United Way Press Advisory
United Way awards two grants for local Cradle to Career efforts
Programs aim to improve student outcomes; eliminate racial, ethnic disparities in education
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 3, 2012
Portland, OR – United Way of the Columbia-Willamette announces two grants to support Cradle to Career, a Multnomah County-wide initiative managed by All Hands Raised that engages business, education, government, community, and nonprofit leaders to improve outcomes for children and youth from birth to age 25. The program’s goals include ensuring every child is prepared to enter school, helping to improve high school achievement rates, and increasing college and career readiness.
The grants were awarded to All Hands Raised (formerly the Portland Schools Foundation) and the Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC) to pursue their work toward the recently-launched initiative.
“Cradle to Career is a catalyst that will help people from birth through employment,” said Jay Bloom, interim President and CEO of United Way of the Columbia-Willamette. “By working together to drive better results in education, we can make sure that that all children, and thus the communities they form, are successful.”
The grants will also help both AHR and CCC to better coordinate existing programs and align the community around shared issues, goals and measurements.
Cradle to Career is the primary focus of All Hands Raised, which was granted $100,000 by United Way. The organization will use the funds to align education systems and social supports with the goal of improving student achievement, particularly among students of color, students in poverty and those who are chronically behind.
The grant will help sustain and broaden AHR’s engagement with a wide range of stakeholders by establishing partnerships and building collaborations linking community and family supports to children and youth success.
To that end, United Way also granted the Coalition of Communities of Color $30,000 to support the work of a collaborative focused on eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in education. The grant will assist the CCC’s work to develop and implement a shared action plan, build agreements, maintain feedback loops and report progress on its achievements.
Formed in 2001, the CCC is an alliance of culturally-specific community based organizations with representatives from six communities of color: African, African American, Asian and Pacific Islander, Latino, Native American, and Slavic. The mission of the CCC is to address the socioeconomic disparities, institutional racism and inequity of services experienced by families, children and communities, and to organize communities of color for collective action resulting in social change to obtain self-determination, wellness, justice and prosperity.
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United Way of the Columbia-Willamette is working to advance the common good in the four-county Portland/Vancouver area by focusing on the basics we all need for success: education, income, and health. We all win when children succeed in school, families are financially stable and independent, and people have good health. Our goal is to create long-lasting changes that prevent problems from happening in the first place. By working together we can create opportunities for a better life and create a stronger community. That’s what it means to LIVE UNITED. Visit www.unitedway-pdx.org.