StriveTogether

Haven't registered for this year's Convening yet? Here's another reason to save your seat in Baltimore — a sneak peek into our second plenary.

From Promise to Practice: Place-Based Solutions

As we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this plenary examines how young people have fared in "the pursuit of happiness" — and who has been left behind. Debt, rapid technology shifts and unequal access to opportunity put that promise out of reach for too many young people.

Joining the conversation:
🎤 George Packer, National Book Award-winning author of The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America and Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal, staff writer at The Atlantic
🎤 Eshauna Smith, National Director of Community Impact, Ballmer Group

Keynote speaker, George Packer, brings decades of on-the-ground reporting and a historical lens tracing the American social contract, offering insight into what place-based partnerships can do to restore opportunity and fulfill the promises of our founding.

Ready to listen in on this conversation? Save your spot in Baltimore. https://hubs.li/Q04sYVQc0

Ready to lead change in your community?

The Leading Change Learning Journey is a free, self-paced series on The Training Hub Powered by StriveTogether that helps you build the self-awareness and systems thinking you need to drive real, lasting change.

✅ 3 self-paced courses
✅ Free to enroll
✅ Live touch points — next session on August 19 with StriveTogether's own Lexy Roberts and Josh Pollack

You'll walk away knowing how to:
🧭 Navigate complexity with self-awareness
🔍 Understand the systems shaping your community
⚡ Lead meaningful change across roles and boundaries with the person-role-system framework

Change doesn't happen overnight, but it does start with you.

Enroll for free today to start your journey. https://hubs.li/Q04sYt_l0

💫 The StriveTogether team is made up of passionate changemakers working behind the scenes to connect, champion and support communities across the country. Each person plays a unique role in helping local partnerships strengthen outcomes for youth and families.

👋 Meet Heidi Black, vice president of training at StriveTogether. She leads the strategic vision and ex*****on of the Training Hub, advancing StriveTogether's goal of building and scaling leadership competencies for leaders of place-based partnerships across the country.

We asked Heidi: What’s one thing about your background or journey that shaped how you approach this work? Here's what she shared 👇

💬 "I was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 5. Learning to read the traditional way — the way that worked for everyone else in my class — did not work for me. I did not have the language for it then, but I learned early that the education system was not built for kids like me to succeed. That experience is why I became a teacher. I wanted to help kids with learning challenges see themselves as capable. It is also what led me to StriveTogether, to join our work to improve education by changing policies, practices and resources so more kids — regardless of their circumstance — are on a pathway to success."

Learn more about Heidi and her work: https://hubs.li/Q04sPpxn0

💫 The StriveTogether team is made up of passionate changemakers working behind the scenes to connect, champion and support communities across the country. Each person plays a unique role in helping local partnerships strengthen outcomes for youth and families.

👋 Meet Chase Willis, accounting specialist at StriveTogether. He manages financial processes that strengthen the organization’s infrastructure and support day-to-day operations. He also plays a key role in audit preparation, ensuring the financial integrity that enables StriveTogether to support a national network of community organizations. Through disciplined financial stewardship, Chase helps ensure that resources are deployed effectively in service of the communities StriveTogether serves.

We asked Chase: What inspired you to join StriveTogether and be part of the cradle to career movement? Here's what he shared 👇

💬 "I was born and raised in Cincinnati, and growing up here, I saw firsthand how much a zip code or a background can shape the opportunities someone gets. That's part of why, when I joined StriveTogether as an intern in 2024 — something about the mission stuck with me, even before I fully understood the scope of it. What's kept me here isn't just the mission — it's the people. This is one of the most genuinely collaborative environments I've been part of. And every day, I get to work toward something that actually helps people, instead of something built to grow a profit margin. That combination, purpose and people, is something that I don't take for granted."

Learn more about Chase and his work: https://hubs.li/Q04stq120

We’re working with EdRedesign to bring an exciting fireside chat to featuring Rob Watson, Executive Director of our lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and our CEO Jennifer Blatz.

It’s no small accomplishment to bring a student across the finish line to graduation and a career, and it takes the work of schools and community programs. Luckily, most communities aren't short on programs to help young people, but they do lack a shared strategy to connect schools to programs, nonprofits, and employers.

Jennifer and Rob will explore how to build that alignment, drawing on insights from Harvard research and over 100 place-based partnerships. Together they’ll explore what it takes to develop a system of shared accountability across independent institutions, what data-sharing agreements can look like to make coordination possible, and ways to build the kind of trust that makes networks stick.

Support our session by voting for us here: https://hubs.li/Q04ssby60

PanelPicker | SXSW Conference & Festivals PanelPicker® is the official SXSW user-generated session proposal platform. Enter ideas and vote to help shape Conference programming for SXSW and SXSW EDU.

Building education-to-employment pathways for students takes an entire region working together: schools, colleges, employers, funders, and local leaders. But that kind of collaboration doesn't happen on its own. It requires governing bodies working behind the scenes to serve as the connective tissue, aligning partners and driving coordinated action.

We’ve put together an exciting panel with our own Jennifer Blatz, Richard Tagle at E3 Alliance, Alex Flores at Austin Regional Manufacturers Association, and former senior reporter Lauren Camera to dig into what that coordination actually looks like on the ground: identifying workforce demand, redesigning pathways around real opportunity, aligning funding and data, and reaching students who are too often overlooked.

You can vote for our panel here: https://hubs.li/Q04sr0fZ0

PanelPicker | SXSW Conference & Festivals PanelPicker® is the official SXSW user-generated session proposal platform. Enter ideas and vote to help shape Conference programming for SXSW and SXSW EDU.

This year's Cradle to Career Network Convening is approaching fast — and we're excited to share a sneak peek into one of our plenaries.

Building the Infrastructure for Impact: How Leaders in Tulsa, Ohio and Tennessee Are Delivering for America's Youth

Across the country, schools, workforce programs and social services often work hard — but in isolation. Our three featured speakers will explore a different path: Nested Civic Infrastructure, a framework connecting local and state work to deliver real results for young people.

Joining the conversation:

🎤 Mayor Monroe Nichols, City of Tulsa
🎤 Michele Jolin, CEO & Co-Founder, Chair of the Board, Results for America
🎤 Stephen Dackin, Director, Ohio Department of Education and Workforce

All three are contributing authors to Do What Works, a new bipartisan collection of essays from governors, mayors, legislators and grassroots practitioners. Expect front-line stories on shared data, aligned funding and sustained leadership — the building blocks putting more young people on a path to economic mobility.

This is exactly the kind of peer learning that fuels our vision of 4 million more young people on a path to economic mobility. You won't want to miss it — register now to join us in Baltimore. https://hubs.li/Q04sfLCm0

Postsecondary enrollment isn't just about college. It covers any path that builds on a high school diploma — a two- or four-year degree, a career and technical education program, a registered apprenticeship, the skilled trades or military enlistment.

But those numbers are stalling. Immediate college enrollment held around 60% for the high school graduating classes of 2023 and 2024 — down from more than 68% a decade earlier, even as the economy increasingly rewards education beyond high school.

The gap shows up in outcomes. As of April 2026, unemployment was 2.8% for people with a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with 4.7% for high school graduates and 6.4% for those without a diploma, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Closing enrollment gaps isn't just an individual win — the Alliance for Excellent Education estimates that closing the college-going gap between underrepresented students and their peers could generate $231 billion in additional GDP and at least $80 billion in new tax revenue nationally.

Strong postsecondary enrollment systems start well before senior year: rigorous coursework, consistent advising, clear information on financial aid and visibility into pathways beyond a four-year degree all shape whether students enroll somewhere that fits them.

📘 Read our full explainer on why postsecondary enrollment matters — and what it takes to build the systems behind it: https://hubs.li/Q04s6XPW0