The Stanislaus Cradle to Career Partnership believes that all children can reach their full educational potential regardless of race, ethnicity, or family income. Every student deserves a chance to earn a postsecondary certificate, credential, or college degree with the opportunity to enter a meaningful, self-sustaining job in early adulthood.
Since its official launch in Spring 2018, the Partnership has worked hard behind the scenes to develop the necessary infrastructure to sustain collective impact efforts over time. We now have a diverse leadership body that represents multiple sectors from education, business, government, faith, and community. We have five Action Teams driving an intentional process to move the needle on critical milestones along the cradle to career spectrum, and a number of initiatives that span the Action Teams which focus on youth empowerment, mental health, and parent engagement.
Our partnership is primarily backboned by the Stanislaus County Office of Education, providing the necessary ongoing coordination, resource development, and data support. In addition to the small backbone team, partner organizations provide in-kind staff time necessary to lead the work in our impact areas.
Our Partnership joined the national StriveTogether Network connecting Stanislaus County to cradle-to-career resources and best practices from communities across the country and has been recognized as a sustaining partnership in 2022.
We believe in building a sturdy foundation today so that we can sustain a long-term movement lifting all Stanislaus County learners to their highest aspirations.
Vision
A healthy and equitable community built on educational success and economic well-being where all people will have the opportunity, resources and tools needed to achieve their highest potential.
Mission
Align sectors and systems in Stanislaus County to ensure equitable outcomes from cradle to career.
Values
We center underserved students in our work to build equitable access and outcomes.
We collectively learn through the use of both data and lived experience.
We break down silos and align public systems, nonprofit organizations, faith communities and businesses.
We co-design solutions with the people most impacted by the decisions and strategies.
Our work is rooted in relationship and empathy.
We support system change at the leadership level and equip advocates in the community.
We balance urgent action and long-term change efforts.
We know educational outcomes are NOT the sole responsibility of school districts. To achieve the changes we wish to see will require commitment and action from the entire community. As a partnership, we ‘own’ educational success for all children in our community.
How We Work Together
Systemic change doesn’t happen overnight.
We know that in order to see meaningful community-level results, our systems and institutions must adapt. This requires a cultural shift among the people who manage our systems - a shift in how we collectively approach complex problems, how we engage with each other across institutions, how we approach data to make better policy decisions, and how we show up.
Continuous Improvement
Our Partnership commits to using quality data to drive results. Action Teams utilize data reports that are vetted by the Cradle to Career Partnership Data Committee to ensure the data is accurate, current, and responsibly shared with the community.
Equity
We seek to shift mental models, change power dynamics, establish more equitable policies in our institutions and community, and advance more equitable opportunities across systems. We use qualitative and quantitative data to highlight inequities in achievement.
OnGoing Support
The backbone team provides facilitation, coaching, and data support for Steering Committee and Action Team meetings. Investing in leadership development helps partners develop authentic ownership of the collective work.
Stanislaus Cradle to Career Partnership is a member of The StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network, a national, nonprofit network of nearly 70 partnerships working to improve outcomes for kids by bringing together cross-sector partners around a shared community vision. Together, the Network impacts 13.7 million students nationwide.