by Bill Crim
CEO
In March, United Way of Salt Lake (UWSL) became an official member of StriveTogether, a national collective impact initiative which now includes 63 community partnerships from 32 states and Washington, D.C — all working to connect cross-sector leaders to improve education outcome for kids. This connects UWSL to more than 9,450 organizations to impact more than 5.9 million students as a member of this StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network.
As part of the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network, UWSL has access to resources and tools designed to help communities implement StriveTogether’s nationally recognized cradle to career collective impact approach, known as the Theory of Action. UWSL now also has a connection with communities across the country to share knowledge and learn from successes, failures, and insights as each community works to align resources around improving education outcomes.
“Across the country, Network members are improving student-level outcomes through StriveTogether’s collective impact method,” StriveTogether Managing Director Jeff Edmondson said. “Each of these communities, and the Network as a whole, are committed to putting the child at the center of their work. We are excited to welcome United Way of Salt Lake’s Promise Partnership to the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network.”
To join the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network, UWSL met a set of quality benchmarks that indicate it has engaged a cross-sector group around a common education vision. UWSL also demonstrated its ability to support the creation of a sustainable infrastructure to drive change, and committed to being accountable for improving an identified set of academic outcomes.
