1. Ready by 21 Quality Counts Site Lead Meeting Highlights from Year One

2. © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008. Ready by 21 and the Ready by 21 Logo are registered trademarks of the Forum for Youth Investment. Shared Successes & Opportunities Some type of cross-sector “master plan” or comprehensive youth agenda is being developed or refined in 6 communities and 3 states. Such efforts go by different names and happen under different auspices. Austin “compact” Grand Rapids “Youth Master Plan” Georgetown Divide Ready by 21 Coalition St. Louis Mayor’s Commission on Children, Youth and Families Columbus, IN Council for Children Agenda Indianapolis Ready by 21 Quality Counts Steering Committee Iowa Collaborative for Youth Development 5-Year Strategic Plan Kentucky Coordinating Council Strategic Plan New York Integrated County Planning process

3. © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008. Ready by 21 and the Ready by 21 Logo are registered trademarks of the Forum for Youth Investment. Shared Successes & Opportunities 11 of 13 sites are now trained in the YPQA and are actively conducting assessments. Plans are in place to initiate YPQA training in the 2 remaining sites in early 2009. 650 people trained in the YPQA last year across sites. Assessments occurred or underway in roughly 200 programs across the country. Professional development capacity has increased substantially in most sites, reaching more youth workers with new content. Many sites now have trainers cross-trained in both Advancing Youth Development and Youth Work Methods. Efforts to better document the programmatic landscape are underway in 6 sites and upcoming in another 3.

4. © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008. Ready by 21 and the Ready by 21 Logo are registered trademarks of the Forum for Youth Investment. Cool, Unique Stuff In Iowa, the Department of Human Services foster care youth advisory boards were assessed using the YPQA, and the Department of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning trained all of their grants management staff to use the YPQA on site visits. In Austin the Ready by 21 Coalition is facilitating a “community compact” between agencies around shared outcomes and indicators and pooling of resources to support quality improvement and landscape mapping. As part of a Community Mapping effort in Tulsa, conversations between TASCI, the Union and the public school transportation department resulted in 25 busses being offered for OST routes. RIASPA and partners in Rhode Island are developing a process by which students who participate in approved OST opportunities can receive credit towards graduation.

5. © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008. Ready by 21 and the Ready by 21 Logo are registered trademarks of the Forum for Youth Investment. More Cool, Unique Stuff In Kentucky, the state Department of Education was so excited about the YPQA Basics training that they hired the Center to come and provide additional training for large numbers of staff. Broome County, New York is working with a research Center at University of Binghamton to do a social network analysis of 7 agencies using the YPQA. Study will look at communication between youth workers, programs and orgs. The Sacramento region is kicking off a workforce initiative in March in partnership with the local employment training agency that intentionally links youth work with other human services professions to maximize awareness, advocacy, impact. On the Georgetown Divide in CA, school teachers and administrators have been trained in the YPQA which is now being used to assess classrooms (in addition to OST environments).

6. © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008. Ready by 21 and the Ready by 21 Logo are registered trademarks of the Forum for Youth Investment. More Cool, Unique Stuff McCoy in Indianapolis launched “Allied for Youth” – a social networking site (similar to facebook) for youth development professionals, http://alliedforyouth.ning.com.http://alliedforyouth.ning.com Oasis Center in Nashville is developing a new web site, www.qualitycountsnashville.com that will facilitate communication and be used to conduct periodic surveying of youth workers. www.qualitycountsnashville.com Grand Rapids is preparing to launch a survey of frontline youth workers that they want to use to help illustrate and analyze the local economic impact of this workforce.

7. © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008. Ready by 21 and the Ready by 21 Logo are registered trademarks of the Forum for Youth Investment. More Cool, Unique Stuff In Columbus, two large child care centers flooded this summer resulting in issues of capacity, affordability and quality arose. In response, to the crisis, a diverse range of new voices joined the “Community Conversation on Child Care” initiated by the Council for Youth Development. St. Louis Public Schools Community Education is so engaged with the YPQA process that they are using it for program design and plan to integrate it across all community services. School’s Out Washington is soon to release a comprehensive statewide study of after-school supply and demand that will be used to inform advocacy and planning efforts.

8. © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008. Ready by 21 and the Ready by 21 Logo are registered trademarks of the Forum for Youth Investment. Common challenges Ensuring buy-in and traction for big picture planning Addressing ongoing fragmentation (between systems, providers, initiatives) Providing adequate pacing and support for agencies engaged in program improvement Sustainability and the current financial context

9. © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008. Ready by 21 and the Ready by 21 Logo are registered trademarks of the Forum for Youth Investment. Sustainability You all know the bad news. Here’s the good news: 81% of you surveyed this fall said you anticipated the YPQA would be used for assessment and planning 3 years from now. 42% of you surveyed said quality data produced by YPQA was currently being used by decision-makers in your community or state. In several communities and states, language recommending or requiring quality assessment has been integrated into RFPs or funding guidelines. Most sites have successfully engaged and trained strategically placed individuals and organizations in order to embed quality improvement within existing structures/processes.

10. © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008. Ready by 21 and the Ready by 21 Logo are registered trademarks of the Forum for Youth Investment. Sustainability Sites are approaching sustainability in a range of creative ways. Distinct (but overlapping) strategies include: ENHANCING. Using new expertise and/or tools to strengthen capacity building work already underway in a given place. EMBEDDING. Building quality improvement work into existing policies/structures. CONNECTING. Linking quality improvement work to a specific “moving train” or strategic initiative. POOLING. Asking organizations to contribute resources to support intermediary functions such as quality improvement.