The truth is, learning doesn’t begin and end in the classroom. It’s up to all of us. In order to succeed, every child needs both an education and a broad, nurturing support network. In other words, transforming children into healthy, independent adults is the job of the entire community. This philosophy is at the heart of the
Cradle to Career, and All Hands Raised is spearheading it in Portland and Multnomah County. The Cradle to Career partnership is long-term and county-wide, and includes early childhood, K-12 schools, higher education, local business, government, non-profit organizations, faith community, parents, students and community stakeholders, with the goal of ensuring the sustained success of every child in Portland and Multnomah County from cradle to career.
Cradle to Career Definitions
Membership of PSF Board, C2C Council, C2C Steering Committee, and C2C Data Team
The Five Goals: The Five Overarching Goals of the Local Partnership
The Continuum: The Key Student Success Indicators Along the Continuum from Cradle to Career
The Cycle: The Approach to Organizing the Work to Assure Measurable Results
The Partnership: How the Work is Structured to Creative Positive Outcomes for Children and Youth in our Community
Priorities that Guide the Work: The Initial Priorities Selected by the Council at its July 12, 2011 Meeting
Special thanks to our Pioneering Investors who help make this work possible: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; The Boeing Company; City of Portland; JP Morgan Chase & Co.; Living Cities; Northwest Evaluation Association; NW Natural; Portland Business Alliance; Portland Children's Levy; PGE Foundation; Portland State University; The Standard; United Way of the Columbia-Willamette; and U.S. Bank.
Collaboratives
With leadership from the Steering Committee, our recent work has focused on identifying and recruiting "convening partners", or organizations that can successfully bring together a cross-section of community partners around a shared set of goals. To that end, three initial collaboratives were approved this January to begin their work and we remain engaged in dialogue with community partners regarding the development of additional collaboratives (see RFQ below). Our initial collaboratives are:
•Eliminating Disparities in Student Success, convened by the Coalition of Communities of Color;
•Linking Community and Family Supports, convened by the SUN Service System Coordinating Council and PSU's Center for the Improvement of Child and Family Services; and
•Ready for Kindergarten, convened by Social Venture Partners Portland and the Multnomah County Commission on Children, Families & Community.
More detailed information, including contact information, for each collaborative is linked here for your review.
The Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Convening Partners and Collaborative Overview (Rolling Review Process)
Recent Coverage of C2C
Education Equation (Portland Monthly Magazine, February, 2012)
Nonprofit begins work on Cradle to Career challenge (Portland Business Journal, January 20, 2012)
"Portland Schools Foundation Takes a New Name" (Portland Business Journal, October 27, 2011)
"Cradle to Career an impressive start" (Portland Business Journal, October 21, 2011)
"Cradle to Career’ a road map to boost graduation rates" (The Portland Tribune, Jun 9, 2011)
Read our CEO's Monthly Update
PSF Releases Guide to Education Programs for Out-of-School Youth
On any given day in Portland and Multnomah County, there are 3,000 high school-aged youth disconnected from school. Reconnecting these youth with education and a career path is crucial to the health, vitality, and economic well-being of our community. In order to help these youth get reconnected, the Portland Schools Foundation, through generous support from the United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, has compiled the Guide to Education Programs for Out-of-School Youth. To receive a copy of the Guide in either Spanish or English contact Tedros Abraham at tedros@thinkschools.org. Access the English version. Access the Spanish version.