Deepening Collaboration to Support Students
COMMUNITY COLLABORATION CHALLENGE
Authored by: Caitlin Ameral, City Year
Earlier this spring, the National Partnership for Community Success (NPSS) Hub was excited to announce the winners of the Community Collaboration Challenge–a stipend program established with generous support from the New York Life Foundation and other philanthropic partners–to help connect schools and districts with local organizations that provide high-quality tutors, mentors, student success coaches, wraparound student support coordinators, and post-secondary transition coaches in their communities. The 21 stipend recipients, who hail from 18 states, will be using these resources to host connector events to bring together school and district leaders, local non-profits, colleges and universities, student and family groups, local government agencies, and other community leaders in conversation about where and how to bring more evidence-based supports to their young people.
Communities across the country are rich with educators, parents, youth development practitioners, leaders, and countless other caring adults who understand and advocate for the additional supports students need to thrive. Without doubt, our young people themselves and those closest to them know what is best for their schools and their communities. Collaboration amongst these local stakeholders groups is a force multiplier, helping communities to more effectively and efficiently recruit, train, deploy and and amplify the people-power and programs that meet these locally-determined needs.
The challenge to solve for, however, is often finding the time and resources necessary to build meaningful, collaborative partnerships amongst these advocates and practitioners that maximize the strength of existing supports and identify additional ones while working to meet the demands of the moment–demands that have only been made more challenging by the ongoing impacts of the pandemic.
In the face of such challenges, effective, collaborative solutions require a shared understanding of the unique needs and strengths of a community and its young people, an ongoing, collective commitment to identifying and removing barriers, and a convener with the capacity and experience to continue to advance the partnership. The covenings hosted through the Community Collaboration Challenge will be an important first step in creating and strengthening the relationships between the adults so invested in the success of their community’s young people.
The NPSS Hub is excited for the connections to be made and lessons to be learned from these events and leaders so that we might continue to support schools, non-profit organizations, colleges, workplaces, state agencies, and community-based champions in working together to provide students with people-powered supports based on locally determined needs.
Congratulations to our 2023 Community Collaboration Challenge stipend recipients!
- Arizona State University Foundation for a New American University, Tempe, Arizona
- Birmingham Education Foundation, Birmingham, Alabama
- Boston Partners in Education, Boston, Massachusetts
- Boys and Girls Club of Muskegon Lakeshore, Muskegon, Michigan
- The Carrie Meek Foundation, Inc., Opa-locka, Florida
- City Year Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
- Coates, Inc., Merrillville, Illinois
- East Cleburne Community Center, Cleburne, Texas
- Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County Schools, Elizabeth City, North Carolina
- George Washington University, Washington, DC
- Growing Together, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Homage, Lynwood, Washington
- Hopeloft, Bridgeton, New Jersey
- HYPE Freedom School, Inc., Pearland, Texas
- Innovate Public Schools, San Jose, California
- MENTOR Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska
- MENTOR Vermont, Burlington, Vermont
- Richmond Urban Collective, Glen Allen, Virginia
- SHIELD Mentor Program, Greensboro, North Carolina
- Teach for America Appalachia, Hazard, Kentucky
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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