The Future is Collective Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 2025

Network level These place-based partnerships come together in the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network to make connections, learn best practices, access resources and be part of a powerful movement for change.Action level StriveTogether supports approximately 70 place- based partnerships, which are multistakeholder partnerships committed to eliminating structural inequities to produce better outcomes in a defined geographic area. Each partnership is supported by a backbone organization that provides coordination, data stewardship, policy advocacy and other activities to help achieve community goals.Supporting level StriveTogether’s team of employees codifies the methodology, supports the network, builds the capacity of place-based partnerships and advocates for national policies. Vision: StriveTogether envisions a country where every child succeeds in school and in life, regardless of race, ethnicity or circumstance. StriveTogether expands economic mobility for children by improving cradle-to-career outcomes. Method: StriveTogether supports “place-based partnerships”: initiatives that connect non-profit organizations, businesses, schools, philanthropy and more. Place-based partnerships engage local communities and tap into the unique strengths of the place. Place- based partnerships join the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network to build the civic infrastructure that enables communities to get better results for every child. Communities work through a series of five stages, called gateways, as they seek to transform systems to better serve children and youth. Each gateway has benchmarks for building civic infrastructure, closing disparities and improving outcomes for every child. Principles: StriveTogether provides progressive milestones rather than a prescription for change. Each partnership commits to developing four pillars for their collaboration: 1) shared community vision (a diverse group of people in a geographic area agree on collective changes to produce equitable cradle-to-career outcomes); 2) evidence-based decision-making (data is rigorously collected, analysed, shared and used to take action); 3) collaborative action (partners collectively adopt the tools and processes and build the necessary knowledge and skills to make changes); and 4) investment and sustainability (partnerships have cultural, financial and social assets to support their collaboration over time). Practices: Place-based partnerships use quantitative and qualitative data to uncover the root causes of inequitable and depressed outcomes for children and families. Partnerships then identify practices to address those root causes. These practices are not necessarily new programmes, but rather systems approaches and policies that enable opportunities for sustained transformation. The goal is to identify successful local practices and then scale them to achieve broader policy change.Collective architecture The collective pathway The Future is Collective: Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 56