Urban

Presenters: Suzanne Hershey, Senior Fellow, the Forum for Youth Investment and former Facilitator of the Ready by 21 initiative, Austin, Tex.

This growing network of providers creates a greater incentive for the families, city agencies, nonprofits and neighborhood-based organizations to collaborate. It also multiplies the management challenge. Without effective systems to coordinate these services and measure their impact, these provider networks are subject to the same service gaps and duplications of effort that afflict all large systems of care. In this webinar our speakers focused on efforts to align community and state data, and about tools to improve effectiveness.

The challenge is to move beyond fragmented approaches, toward citywide collaboration and accountability. The Mayor’s Child and Youth Master Plan is an invitation to the community to make a commitment to children and youth by working collaboratively to achieve the plan’s desired outcomes.

SNEAK PEEK
Nashville's 14 desired outcomes for children and youth

In this speech, Karen Pittman encourages Ready by 21 leaders to create a "catalytic partnership to ensure that all of the community's resources, not just the schools, have assumed shared responsibility for student success." She reminds leaders that they can change the way they do business and that partnerships are key.