Featured Communities
Today, barely half of all students graduate on time in the largest public school districts of our 50 largest cities. Many who do graduate lack enough basic skills to be ready for college or the workforce. These twin crises carry enormous consequences not only for the future of our young people but for the American economy as a whole.
Together, America’s Promise Alliance – more than 350 national partners and their local affiliates representing all sectors – is working to help the nation cut the dropout rate in half by 2018. Meeting that goal requires going directly to communities where the needs, but also the opportunities, are greatest. Building on momentum generated by our Dropout Prevention Campaign, we are bringing our national Alliance partners and their local affiliates together with other public and private organizations to build the capacity of 12 communities to better serve their young people. To do this we are building new, scalable frameworks for intensive, collaborative action that changes lives of children at risk by bringing more of the Five Promises into their lives: caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, an effective education, and opportunities to help others.
Mobilizing our partner networks on the ground is a unique strength of our Alliance. We have successfully launched this work in the 12 Featured Communities of Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Jackson, Louisville, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Oakland, and Washington, D.C.
A Featured Community represents a local collaboration or group of partnerships engaging leadership from corporate, philanthropic, government, community-based, and education sectors, as well as the civic community (e.g., parents, youth). Based on the principle that more can be accomplished as an Alliance than can be done individually, both national partners and local affiliates work through the Featured Communities framework in an effort to prepare young people for success in school, work, and life.
Each Featured Community has its own unique challenges and aspirations specific to its region and local context, and America’s Promise Alliance is addressing those issues by providing targeted resources relevant to each of the communities’ needs. Our work encompasses lifting up strategies that support the Five Promises framework for children from early childhood through graduation. An additional focus on both business and youth engagement in these Featured Communities has emerged as a new priority for Year 2 of this initiative, as identified through our first annual evaluation of the project conducted by Duke University. Through the strategies employed by this initiative, we expect to see the following types of mid- and long-term outcomes:
- Leadership in multiple key sectors better leveraging their collective assets to achieve their communities’ stated youth-related goals;
- Amplified awareness and public will for doing better by our young people in these communities;
- Increased access to coordinated services, programs, and activities for youth before and after school and during the summer months;
- And finally, improved high school completion rates with young people prepared for college, work, and life.
A Featured Communities “Implementation Team,” which includes representatives from each of the initiative’s 35+ supporting national Alliance partners, drives this initiative and supports the shared goals, activities, and partner engagement strategies that are key to the initiative’s success on the ground.
America’s Promise Alliance provides technical assistance and facilitates the sharing of promising practices and research-based strategies through webinars, conference calls, in-person convenings, and an online community workspace designed for cross-city, cross-partner networking and project work. Using these networking tactics, the Alliance and these communities are building their capacity to work together like never before to implement realistic solutions to improve outcomes for youth.
By supporting communities through our national resources and on-the-ground partner affiliates in the Featured Communities initiative, we will help the nation meet our goal of cutting the dropout rate in half by 2018 and ensuring that young people graduate with the skills they need for success in college, work and life.
Featured Communities Initiative: Resources & More Information
Briefs about the work of the Featured Communities:
List of the Featured Communities Implementation Team partners
Article about the September 2009 Featured Communities & Alliance Partners Convening (the Grad Nation Action Forum)
Ideas Book – a resource book of all ideas and resources shared by participants and speakers at the Grad Nation Action Forum (September 2009)
Featured Communities Communications Toolkit
Alliance for Excellent Education brief: “The Economic Benefits of Reducing High School Dropout Rates in the 12 Featured Communities”
Words of Promise Community Blog – an online discussion dedicated to community youth-work
View video highlights from the Action Forum on our You Tube page
View photos from the event