Grad Nation Community Spotlight: Jackson hosts a convening
1/19/2012
by Lane Russell
America’s Promise recently convened representatives from ten Grad Nation Communities in Jackson, Miss. Hosted by the United Way of the Capital Area and Operation Shoestring, the purpose of the meeting was to facilitate the sharing of promising practices, provide networking opportunities, and to learn about the successful dropout prevention strategies that have been implemented in Jackson to help students stay in school and graduate from high school prepared to succeed.
America’s Promise holds these convenings to build the capacity of communities to better serve their young people and prepare them for success in school, work and life through collaborative action. The communities attending the meeting in Jackson last month have developed a local group of partnerships engaging leadership from corporate, philanthropic, government, community-based and education sectors, as well as parents and youth in an effort to increase high school completion rates and prepare young people for success in school, work and life.
Grad Nation Communities that were represented at the meeting include: Detroit, Mich.; Durham, N.C.; Houston, Tex; Jackson, Miss.; Louisville, Ky.; Mississippi Gulf Coast, Nashville, Tenn.; New Orleans, La.; Oakland, Calif. and Washington, D.C.
“Having the opportunity to interact with other communities that are doing work similar to the initiatives we are implementing for the children in East Durham is an invaluable way to learn best practices and hear solutions to the challenges currently facing my community,” said David Reese, director, East Durham Children’s Initiative.
Dropout Prevention Work in Jackson
Jackson’s United Way of the Capital Area heads a coalition of 23 partners focused on increasing graduation rates. This coalition has set a goal of reducing the local dropout rate in half by 2018, with the ultimate goal of increasing the graduation rate to 85 percent in Hinds, Madison and Rankin County high schools. Operation Shoestring is a major partner in that work and provides an array of holistic services and programs that impact children, youth and their entire household. Since 2009, Operation Shoestring has coordinated the Lanier Feeder Pattern StampOut DropOut Prevention Coalition to help end the dropout crisis and transform the quality of life of service recipients.
“Hosting America’s Promise and the other Grad Nation Communities in Jackson for this convening allowed us to not only share details on the dropout prevention strategies used in our community on behalf of young people, but also helped increase awareness and engagement among our community members,” said Shawna Davie, director of education initiatives, United Way of the Capital Area.
While in Jackson, the community representatives had the opportunity to learn about the innovative and successful initiatives that the United Way, Operation Shoestring, City of Jackson, Jackson Public Schools and numerous other partners have implemented for the young people they serve across the city. A panel of local youth, moderated by Donna and Jim Barksdale, discussed the high school dropout crisis, what they believe are solutions to ensure more young people graduate and expressed the importance of including young people as part of the solution.
During the convening, community representatives also had the opportunity to hear from many of the local collaborative partners about “One Jackson, Many Readers,” a program to build a city-wide movement to increase reading and learning during the summer months. United Way, Operation Shoestring, Jackson Hinds Library System, Parents for Public Schools and other organizations support this program to prevent summer learning loss. In its first year of implementation “One Jackson, Many Readers,” library participation was up 276% during the summer of 2011 (from 2,117 in 2010 to 5,847 in 2011).
Building on the success from 2011, the goal for this summer is to continue school enthusiasm for reading, solicit additional community resources and support, and use summer reading as a springboard for independent reading across the school year.
An additional focus of the community convening was the partnership between the United Way, Operation Shoestring and Mississippi Public Broadcasting. In 2011, the United Way and Operation Shoestring launched a series of Dropout Prevention Town Hall meetings to give parents, students, administrators, teachers and concerned citizens the opportunity to ask questions, share information and express concerns about education. Through a partnership with Mississippi Public Broadcasting and its American Graduate initiative, the United Way and Operation Shoestring presented Stop the Drop: A Dropout Prevention Summit in November 2011.
Mississippi Public Broadcasting has partnered with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and American Graduate to call attention to dropout prevention in Mississippi.
Grad Nation Communities are committed to ending the high school dropout crisis that affects one in four of our public school children. These communities are at the front line of efforts to help young people succeed in school, work and life. They are part of an initiative launched in September 2011 to recognize communities across the nation for their efforts in support of our Grad Nation campaign. The campaign aims to achieve a 90 percent graduation rate nationwide by 2020, with no high school graduating less than 80 percent of its students.