Collaboration in Action: Strive

Social Impact Exchange ConferenceJune 17, 2010

Presented by Marcie Parkhurst, FSG Social Impact Advisors

2 © FSG Social Impact Advisors

Overview of Strivewww.strivetogether.org

Faith

Parents/Family

Nonprofit

Philanthropy

Corporate

K-12

Post-SecondaryEarly Childhood

Community Students Media Civic Leaders

• What it is: Large-scale partnership of more than 300 organizations, institutions, and individual leaders in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky region

• What it does: Creates a world-class education system where every child succeeds from birth to career

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How It All Began

• Leadership: – Nancy Zimpher, then-President of University of Cincinnati

“The boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the community”

• Support: – Founding members: Northern Kentucky University, Xavier University,

KnowledgeWorks Foundation – Early supporters: GCF, United Way, CPS, Proctor & Gamble

• Evidence:– Research completed at the University of Cincinnati led to creation of the Student

Roadmap to Success (see next slide), which serves as Strive’s organizing structure

• Community engagement:– Organizations and institutions throughout the region were invited to participate in

intervention-specific networks (e.g., tutoring), chaired by Strive leaders– Network members work collaboratively to design their own evidence-based

strategies and monitor progress toward goals

It took 2-3 years for Strive to move from the idea stage to the action stage; each network has also gone through a 1-3 year development stage

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Roadmap to Success: Key Strategies & Outcomes

Key Transition Years

Home Visitation

Community Learning CentersIncorporate student services into learning through networks of high

quality services providers in the following areas:

Resiliency Collaboratives

Community Report Card to monitor progress toward meeting ultimate outcomesStudent Dashboard with academic and student support data to enable personalized learning for each child

College Retention

Ultimate Outcome:

College Gradua-

tion

Portfolio of High Performing Schools

Math & Science and

Literacy

Teacher Quality

College Access

Ultimate Outcome:

College Enroll-ment

Financial StabilityUltimate

Outcome: Percent of

People in Poverty

Workforce Network

Career Pathways in High Demand

Sectors &Hard-2-Hire Network of Employment

Support Services to High Need Populations

Dropout Recovery

After-School

Physical/Mental Health

Arts Education

BusinessP-ships

Family Engage-

ment

Youth Employ-

mentMentoring

1 2 3 4 65 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16Grade: KBirth

Success By 6Ultimate Outcome:

Readiness for Kindergarten

School District Initiatives Ultimate Outcome: 4th and 8th Grade Math and Reading Scores

& ACT Scores

Quality Early Childhood Education

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How It Is Sustained

• Leadership– Strive’s Executive Committee is comprised of 23 CEOs and EDs who are highly

involved with the initiative– Foundation members (including GCF, United Way, Haile/US Bank Foundation)

give priority to education grantees who are affiliated with a Strive network

• Member Time and Commitment– Networks meet bi-weekly to continue work on strategy development/refinement

and activity alignment, to discuss challenges and lessons learned, and to document progress toward their goals

• Infrastructure and Support– Strive has a $2M budget and 8 full-time staff who provide critical functional support

to the networks (e.g., data/analysis, technology, PR/communicationss, TA, etc)

• Public Accountability– Strive publishes a Report Card to the Community each year in which it documents

progress toward its goals (see next slide)

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Goal 1: PREPARED for School

• Percent of children assessed as ready for school

Goal 2: SUPPORTED In and Out of School

• Percent of students with more than 20 developmental assets

Goal 3: SUCCEEDS Academically

• Percent of students at or above reading/math proficiency• Percent of students who graduate from high school

Goal 4: ENROLLS in College/Career Training

• Average score on the ACT• Percent of graduates who enroll in college

Goal 5: GRADUATES and ENTERS a career

• Percent of students prepared for college level coursework• Percent of students who are retained in college• Percent of students who graduate from college• College Degrees conferred

Strive’s Annual Report to the Community:Goals and Outcome Measures

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Lessons Learned:Strive’s Framework for Partnership Implementation

Developing the Cradle to Career Education Pipeline

and Partnership

Evidence Based Decision Making

Community Based Collaboration and Capacity

Building

Investment and Sustainability

Engaged leadership Community level outcomesCreate network of providers

around each priorityInnovation & Impact Fund

Community vision Scan of existing resources Six Sigma action planning Partnership sustainability

Governance structure Select priority strategies Data management system Community engagement

Communications plan

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Strive: Implementation & Development Sites

Arizona State University

Mesa, Arizona

California State University – East Bay Hayward, California

University of Houston

Houston, Texas

Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis

Indianapolis, Indiana Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia

M C

E

E

P

P

C

University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, New Mexico

M

E

Portland State University Portland, Oregon

California State University – FresnoFresno, California

P

Strive - University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio

University of Memphis Memphis, Tennessee Implementation

Site (EPIN)

Development Site (EPDN)

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Additional Information about Strive

Presented by FSG Social Impact Advisors

www.fsg-impact.org

• Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement and Social Impact – Shares key findings from FSG’s research on the development of innovative and coordinated web-based approaches to reporting performance, outcome and impact measurements over multiple social enterprises and stakeholders. Contains a detailed Strive case study. www.fsg-impact.org/ideas

• Living Cities 2009 Annual Report – Describes Living Cities’ investment in the launch of Strive-like initiatives in five additional citieswww.livingcities.org

• Strive website – Contains the full research report behind Strive’s Student Roadmap to Success, as well as information about Strive’s Six-Sigma-based “endorsement process”www.strivetogether.og