Ready News: July 25, 2019

Moving Toward Equity: A Thought Leader Conversation with Hal Smith

Free Conference Call and Discussion
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
2:00pm – 3:00pm EDT

How can we move toward real educational equity? How do we define what that means? What does social and emotional learning have to do with it? And why are some advocates cautious of the push for SEL?

Join us for this exciting and provocative thought leader session featuring the Forum for Youth Investment’s Karen Pittman and the National Urban League’s Hal Smith as they tackle these questions and more. The Forum is committed to increasing access to high-quality, equitable learning environments, and is working closely with the National Urban League to move these ideas forward and develop a more interconnected and actionable definition of educational equity.

This call will highlight 12 equity indicators that were used to evaluate state-level education plans, highlighted in the recent National Urban League report titled “Standards of Equity & Excellence: A Lens on ESSA State Plans.” This conversation will help hone your understanding of educational equity and excellence, by sharing data to sharpen your understanding of inequities, and profiling some examples of how these inequities can be addressed. Learn more about how we can work together to expand the definition of where and when learning happens, and how to effectively develop and apply an equity lens in your work.

Register today!

With New Program, Strategy, How to Establish Your Decision-making Process
Blog by Larry Pasti, Senior Director, The Forum for Youth Investment

Larry Pasti, who serves as Senior Director with the Forum’s Big Picture Approach Training & Consulting Team, recently reflected on how to select and effectively implement new programs and strategies in a Youth Today blog post.

Here’s a brief excerpt:

Have you ever been to a conference or attended a webinar and left impressed with the program or strategy you just heard? Walked away saying “I want one of those for my community.” I know I did years ago.

Recently I heard this effect described as “plopping” – bringing back new programs and “plopping” them in your community – whether they are a good fit or not. Before launching a new program or strategy, consider the below points to help define, and take action on, “what works.”

Read the rest of the blog.

Nominations Open for the American Express Leadership Academy’s 2019 Converge Academy 

Do you know a rising leader in your field who is eager to meet and learn from others in the social impact space? Are YOU one of those leaders? Introducing The Converge Academy, the first American Express Leadership Academy with an open-source nomination process. Twenty-four emerging nonprofit leaders will be selected to convene in Brooklyn, NY, where they will learn from each other and the Center for Creative Leadership’s experts.

Learn more and apply today.

The deadline to apply is August 15.

Karen Pittman Featured on the Grow Kinder Podcast Series

Social-emotional skills, such as empathy, emotion management, and positive communication, are important inside and outside classroom walls. Their impact continues long after students leave school and enter society. Grow Kinder is a first-of-its-kind social-emotional learning podcast featuring conversations with thought leaders in education, business, tech, and the arts who all have one thing in common: a dedication to growing kinder and helping others do the same.

The most recent episode features the Forum’s president and CEO Karen Pittman. Karen shared how she became interested in youth development, what creates an optimal learning environment for children, and the power that educators have to shape how young people learn.

Listen to the episode.