Ready by 21® National Partners
In 2007, six partners made formal commitments to work with the Forum to advance Ready by 21®. These Ready by 21 National Partners represent the education, government, nonprofit, business and community philanthropy sectors. Each was chosen because they pledged to do business differently and sought out the Forum to help in some way. These organizations have agreed not only to work with the Forum for Youth Investment but to work with each other. The Partners have shared work plans and identified concrete ways to work together to challenge and support their members and affiliates in states and communities across the country. Combined, they have the capacity to inform, support and champion state and local leaders whose commitments are critical to any major change effort:
- United Way of America
- American Association of School Administrators
- America’s Promise Alliance
- Corporate Voices for Working Families
- National Collaboration for Youth
- National Conference of State Legislatures
Together, these partners have committed to recruit other national organization into the partnership, engaging all of the key stakeholder groups that need to be involved at the state and the local level. They have also made the commitment to bring their expertise, perspectives and clout into the places where the Ready by 21 Challenge currently has traction.
Watch the Ready by 21 National Partners at the Launch in Washington, DC.
| United Way of America (UWA) is a ubiquitous community resource with over 1,300 local United Ways that serve more than 90 percent of the country and raise and reinvest more than $1 billion annually to improve child and youth outcomes. In 2007, the United Way of America announced a commitment to expand on its early childhood development national initiatives in response to community requests for ensuring better outcomes for older youth. The United Way of America is working with the Forum to build and implement a complete set of tools, resources and technical assistance that supports children and youth from birth through young adulthood. In 2008, UWA will work with the Forum to create an expanded frame-work, pilot the use of the Ready by 21 framework and tools in selected places, and provide learning opportunities for all interested local United Ways and community partners. | |
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American Association of School Administrators (AASA) is the professional organization for more than 13,000 education leaders. AASA has a history of championing efforts to address non-academic issues that directly affect student learning. In 2006, funding from Philip Morris U.S.A. Youth Smoking Prevention allowed AASA to work with the Forum to bring more focus and intentionality to these efforts. In 2007, the Forum and AASA co-planned a day-long workshop on expanding learning opportunities for 30 superintendents that laid the groundwork for the 2008 AASA strategies agenda. Read the AASA Leadership for Change report on the 2007 Superintendent of the Year event co-hosted by the Forum and to find out about more work AASA and the Forum are doing. |
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America’s Promise Alliance (APA) is the largest multi-sector collaborative dedicated to children and youth. The Ready by 21 Partners all count among the more than 170 partners of the Alliance. The Forum has been involved with the Alliance since its inception. In 2007, Alliance Trustees committed to focusing their efforts on improving the lives of 15 million children over the next 5 years. High school graduation was selected as the key indicator of success. With support from State Farm Insurance, the Alliance made a pledge to build awareness on the youth dropout issue by hosting summits in all 50 states and 50 cities over the next two years. America’s Promise and the Forum partnered to deliver the Alliance’s 2006 Regional Summits, and have agreed to partner to integrate the language, goals and strategies of the 15 and 5 Campaign and the Ready by 21 Challenge. |
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Corporate Voices for Working Families (CVWF) is the leading national business membership organization representing the private sector voice in public policy issues relating to working families. Collectively, their 55 partner companies have annual net revenues of over $1 trillion and employ 4 million individuals throughout all 50 states. CVWF has worked with the Forum over the past three years to expand its commitment to children and youth from early childhood to workforce entry. At the end of 2007, the Corporate Voices board voted to consolidate the organization’s child and youth focused work under a workforce readiness umbrella. Read the op-ed issued by CVWF about the Ready by 21 Challenge. |
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National Collaboration for Youth (NCY) represents more than 50 national, non-profit youth development organizations that collectively serve more than 40 million young people and have a physical presence in virtually every community in the country. In February 2007, the National Assembly (the parent organization of NCY) made a bold commitment to collectively generate unique knowledge about the youth development sector and exercise leadership on behalf of those they serve. NCY stepped up to take the lead. In 2008, NCY and the Forum formed a strategic alliance to use Ready by 21 as the basis for the development of NCY’s member knowledge and leadership work. |
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National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) is the leading bi-partisan organization supporting state legislators and legislative staff in all 50 states. NCSL’s members rely on its program staff to get information on a range of legislative and policy issues. The volume, range and fragmentation of concerns related to youth, however, are particularly frustrating to legislators. In 2005, NCSL, the Forum and the National Governors Association addressed this problem by convening state teams with representatives from the executive office and the legislature. In 2007, NCSL began work with the Forum to explore legislative options for integrating youth engagement into policy. |
| Attachment | Size |
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| Ready by 21 Partners.doc | 2.28 MB |