C2C Connects | Vol. 5 | March 2024
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Direct from the Exec.
Happy Spring! The buds on the bushes and trees and tulips sprouting from the ground are currently covered in a few inches of snow but isn't that Spring in Minnesota?! Still, we can be assured that the seasons WILL change and fresh, new life will appear. That is also how it feels at Cradle 2 Career! Fresh, new life is appearing!
Since the approval of our strategic plan in August, we have been hard at work refining and implementing our plan. Our Networks and Parent Council have spent countless hours understanding our local data and determining what their next steps should include. From there, each group has set forth a prioritized plan for implementing pilots and measuring their effectiveness. From understanding the barriers and recommendations from our codesign processes focusing on Social Emotional Learning and access to adequate prenatal care to implementing a pilot to increase FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) completion for youth planning their post-secondary journeys, our networks are working collectively to address systemic barriers in our community. And, working collectively is one of our major priorities!
Cradle 2 Career was created as a community-wide initiative that works to improve educational outcomes for every child in Rochester by transforming the way partners work together. While 2023 was a year to set our collective plan and strategy, 2024 is the year that we are focusing on partnerships and transforming the way that our partners work together. In this edition, you will read about the work of each of our networks and the specific focus of embedding family and youth voice into everything that we do.
It is amazing to think that most of this work started after the approval of our strategic plan in August! That is seven months of focused, intense work for many who have other full-time jobs and commitments. I am beyond grateful to each of our partners, our network conveners, and our parent council members for the time they have dedicated to plan for systems change in our community. The work of changing systems is a slow process and requires communities to come together to address issues and barriers that keep some populations from realizing success.
We cannot be dissuaded by the time and effort it takes to transform systems. There is always something that we can do together to ensure that all children and young adults succeed cradle to career. And Spring reminds us of this. In the words of one of my favorite authors, L. M. Montgomery, “That is one good thing about this world…there are always sure to be more springs!” Thank you for supporting Cradle 2 Career! It takes each and every one of us to do this work.
Kindly, Julie Ruzek, Executive Dirctor
DATA UPDATES
By Noah Shore, Data Analyst
This month the Data and Research department has had a lot of projects progressing forward. One of the exciting projects that has made progress is the STOP grant. This project is attempting to understand school safety from all perspectives. By the end of this project, we hope to have some changes that can be implemented to improve schools’ safety. In collaboration with the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), the UMN Masonic Institute of the Developing Brain (MIDB), and Lourdes High School we have begun gathering parent and student feedback! With a team from UIC, we attended the Lourdes parent-teacher conferences on March 11th. We asked parents to sign themselves and their students up for the survey so that we can begin to collect student voices about their school's safety. We will continue allowing parents and students more opportunities to fill out the survey to increase feedback. After the survey has been conducted we will invite parents and students to participate in focus groups to get more information on responses to the survey. We look forward to working with families to help understand how school safety is perceived and what areas can be improved.
Another project that has made some exciting progress is our Early Childhood Education Resource Hub. This is an addition to our new website in collaboration with Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association (IMAA) that will house information for early childhood in Rochester. We are currently developing the resource hub and are working with families in our community to help improve the design, navigation of and resources available on the page. Some things that we are including in the resource hub are school sign-up deadlines, screening information and dates, scholarship opportunities for families, and other resources.
We have also been gathering a lot of data for our networks and pilots. We have been collecting indicator data for our community in the areas in which we are working. These include data and trends in access to prenatal care, pre-k developmental progress, and high school graduation rates. These data are tracked to understand our community and identify areas we can use collective impact. This understanding will also be hosted on our new website! We have also been able to help the community schools in Rochester gather data to apply for new funding. Finally, we are also excited to announce the reinvigoration of our Research Subcommittee. The members of this group will help us to make sure that we are up to date with the most current research and data practices to support the growth and development of our initiative.
NETWORK UPDATES
By Winnie Godi, Network Facilitator
Prenatal to Age 3 Network
As we transition into spring, our newest network, Prenatal to 3, will complete its initial co-design process. Through the voices of community members and partners, we have explored access to adequate prenatal care for the past three months. We specifically focused on three populations:
pregnant or formerly pregnant persons
• aged 15-19
• with less than a high school education
• who identify as Black/African American
The process is set to end at the beginning of April. We will develop a report outlining the findings and suggested recommendations. The report will include an introduction describing why Cradle 2 Career and convener Olmsted County Public Health Services pursued this project. It will also include the data behind the process and the steps we followed. Finally, one of the most significant sections of the report will consist of the barriers/themes and solutions/recommendations identified by the co-design participants.
We are excited to develop and share a report that will bring authentic voices to the forefront. We will inspire and mobilize partners and community members to collaborate and act upon the recommendations. Ultimately, seek to collectively create a community where all pregnant persons can access adequate prenatal care in Olmsted County. Our next step is to convene the Prenatal to 3 Network to discuss the recommendations and implement new pilots to tackle the identified barriers and potential solutions.
Transitions to Kindergarten Network
(formerly known as “Kindergarten Readiness”)
Our Transition to Kindergarten Network has made so much progress over the last three months! Between the co-design process and the pilots we are working on, there are many initiatives that we are excited to share. In late January, the T2K Network met for a full-day retreat. They spent time hearing the hopes and dreams of the Parent Council and implementing their voices into the network’s strategic plan. From the retreat, small workgroups formed around three pilots:
• Whole Family Systems (WFS) Early Childhood Resource Hub
• Minnesota Department of Education’s Successful Learner Equation
• Childcare Recommendations
The WFS Early Childhood Resource Hub is a partnership between the Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association (IMAA) and Cradle 2 Career (C2C) as well as other network partners. It will be a webpage housed on the C2C website, providing links to resources, a timeline for early childhood education registration and scholarships in Rochester, an activity calendar for families to use with their little ones, plus more! The group is currently gathering feedback from network members on their first drafts of the webpage and calendar. This feedback will inform the changes to the hub before piloting it out into the community with families and gathering their feedback.
After shifting from “kindergarten ready” to “successful learner” language, the network identified that they would like to do more than just use different language. They determined that working with families, schools, programs, and communities is essential to support every child entering kindergarten based on their unique abilities and individual qualities. Over the next year, the SLE workgroup will assess beliefs about being “kindergarten-ready” and a “successful learner.” They want to center the voices of the people most impacted by the current language around kindergarten and the systems in which that language exists. By completing a human-centered design project, we hope to inform the network’s initiatives on communicating the successful learner equation with the community.
It has been nearly half a year since Cradle 2 Career published the Childcare Insights Report and nine recommendations for childcare. We have had an overwhelming response to the report and have had conversations with community partners on addressing the recommendations. Within the Transition to Kindergarten Network, a small workgroup has been diligently working to identify what work currently exists around the recommendations, where there is a potential to do additional work, and where there may be alignment with the Great Start Task Force of MN’s recommendations. The group is currently looking at collective grant applications that addresses the childcare crisis in our community and is advocating for childcare policy, program and resource allocation changes with leaders across the community.
In mid-March, we completed our social-emotional learning co-design. Our co-design participants worked hard to have conversations over the past four months with people they are connected to. Their discussions led us to identify specific barriers and solutions to accessing and utilizing social-emotional learning strategies both at home and in childcare settings. Similar to the adequate access to prenatal care co-design in the Prenatal to 3 network, we will develop a report with recommendations and look forward to sharing it with the community and the network. This report will be used in the network to determine next steps.
High School Graduation Network
The past few months have been filled with exciting developments! As a network, we revisited our current pilots. We identified work groups that exist and are focused on 21st Century, STOP, and the Student Data Summit. From there, we discussed other opportunities to take collaborative action. We will continue to reassess pilots regularly to strengthen their effectiveness.
Our newest pilot, FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) Completion has just begun! The network has a goal of increasing FAFSA application completion by working with community based organizations, students and families. More information on this will be included in our next newsletter. The network is also researching other potential pilots around “Attendance Matters” and “Student Work.” We are working collaboratively to gain collective knowledge and discover what these pilots may look like within Rochester and for impacted students and families. We are enthusiastic to communicate developments with you very soon!
PARENT COUNCIL
By Beth Martinez, Parent Advocate
One key strategy that has greatly contributed to our success in disrupting systems and working toward systems change is the active involvement of our Parent Council members in our current work. Having our Parent Council members as essential parts of our planning, training sessions, and presentations has allowed us to align our networks, families, and community work more effectively. Their insights, experiences, and commitment are and have been invaluable.
In January, a member of our Parent Council and I had the privilege of attending the Rochester Public School Family Engagement meeting. The event was attended by Rochester educators, parents, and community members. We presented on "Fostering Family Partnerships" and it was very well received! The opportunity to showcase the importance of strong family-school relationships resonated deeply with the attendees.
Our Parent Council meetings each month have been great! The enthusiasm, curiosity, and willingness to learn shown by our council members has been truly inspiring. Two of our members took the initiative to volunteer and present at our Transition to Kindergarten Full Day Retreat. Their heartfelt and genuine insights resonated deeply with the audience, providing a unique perspective that enriched the network’s work process. The positive reception from network members reinforced the importance of having our Parent Council actively involved in our collective community work.
Moreover, this involvement has led to a wonderful exchange of information and ideas. We have had network members attending our Parent Council meetings to share their perspectives and updates. This exchange of insights ensures that our work remains firmly grounded in the needs and aspirations of our community. The connections made between our Parent Council and our networks have proven to be invaluable in guiding our collective efforts.
As an organization, one of our core values is centered around the belief that the voices of our youth are essential in shaping our work. With this in mind, we have been working to connect with young people across our community. This outreach has taken us into classrooms and youth groups across the community, providing us with the opportunity to listen to their thoughts, concerns, and aspirations. The feedback we have received has been both enlightening and empowering. Some of the insights shared by our youth have been instrumental in shaping the direction of our High School Network. By incorporating the youth’s perspectives into our work, we are ensuring that our efforts are not only relevant but also responsive to the needs of our young people. This commitment to youth engagement reinforces our dedication to fostering an inclusive and participatory approach to community development.
Looking ahead, we are excited about the possibilities that the coming months hold. We are planning to keep building our connections between our networks and the Parent Council as well as our youth connections.
We Are C2C - Community Highlights
Heather Willman
Role within C2C: I am a convener for the High School Graduation Network
Professional or organizational affiliation outside of C2C: Rochester Public Schools
What are your hopes and dreams for the work of C2C? My hope for Cradle 2 Career is that we can leverage the power of community to help ensure access and opportunity for all students.
What have you learned from your time with C2C? I have learned that the best solutions come when there are multiple perspectives looking at how to solve problems.
Nita Martinez
Role within C2C: Parent Council Member
Professional or organizational affiliation outside of C2C: Phlebotomist at Mayo Clinic
What are your hopes and dreams for the work of C2C? My hopes and dreams for youth in our community is for them to be confident in themselves and achieve anything they put their mind to.
What have you learned from your time with C2C? A lot is going on in the school districts trying to be better for our kids and there are a lot of resources and programs out there that can help you like scholarships for daycare, etc.
Yvette Ilunga
Role within C2C: High School Mentee
Professional or organizational affiliation outside of C2C: Student at John Marshall High School
What are your hopes and dreams for the work of C2C? My hope and dreams for my own future is to work in a profession that gives back to my community and become an inspiration for others.
What have you learned from your time with C2C? The importance of high quality communication efforts!
Look Out for the New & Improved C2C Website!
By: Angalee Schmidt, Communications Manager
We are thrilled to unveil our brand new Cradle 2 Career website in the coming weeks! It will serve as a comprehensive digital hub for all the important work our initiative does in the community. This new website will be the go-to source for information about C2C's mission, impact areas, partners, data insights, and future plans.
The website will house detailed data on the key indicators we track across the C2C initiatives from early childhood through post-secondary education and career readiness. Interactive visualizations will allow you to explore the metrics driving our collective efforts. You'll also find spotlights on the amazing partners who make this work possible through their collaboration and alignment.
In addition we will launch the new Family Systems Early Childhood Resource Hub right on the website this summer. The hub will be a one-stop shop for local families to find high-quality childcare, preschool, and early learning opportunities mapped to their needs and location.
Look out for more announcements and updates related to the website on our social media! Be sure to follow us on all platforms so you don’t miss a thing!
Upcoming Events
April 11th: FAFSA Information Night; Rochester, MN
April 15th: Parent Council Meeting; Rochester, MN
April 16th: EPC Day on the Hill; MN State Capitol
April 17th: Transition 2 Kindergarten Network Meeting; Rochester, MN
April 30th: High School Graduation Network Meeting; Rochester, MN
May 1st: Student Data Summit; Rochester, MN
May 6th: Parent Council Meeting; Rochester, MN
May 15th: Leadership Table Meeting; Rochester, MN
Cradle 2 Career is a community-wide initiative that works to improve educational outcomes for every child in Rochester by transforming the way partners work together.
What this means…
We convene partners
We use data
We apply research
We build relationships
We work toward a shared vision
We dismantle barriers
We amplify the voices