A child’s address shouldn’t dictate their future. However, in historically disinvested communities, social and environmental conditions, such as community violence, the availability of safe and affordable housing, and enriching educational experiences and inspiring career pathways create significant barriers to upward mobility.
This session explores an increasingly popular solution to addressing the factors that help or hinder young people’s ability to transcend generational poverty: place-based cradle-to-career strategies. Three national intermediaries – Purpose Built Communities, Strive Together, and Partners for Rural Impact – have codified distinctive models for building high-impact place-based partnerships to collectively shape local conditions so that children are positioned to succeed, from cradle to career.
Place-based cradle-to-career strategies formalize partnerships and align key actors within defined geographic areas, including local government, community-based organizations, health and social service organizations, early childhood educators, post-secondary institutions, and traditional K – 12 school systems, in service of shared goals. This collaborative approach breaks down silos and enables coordination within places with entrenched generational poverty, , allowing communities to meet children’s needs both within and beyond the classroom. By tailoring strategies to the unique circumstances of each community, place-based cradle-to-career strategies aim to unlock the power of local context and create a more equitable and resilient educational landscape.
