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The Forum for Youth Investment
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Welcome to the April 2008 edition of Ready by 21® Quality Counts Connections. This monthly newsletter keeps site teams aware of important developments related to the initiative. Contact Nalini if you would like team members added or deleted from this mailing list.
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| Updates
Things are really taking off! Nearly all sites now have a detailed plan in place for working with staff from the Center for Youth Program Quality (new joint venture between the Forum and High/Scope Educational Research Foundation) to build capacity in quality assessment and improvement. But that's not all. Here is a snapshot of other kinds of technical assistance sites have taken advantage of over the past several weeks:
- Forum staff travelled to New York and Nashville to introduce key Ready by 21 ideas and make the case for focusing on quality.
- Forum staff provided phone coaching and materials to Indianapolis and Grand Rapids to help plan local convenings.
- Several sites participated in a webinar designed to help get started on program landscape mapping.
- Elaine Johnson advised the Georgetown Divide team on engaging the community college in youth worker professional development.
- Over 50 people across New York were trained in YPQA Basics and External Assessor training.
- Forum staff are working with the Iowa team to plan their upcoming Dropout Prevention Summit.
Reminder - the QIS template was not intended to capture the full range of TA available through Quality Counts. Now that plans for introducing the YPQA are getting clear, we want to talk with you about how other strategies (landcape mapping, surveying youth workers, AYD training, policy/leadership capacity building) connect in and how we can help you implement them. Liaisons are in the process of reaching out to all sites to get more specific about your overall work plans and full range of TA needs.
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Indianapolis. MCCOY, Inc. staff recently headed a few hours down the road to visit Louisville Enhancement Services, the organization that has spearheaded Louisville's landscape mapping work. During their visit staff from these two Quality Counts sites shared ideas around agency buy-in and other critical issues.
MCCOY also recently hosted a Quality Counts kick-off meeting. Approximately 30 key stakeholders were involved including business, law enforcement, faith-based interests, and young people. Most intriguing was the outcome of a Ready by 21 dashboard activity that pointed to major opportunities to improve coordination of services for young people.
New York. On April 1-2, Karen Finn, Senior Fellow at the Forum joined Larry Pasti of the New York Office of Children and Family Services and the Onandaga, Rockland and Orange County Youth Bureaus to kick-off the Quality Counts Initiative. The 140+ partcipants were charged with taking a big picture approach to planning youth services as welll as imporving the quality of those services. The following week, Joe Bertoletti led YPQA Basics and External Assessor trainings for over 50 representatives from all four counties to build capacity to conduct self and external quality assessments.
Nashville, Oklahoma, Grand Rapids also hosted formal events during April to introduce their Quality Counts efforts to key stakeholders in the community. Keep your liaison posted on how your work is unfolding so that we can share information and tools with your peers.
Based on conversations with all of the sites mentioned above, we have summarized advice for effectively convening and supporting a working group or committee in a new Technical Assistance Brief (see Tools and Resources below).
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National Partner Spotlight
The United Way of America. The Forum has been working closely with our Ready by 21 signature partner, the United Way of America, to assist in the expansion of UWA's early chidhood work. UWA is currently in the planning phase of its older youth-focused component: "Ready by 21: Helping Children and Youth Achieve Their Potential."
Brian Gallagher, CEO and President of UWA spoke at the Ready by 21 launch in February and expressed UWA's support for the Ready by 21 Challenge. A transcript of his remarks is available; a video clip will be posted next week on the Forum's web site. Also see this summary of commitments UWA has made to the Ready by 21 national partnership and a concept paper with additional details. Local United Ways across the country will receive a direct communication within the next two weeks articulating UWA's commitment to building the older youth program across the system.
In February, UWA and the Forum received joint funding from the JC Penny Afterschool Fund to support strategies described in the concept paper; activities will get underway once the UWA has hired a manager to lead this initiative. In the short-term, we need to learn more about the work and interests of local United Ways in the Quality Counts sites so that together the Forum and UWA can develop tools and resources to advance your youth-related work.
May 21, 3:30 - 5:00 EST, the Forum will host an interactive Webinar for UW staff in QC sites to learn more about the Ready by 21 Quality Counts initiative and to meet and interact with UW peers working on similar issues. UW staff in each site will receive direct correspondence about this Webinar as well. The Forum will also schedule phone interviews with UW staff to assess levels of involvement in Quality Counts and to find out what resources local United Ways need to be more involved. Once this analysis is complete we can prioritize how and when to offer additional supports (e.g. subsidized slots for trainings).
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Tools and Resources
The Ready by 21 Challenge. "The Challenge" is the definitive guide to the key ideas and resources behind the Ready by 21 Challenge.
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Upcoming Events and Opportunities
Quality and Outcomes Webinar. Back by popular demand, we will offer this webinar again on April 28 from 1:00 - 2:30 EST. Register here for the webinar.
Taking Stock of the Professional Development Landscape. This conference call is for sites interested in conducting some kind of scan of current training and supports available for youth workers. Join us April 24 from 2 - 3:30 EST to share ideas and challenges with colleagues and get advice and tools from Elaine Johnson. To register email nalini@forumfyi.org. If you are interested but unavailable for this call, let Nalini know.
Youth Worker Methods Training of Trainers. The Methods TOT that was to be held in September has been rescheduled for October 28-30 at the High/Scope Retreat & Meeting Center in Clinton, Michigan. The online component will begin on September 29. For information contact Kynisha at kjohnson@highscope.org.
Webinar for United Way staff. On May 21, 3:30 - 5:00 EST, United Way staff in Quality Counts sites are being invited to participate in an interactive webinar to review basic Ready by 21 Quality Counts ideas and to talk with your United Way colleauges about involvement in this work. Please click here to register for the webinar.
Ready by 21 Training. The Forum will conduct a 2-day Ready by 21 training June 27-28 in Washington, D.C., designed for leaders interested in going more in-depth about how to change the way they do business to change the odds for youth. More detailed information including the cost of registration will follow in the next few weeks.
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