Moving the needle | Closing the gap program dinner, celebration, and discussion

On February 27, 2020, the Closing the Gap Foundation hosted its Moving the Needle Forward: Program Dinner with Improve Your Tomorrow, College Track, the Sacramento Police Foundation - Criminal Justice Academy, Cosumnes Wolfpack Robotics along with the California Department of Education. Given that many of us have developed, implemented or assessed our efforts to close the academic and or career gaps across a number of communities (local, state and or national), it is increasingly evident that while there have been gains over the years, far too many of our Latino, African American and economically disadvantaged white children are still lagging behind and or “failing out” of our P/K-12 educational institutions.

The purpose of this meeting was to provide Non-profit agencies funded in part by CTG, the members of the CTG Board and statewide educational policy makers to engage in a critical dialogue and response to the challenges and potential opportunities that we could partner or collaborate.  Each of us began by sharing information about the services and activities offered, challenges faced, and possibilities for the future either within their programs or as a collective.  

The following strategic planning models were used to uncover and engage the group in a critical dialogue. Design Thinking and SWOT analysis were used to help the group recognize the common thread that each of us have, even if we use different approaches or activities. While not initially stated, we ultimately recognized that given all the advances being made individually, while notable and successful with and for those we serve, these questions still remain:

1. What might we be able to do to scale up our outreach, if we took the best of what we each?
2. Rather than intervening before the challenge surfaces, should we not address the issues or factors that create the need for children to receive additional support after the fact?
3. What type of things might we do to move the needle forward, that we have not postured before, because we were too busy getting students engaged in?

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Over the course of the evening, the common goal was rather simple.  Whether you are a non-profit, a philanthropic or government/educational entity, we are invested in providing youth with tools and skills for success, like tutoring, college preparation courses and tours, financial literacy, specific technical skills (robotics, science, engineering) needed to succeed and survive in ever changing educational and career market place.