2016 Impact Summit

Three presentations explore large-scale impact at the community and program levels for youth, concluding with a look at the interrelationships between school performance and neighborhood quality indicators:

1) Exploring the Community Impact of Long-term Investment in Children and Families (Hanson)  The Children's Trust is a dedicated source of revenue established by voter referendum, with the mission to partner with the community to plan, advocate for and fund strategic investments that improve the lives of all children and families in Miami-Dade County. Our 33 member board of directors represents all the major child and youth serving entities and envisions a community that works together to provide the essential foundations to enable children to achieve their full potential. Since 2004, The Trust has invested an average of $100 million annually in community prevention programs for children, youth and families. A recent retrospective look at long-term community indicator trends in 4th grade reading levels, middle school physical activity levels and substance use, teen birth and arrest rates, youth homicides and graduation rates will be discussed in terms of the many transformational investments, policies and collaborations that have taken place over the last decade to support improvements. However, indicators also give us focus and direction to the continuing efforts needed to reach our vision of all children achieving their full potential.

2) Indicators For Success: Dropout Prevention and Positive Youth Development in Middle Schools (Sackman)  FHI 360’s Indicators for Success program trains and prepares middle school leaders, staff, students, families, service providers, and community-based stakeholders in the use of “early warning” indicators that identify young adolescent students who are at risk of dropping out of school prior to high school graduation so that they can effectively provide interventions and supports to keep all students on the path to healthy development and academic and postsecondary success. This presentation identifies highly effective approaches and implementation strategies that help schools effectively use data to match students with tiered supports and interventions, and monitor their development of the knowledge, skills, habits, and mindsets necessary for academic and life success. 

3) Chickens and Eggs: Relationship of Schools and Communities in Houston (King) This presentation examines the impact of school performance on neighborhood quality based on a comprehensive suite of sustainability indicators. Data Science is quickly developing into an important and sexy field, but an interdisciplinary or comprehensive analysis approach is necessary to solve urban problems in a fragmented system of urban governance. This presentation demonstrates an opportunity to comprehensively examine school performance.