All in! coalition

Background and Composition All In! is a public/private coalition focused on addressing the talent gap in the City of Hartford by aligning cross-sector efforts that support Hartford youth towards achieving the goal of post-secondary education completion. Our scope is high school through post-secondary degree completion into the workforce. The idea is that if fewer kids drop out of the pipeline, we can ensure much more efficient use of resources in our city, and in the process make Hartford a Talent Hub for the State of Connecticut. Achieve Hartford! serves as the backbone organization for this coalition. The Steering Committee includes representatives from: The Office of the Mayor Hartford Consortium for Higher Ed Hartford Public Schools CBIA MetroHartford Alliance Hartford Promise Capital Workforce Partners HOYC & MoveUP! (for best practice sharing) The coalition is launching publicly with a call to action for all regional higher education, business, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations with a stake in Hartford’s talent pipeline to sign a compact to share data and align resources to improve results in the high school graduation, post-secondary enrollment, and degree completion rates for Hartford Public School students.

What separates this coalition from others? …our SCOPE Hartford Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (PreK-Gr.3) Hartford Partnership for Student Success (K-12, a special focus on K-8) (High School to and through Post-Secondary into Workforce) (Keeping students on track) ALL IN! Coalition Placement in High-Demand Occupations (Supporting students off track to get back on) Hartford Opportunity Youth Collaborative The All In! Coalition will help the city realize efficiencies in three ways: While others do the important work of assisting youth who fall out of the college and career pipeline, we will keep youths on track to ensure they do not fall out in the first place. When it comes to post-secondary options, we will get youth not just to, but through to completion. The Coalition’s work will focus on helping youth prepare for and enter high-demand careers, locally.

What separates this coalition from others? …OUR PROCESS The All In! Coalition is defined by: A compact which all coalition members must sign committing themselves to share data and align resources; One goal everyone is working backwards from and public progress- tracking towards it; Student-level data-sharing to fully understand the problem and more efficiently target resources; An annual plan of action targeting 1-2 key areas of impact; A communications campaign that builds public demand for better results; and A robust backbone organization with coordination, data, and communications expertise.

Coalition Bold goals The coalition is working to meet three goals by 2025: Increase the four-year graduation rate at HPS high school from 70% to 95%; Increase the post-secondary enrollment rate (within one year of graduation) among those graduates from 58% to 70%; and DOUBLE the six-year post-secondary credential completion rate for those graduates to 50%. By accomplishing these goals, we will close the talent gap experienced by employers in our region, and turn Hartford into Connecticut’s Talent Hub. Youth up to 24 yo Credentials= degrees and certificates

How we got here Two coalitions—the Degree Completion Coalition and the group working on college and career readiness competencies (CCRC)—came together in the fall of 2015 in order to streamline all work in the city meant to impact high school graduation, college preparation, and post-secondary completion. We recognized the abundance of overlap and the need to develop both a stronger orientation towards action and a stronger collective impact-type process, including working backwards from one bold goal, data sharing and tracking, communications, and backbone facilitation. While the coalition leadership team (Steering Committee) has stayed relatively constant, we have now begun to engage corporate and philanthropic partners as compact signers to drive city-wide attention to the work and ensure resource alignment.

Baseline status in hartford

Compact for Members To ensure active participation and progress towards the Goal, all Coalition members must sign a compact committing to: Be knowledgeable about the coalition’s Strategies in Action and be able to articulate the Coalition’s purpose in the larger community; Serve as a champion or ambassador of the Coalition to promote public demand for this work; and Institutionalize support for the Coalition within their organizations. Additional commitments include the following:

Attend bi-monthly meetings of the Steering Committee and quarterly meetings of the larger Coalition membership; Create a Collective Action Plan which sets annual benchmarks towards accomplishing the goals; Coordinate multiple Strategies in Action in accordance with the annual Plan; Produce an Annual Report that articulates how programs in the city more strategically and efficiently allocate resources, and the impact on student outcomes as a result of the Coalition; Allocate staff resources towards communication and data collection to track progress towards the goals Steering Committee members: Attend quarterly convenings each year, including a Summit to engage in a two-way dialogue with the Steering Committee for input and feedback; Share program and outcome data in order to more effectively target intervention, eliminate unnecessary overlap, and allow the Steering Committee to track progress in a public data dashboard; Embrace the Coalition’s Plan and commit to better coordinate services in alignment with it; Coalition members: Partially base funding decisions on grantee participation in the Coalition and response to Coalition’s goals and recommendations; Actively communicate about the importance of investing in building the talent pipeline with other funders Philanthropic Parnters:

Achieve Hartford!: The Backbone Organization A neutral organization who serves as the fiscal agent and provides backend support for the Coalition by: Guiding the vision and strategies of the Coalition Providing technical support to ensure effective process, action plan development, and implementation of activities; Supporting aligned activities Facilitating communication among all of the partners; Aligning public and private resources around collaborative activities that have been shown to improve student outcomes; Connecting and supporting leaders, community members, and activities city-wide; Establishing shared measurement practices Establishing a data management infrastructure to support data-informed decision making among the partners; Showcasing the best, data-informed practices of our partners; Building public will and advancing policy Communicating the work of the Coalition to community members and leaders, funders, and other stakeholders; Mobilizing funding and procuring resources Marshaling investments to support comprehensive, cohesive, and collective action plans to improve student success; Responsibly managing funds leveraged from various community stakeholders; and Monitor mutual accountability system regarding progress toward goals and commitments made in compact. Ensure the development of annual report on progress and performance against benchmarks.

Year One collective action plan Goal: Increase four-year high school graduation rate to 95% Strategy: Support HPS Naviance and Student Success Plan roll out Strategy: Support the Hartford Student Internship Program improvement Goal: Increase post-secondary enrollment rate to 70% Strategy: End Summer Melt through a College Supports Network Goal: Increase post-secondary completion rate to 50% Strategy: Sign a data-sharing agreement to analyze student level data

Ongoing Strategies in Action College Supports Network Initiative: Bring together all local college-prep programs working with high school students as well as student support services professionals at the local colleges to expand the current reach into high schools and colleges and ensure more students are ready for college and complete college. Hartford Promise Initiative: Provide financial resources and support mechanisms to eligible Hartford students in order to ensure that students are college-aware, college-focused, and academically on track for college admission. High School Centers of Innovation Initiative: Implement student-centered learning strategies at 7 Hartford high schools, all with the rigorous use of student success plans, so that every student at these schools is college and career ready. Hartford Opportunity Youth Initiative: Develop and implement four college and career pathways for out-of-school youth and better align the system and infrastructure for ensuring more youth re-engage in their education and workforce. Work-Based Learning Experience Initiative: Increase work-based experience opportunities for students through participation with Hartford Youth Service Corps, Hartford Student Internship Program, Summer Youth Employment Program, and Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG). INROADS & Jobs for America’s Graduates: Connect undergraduate Hartford students at local universities with internships for all three summers during college. Talent Pipeline Development Initiative: Create a system to ensure that educational curriculum at the high school and college level is well aligned to local workforce needs and that students are knowledgeable about and are equipped with the skills for the different pathways to careers in Hartford (Capital Workforce Partners programming, Generation Hartford, Career Navigators, Jobs for America’s Graduates). Hartford Student Internship Plan: Increase work-based experience opportunities for students by placing them with local businesses for internships.