Ready by 21 National Meeting

 

Every year, the Ready by 21 National Meeting brings together hundreds of leaders from around the country who are working to get all young people ready by 21 – for college, work and life. These leaders have dedicated themselves to improving the odds for children and youth through collective impact initiatives, policy alignment and program quality improvement.

 

In 2019, over 650 leaders convened April 23-25 in Seattle, Washington for the 8th annual Ready by 21 National Meeting. Participants heard strategies, research and stories about partnering for better impact, aligning policies, improving program quality and performance, and embracing readiness in the pursuit of equity.

 

There were dozens of stimulating workshops and sessions from top leaders in education, policymaking, advocacy and out-of-school time. With the goal of ensuring all children and youth are ready by 21, essential topics such as defining and ensuring readiness, promoting equity, increasing shared commitments and impact, improving program quality and supporting social and emotional learning (SEL) skills were highlighted.

 

 

WORKSHOPS AT THE READY BY 21 NATIONAL MEETING

 

At the core of the Ready by 21 National Meeting are the workshops that educate and inspire the hundreds of leaders in attendance to do the ground work in ensuring that all young people are ready to succeed.

Our workshops are designed to provide varying levels of content and presentation formats in order to better equip communities of all shapes and those in various stages of change.

The National Meeting offered keynotes, plenary sessions, workshops, peer learning circles and abundant networking opportunities, all built around big and common challenges, such as how do we:

• Ensure Readiness for college, work and life, by building competencies, abilities and mindsets.
• Promote Equity for all young people, and especially closing gaps for populations often facing great challenges (e.g. boys & young men of color, opportunity youth, youth in foster care, pregnant & parenting youth, etc.).
• Increase Shared Commitment to changing the odds for young people through common goals, strategies and measures within and across systems & sectors.
• Improve Program Quality and effectiveness in ways that spark management & staff engagement and support better outcomes for young people.