Grad Nation Action Forum held as part of effort to reduce the nation’s dropout rate
9/21/2009
By Cynthia Hobgood
America’s Promise Alliance brought together community teams, national partners and funding partners – all committed to the goal of helping the nation cut the dropout rate in half by 2018 – for the Grad Nation Action Forum September 16-18 in Washington, D.C.
The Alliance has been working with local chapters of partner organizations to help increase graduation rates in featured communities, which are areas where the challenge and opportunity for change are the greatest. Current communities include Atlanta; Chicago; Detroit; Houston; Indianapolis; Jackson, Miss.; Louisville; Nashville; New Orleans; New York City; Oakland, Calif.; and Washington, D.C. Alliance partners and their local affiliates provide leadership for this initiative, working collaboratively with local business, government, faith organizations, social service providers, and other organizations to develop shared goals, strategies, and initiatives to support youth and improve graduation rates.
These communities were all represented at the Action Forum, which was created to encourage participants to share best practices, network and build local and national alliances, learn from leading experts, explore innovative ideas and participate in other interactive learning opportunities. Forum participants obtained tools, tactics, and ideas needed to support their work on behalf of young people moving forward.
“The real goal for this forum is number one, to catch this momentum and spirit and bottle it up and take it home,” said Marguerite Kondracke, Alliance president & CEO, in her opening address at the forum. “This needs to be a true movement, not just a meeting. Help us raise awareness. Help us learn from each other. Share what you’re doing. Let’s share best practices. Let’s share a vision for where this work can go. Let’s share this spirit of collaboration.”
Topics included school/community partnerships; business as a vital stakeholder; organizing a successful collaborative; the economic benefit of improving high school graduation rates; parents and family engagement; service as a strategy for innovation and impact; and using data to drive change.
Some of the nation’s leading voices in education, youth development and service addressed attendees including Alma Powell, Alliance Chair; Brian Gallagher, President & CEO, United Way Worldwide; Ben Hecht, President & CEO, Living Cities; Sonal Shah, White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation; Governor Bob Wise, President, Alliance for Excellent Education; Jane Quinn, Assistant Executive Director for Community Schools, The Children’s Aid Society; Martin J. Blank, President, Institute for Educational Leadership; Robert Balfanz, PhD, Co-Director, Everyone Graduates Center, Johns Hopkins University; and many more.
Attendees also had the opportunity to meet and hear from leaders of funders and corporations including Kathy Havens Payne, Senior Director of Education Leadership, State Farm Insurance; Margaret McKenna, President, Wal-Mart Foundation; Ralph Smith, Executive Vice President, Annie E. Casey Foundation; Sydney Rogers, Executive Director, Alignment Nashville; Bill Shore, Director of U.S. Community Partnerships, GlaxoSmithKline; and Carol Thompson Cole, President & CEO, Venture Philanthropy Partners.
Using a format that included interactive work zones, the Resource Summit provided event participants with the opportunity listen to presentations from several Featured Community teams and then engage with collaborative leaders around the work they’re doing, the challenges they’re facing, and the resources they need.
The Action Forum was supported by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service, and funding from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation made attendance and travel of the young leaders possible.
The event also included the release of new data relative to the financial burden of losing 1.3 million students annually. Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former Governor and Congressman from West Virginia, discussed the actual costs communities bear as a result of lower graduation rates. Governor Wise will share new data that shows the cost savings community could benefit from by ensuring more students complete high school, along with tips for how to use the data when reaching out to policymakers and others.
Closing keynote speaker, Johnnetta Cole, President Emerita, Spelman College and Bennett College for Women, gave an inspirational speech the encouraged the audience to return to their communities and continue changing the lives of young people.
“This movement that we are in – to help keep our promises to our children and to focus in particular on this question of the dropout rate – this is really about living, breathing folk," said Johnnetta Cole, President Emerita, Spelman College and Bennett College for Women. "It’s not about how many youngsters dropped out. It’s not about that statistic. It’s about a real child. It’s about a girl. It’s about a boy. It’s about all of us.”