Throughout the months of November and December of 2020, the Readiness Projects team committed to “Making the Invisible Visible” – by tackling five thorny issues that need to be addressed in order to Build Forward Together.

Karen Pittman introduces a new project of the Readiness Projects: Build Forward Together.

As part of Nashville After Zone Alliance’s (NAZA) event, Transform Learning, Transform Community: Launching Nashville's Vision, Karen Pittman joined Lily S., a high school Youth Community Leader with NAZA Youth In Action!, in conversation on partnering in youth leadership.

Karen Pittman was honored to join the California Department of Education's Expanded Learning Division and the California AfterSchool Network’s (CAN) 2020 Virtual Expanded Learning Summit. She joined the opening plenary that featured a welcome and introduction with CAN Program Director, Tiffany Gipson and a Town Hall with CDE-EXLD Director, Michael Funk.

Can large, urban school districts successfully run high-quality summer learning programs? If so, how? And what impact can these programs have on students? And how are these programs working in a time of covid and social distancing?

In a three-part webinar series, Afterschool Alliance, American Institutes for Research, and the Readiness Projects team up to highlight evidence-based, trauma-informed practices for afterschool professionals as they serve youth in challenging times.

How do we revolutionize relationships for students in our schools? Karen Pittman explores this idea and the role of community in the second Revolution podcast from the New Teacher Center and The Education Trust.

Karen Pittman joins Meghan Smith and Savannah Ray with Spartanburg Academic Movement to discuss changing the odds so that all children are ready for college, work and life.

Karen Pittman was invited by 4-H to join the Opportunity4all Virtual Forum, kickstarting an important conversation on the need for creating access, equity, and mobility for America’s youth. Karen joined Jennifer Sirangelo, Dr. Dan Gordon, and Dana Bolden for the discussion.

As part of the Collaborating States Initiative, Readiness Projects Partner Karen Pittman joined Nick Yoder and Aaliyah Samuel to discuss the ways in which children and youth serving programs and systems have had to rethink the ways in which they engage their young people and partners in recent months.

In this time of momentous decisions about school re-openings and re-entry, coherent policy solutions require trust, communication, and deep engagement with partners from outside the K12 system. Panelists Paolo DeMaria, Karen Pittman, and Rey Saldaña expressed these ideas on July 16th in the second of Aspen Education’s five webinars built on the publication Recovery & Renewal: Principles for Advancing Public Education Post Crisis.

The Readiness Projects--including the Forum for Youth Investment, the National Urban League and the American Institutes for Research--share their approach to sparking connections and collaboration across the youth fields. Join in to explore ideas and discuss the role of philanthropy in supporting young people’s development.

CASEL CARES is a new initiative from CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) that connects individuals and communities with experts to address how Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) can be most helpful in today’s circumstances. It is important to recognize that the most vulnerable students are at particular risk during this time. As part of the CASEL CARES webinar series, the Education Trust’s John King and the Forum’s Karen Pittman recently offered reflections on existing inequities in education that have been exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic.

The science of learning and development findings help us expand our sights from a focus on the skills we want young people to have (21st Century Skills, Social Emotional Learning ) to a focus on how those skills are developed – HOW learning happens.  It also reinforces the fact that the potential for learning – skill development – is in all children, teens and young adults but is not realized unless we create the right types of experiences.

At least 21 federal agencies support programs and services focused on youth. What does it take to make sure that all of these policies and programs add up to positive, healthy outcomes for young people? For over a decade, the Federal Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs has brought together representatives from these federal agencies to promote achievement of positive results for at-risk youth through coordination and collaboration, evidence-based and innovative strategies, and youth engagement and partnerships.