® Ready by 21 St. Louis A Collective Impact Initiative On Behalf of Children, Youth & Young Adults

YOUNG PEOPLE READY FOR COLLEGE, WORK AND LIFE

WHAT DOES IT TAKE? Agreement of Community On A Set Of Common Goals/Outcomes Coordinated/Aligned System of: —Services, opportunities and supports for children and youth from “cradle to career” —Aligned Resources and Investments Strong Leadership

Ready by 21 … Theory of Change Broad Partnerships Big Goals Best Data Bold Actions Coordinated Accessible Well- Attended High Quality Developmentally On Track Productive Connected Healthy & Safe

COMMON OUTCOMES (One Example)

Ready by 21…Theory of Change Broad Partnerships Big Goals Best Data Bold Actions Coordinated Accessible Well- Attended High Quality Developmentally On Track Productive Connected Healthy & Safe

Ready by 21 focuses on the small gear challenging leaders to think differently & act differently… Broad Partnerships Big Goals Best Data Bold Actions Coordinated Accessible Well- Attended High Quality Developmentally On Track Productive Connected Healthy & Safe Moving the small gear makes a BIG difference

Leaders often underestimate the challenge or are ill-equipped to take it on. Tackling ambitious goals without the right partners, insufficient capacity, incomplete data or inadequate tools is a recipe for failure that is repeated by caring and dedicated leaders... Ready by 21 Website (2014) LEADERSHIP

Ready by 21 increases the capacity of leaders to achieve collective impact for children and youth by providing standards, proven tools and solutions, and ways to measure and track success. WHY READY BY 21?

Youth Developing Community Unfocused Community Aligned : Youth initiatives aligned around a core set of shared goals vsFragmented Services: Many youth initiatives with few goals in common Results Oriented : Programs selected or designed with desired results in mind vsConfusion of Means and Ends: Programs that focus on activities rather than results Balanced: Service collaborations that balance healthy development with risk reduction vsCostly: Services focused heavily on risk reduction/treatment/intervention Cooperative: Collaboration among service providers is encouraged & rewarded vsCompetitive: System rewards single- focused services over cooperative efforts of multiple service providers Shared Responsibility: Healthy youth development is shared by parents plus leaders of civic, education, business, faith & youth organizations vsBlame Game: Education and youth service sectors + parents are viewed as primarily responsible for youth outcomes

Ready Youth: Our Most Important Asset

Ready by 21 St. Louis UPDATE  Group of funders committed to support Collective Impact for youth development  The Forum for Youth Investment (FYI) was engaged to conduct assessment of St. Louis readiness for Collective Impact  Report issued with strengths, resources and challenges pertinent to Collective Impact; recommendation to continue  RB21 Leadership Council established w/initial group of leaders  Competitive process to select backbone organization conducted; United Way was chosen to serve in this role  Next phase of RB21 expand the Leadership Council and build the common youth agenda and master plan  Project Director hired

Ready by 21 St. Louis NEXT STEPS  Continue to expand Leadership Council  Raise additional funding for the effort  Coordinate St. Louis and East St. Louis Collective Impact initiatives  Host “Big Picture” training for broad group of community leaders  Identify and build consensus on set of common community-wide youth outcomes