Taking up Change: Public Sector Adoption of Civic Infrastructure
The StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network reaches nearly one in seven young people aged 0–24 in this country.
To put those young people on a path to economic mobility, network member communities are building what’s called civic infrastructure. Like physical infrastructure — roads, bridges, electrical grids — civic infrastructure creates the connections a community needs to thrive — relationships between sectors, a shared vision, accountability for results.
This civic infrastructure is working to transform the lives of those one in seven young people, but we can’t stop there. StriveTogether’s vision is one where every child succeeds.
There are more than 100 million young people under the age of 24 in the United States. That means there are 85 million more not yet being served by our network. To reach them, we know we need to work together — not only as a network and movement, but as part of something much bigger: an emerging field ecosystem that’s leading the way to re-engineered systems.
In these re-engineered systems, civic infrastructure will ensure that every child can fulfill their dreams. We’ll optimize and equalize the social determinants of health, including education, job opportunities, and access to health care and stable housing. We’ll make sure that young people — no matter who they are or where they’re from — are supported to thrive and contribute in our interconnected world.
We can achieve these goals through public sector adoption, which creates change that is meaningful and lasting. When public officials and governments institutionalize shifts to policies, practices, resources and power structures, communities get better, more equitable outcomes.
During this time of divisiveness, that can sound like a daunting task. How can we get to public sector adoption of a new way of working when it’s hard to get people to agree on anything?
Across the country, Cradle to Career Network members are proving it’s possible to work across geography, across organizations and across the aisle to establish lasting change. Read on to learn about a few places where public sector adoption is transforming futures.
Salt Lake City, Utah
In Utah, Promise Partnership of Salt Lake has been leading change since 2014. The Cradle to Career Network member recently earned the StriveTogether designation of Systems Transformation thanks to their strong civic infrastructure. Through strong partnerships, effective use of data and resources, and impactful advocacy, Promise Partnership has ensured a brighter future for the region — and their work isn’t over.
“We have seen 67% of our regional outcomes improving since 2014, and 52% of the disparity gaps that we measure have been closing,” says Amy Ahrens Terpstra, chief impact officer at United Way of Salt Lake. “And, we need to do better. We’re not satisfied until every individual in Utah is secure, economically mobile and thriving.”
One community in the region, South Salt Lake, is embedding this way of working into their government to ensure its sustainability.
“We saw the work of Promise Partnership and realized we needed it to be a department in our community, in our city,” said South Salt Lake Mayor Cheri Wood. “We really wanted to make sure that this work was institutionalized in our community and felt the best way to do that moving forward was to make it a city department.”
In the City of South Salt Lake, Promise South Salt Lake is committed to giving all youth the opportunity to succeed. The initiative provides dynamic, highly specialized community and out-of-school-time programming at 14 neighborhood centers throughout the city. This free programming is open to all and emphasizes equity, diversity and putting children first. Making it a department at the city level helps ensure continuity of the work and access to resources, building it directly into the city’s civic infrastructure for years to come.
Texas
In 2017, Texas ranked 37th among all states in education funding. Meanwhile, student outcomes were falling short of state goals: Only 22% of Texas eighth graders were achieving a postsecondary credential six years after their scheduled high school graduation, and postsecondary completion rates for students from low-income households stood at just 12%.
Among those joining forces to transform this system were four StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network members: The Commit Partnership in Dallas, E3 Alliance in Austin serving Central Texas, RGV Focus in the Rio Grande Valley and UP Partnership serving Greater San Antonio.
The result of their work, known as House Bill 3 (HB3) was signed into law in June 2019. The law represents an investment in education and educators of $6.5 billion. With the law’s passage, the state’s share of total public education funding jumped by $6.5 billion every two years. Its share of pre-K-12 funding increasing from 38% to 45%.
The bill supports teachers and rewards excellence, focuses on learning and improving student outcomes, increases funding and equity, and reduces and reforms property taxes and recapture. This monumental achievement ensures that the network members’ data-driven advocacy is making a difference for students across the state, with the resources and policy needed to back up change.
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Launched in 2016, Cradle to Career Network member Bridgeport Prospers’ Baby Bundle was developed to increase the number of children in the city reaching developmental milestones by age 3. The program focuses on addressing the city’s health disparity gaps through a civic infrastructure centered on improving outcomes.
Since its launch, the initiative has expanded beyond its original network of community partners, currently including more than 40 diverse groups of stakeholders and serving several thousands of families. And that’s just the beginning for this work.
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds will allow Bridgeport Prospers to scale up its existing array of Baby Bundle services. The additional federal relief funding will expand home visiting services and developmental screenings for caregivers and families across Connecticut, potentially impacting nearly 14,000 newborns and families throughout the state.
Leaders from their partnership have also planned to intensify their efforts in a range of other support services, including literacy programs, universal supports for parents, increased infant and toddler care, and access to data that will better support decision making.
Earlier this year, Connecticut leaders announced that they would allocate a significant portion of the state’s ARPA funding to introduce large-scale community services for children and families, including universal home visiting. Bridgeport Prospers will be a key partner in this effort and has already deployed its strong civic infrastructure to help state and local leaders plan for a rapid and equitable distribution of funds.
“The work that Bridgeport Prospers is already doing through their Baby Bundle program is truly a model for Connecticut and was part of the inspiration for the state’s proposal for universal home visiting,” said Beth Bye, commissioner for the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood. “They are leading with a results-based approach and their strategy is grounded in research. It is a smart move to support programs that are already effective and improving outcomes for children and families in our state.”
California
Civic infrastructure was once thought of solely as a framework for cities or regions. Now, it’s taking hold across states. The California Cradle to Career Coalition is one of 13 (and counting) state coalitions advocating for policy change to improve cradle-to-career outcomes — and their work is being noticed.
The Coalition joins together Cradle to Career Network members and Promise Neighborhoods, another group of communities supporting outcomes for kids and families. Their advocacy saw a big win in spring 2022 when, for the first time, Promise Neighborhoods were included in the California state budget. This creates a $12 million investment in cradle-to-career work across the state and opens the door for further advocacy.
Typically, government speaks in programs. The work of the Cradle to Career Network is approach rather than programs, which makes investments like the one in California strong validation points for the work to build civic infrastructure. Now, the work of StriveTogether and the network is to prove the wisdom of these investments by getting to better, more equitable outcomes at scale.
It took hundreds of years for the racist, oppressive systems in which we operate to be built and it’s going to take years for us to dismantle and re-engineer systems to support kids more equitably. As we look to the future, we hold our end game in sight: transforming systems at all levels so that they ensure that every child has every opportunity to thrive. We will achieve this goal.
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