Collaboration in Action: Strive

1. Collaboration in Action: Strive Presented by Marcie Parkhurst, FSG Social Impact Advisors Social Impact Exchange Conference June 17, 2010

2. K-12 Early Childhood Post-Secondary Corporate Community Students Media Civic Leaders Faith Nonprofit Philanthropy Parents/Family Overview of Strivewww.strivetogether.org • 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

3. 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

4. Birth Grade: K 2 3 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 5 6 4 1 Key Transition Years Roadmap to Success: Key Strategies & Outcomes Dropout Recovery Financial Stability Ultimate 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 College Access Ultimate Outcome: College Enroll-ment Success By 6 Ultimate Outcome: Readiness for Kindergarten School District Initiatives Ultimate Outcome: 4th and 8th Grade Math and Reading Scores & ACT Scores Portfolio of High Performing Schools Teacher Quality Math & Science and Literacy Home Visitation Quality Early Childhood Education Community Learning Centers Incorporate student services into learning through networks of high quality services providers in the following areas: College Retention Ultimate Outcome: College Gradua-tion Resiliency Collaboratives Mentoring Physical/Mental Health Business P-ships Youth Employ-ment After-School Arts Education Family Engage-ment Community Report Card to monitor progress toward meeting ultimate outcomes Student Dashboard with academic and student support data to enable personalized learning for each child

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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 outcomes Create network of providers around each priority Innovation & 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

8. Strive: Implementation & Development Sites Portland State University Portland, Oregon P E P California State University – East Bay Hayward, California Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis Indianapolis, Indiana Strive - University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio California State University – Fresno Fresno, California Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia E E P Arizona State University Mesa, Arizona University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico C M M University of Memphis Memphis, Tennessee Implementation Site (EPIN) Development Site (EPDN) University of Houston Houston, Texas C

9. 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 • Living Cities 2009 Annual Report – Describes Living Cities’ investment in the launch of Strive-like initiatives in five additional citieswww.livingcities.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 Additional Information about Strive Presented by FSG Social Impact Advisors www.fsg-impact.org