up a couple highlights. This morning’s opening session, “Moving from Proving to Improving,” was filled with introductions - of both people and ideas - as well as inspiring stories of how Strive communities are using data to [...]

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The 2012 Cradle to Career Convening Begins Tomorrow!

September 26, 2025

As we are drawing near this year’s Cradle to Career Network Convening, we are once again energized by the interest and excitement around this work. With participants from 62 communities in 32 states, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, we are certainly looking forward to the diversity of topics and perspectives that will be shared [...]

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Cincinnati’s Collective Impact Efforts recognized by Education Nation

September 25, 2025

Cincinnati’s efforts to improve academic achievement in the region’s urban core received recognition this past weekend by NBC’s Education Nation. Highlighted by NBC are the many improvements seen throughout the community, including a nine percent increase in kids ready to enter kindergarten and a 24 percent increase in eighth grade math scores. NBC’s story talked [...]

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Kalamazoo Promise: An Inspiring Story, an Important Social Experiment

September 18, 2025

The story of the Kalamazoo Promise is utterly inspiring. It’s a story about the power of community to dramatically alter the future of its children. It’s a story about giving students and families, regardless of income or history, the opportunity to hope. It’s a story about a city’s aspiration to build itself up by investing, [...]

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The Education Roadmap our Nation Needs

September 11, 2025

In his September 1st column, “It’s Still Halftime in America,” Thomas L. Friedman sifts through his political ideals, his thoughts on the presidential campaign, and his remembrance of Neil Armstrong - and comes to the conclusion that what is missing is an inspiring journey of progress that would elevate us as a nation. This journey, he argues, [...]

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North Carolina Politicians Come Together To Support Reading

September 6, 2025

This guest post was written by Becky Smothers, Mayor, City of High Point. In Guilford County: Collective Impact In Action, Brian Cockman wrote about the importance of collective impact and how it’s helping to shape Guilford County Schools’ 3 Million Books Challenge. Members of the local media support the reading campaign through guest blog posts and [...]

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The Relationship Between Collective Impact and Civic Infrastructure

September 4, 2025

In an article recently published by Community Investments Magazine, Jeff Edmondson and Nancy Zimpher delve into one of the most popular concepts in the social sector (Collective Impact) and one of the lesser understood (Civic Infrastructure). Gaining momentum at an incredible pace, the concept of Collective Impact has infiltrated our world. Communities across the country want [...]

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