Our Cradle-to-Career ecosystem
What is Bridgeport Prospers Cradle-to-Career? Bridgeport Prospers is a place-based partnership working to create exceptional results for our young people and community.
We believe in working intentionally across the entire cradle-to-career continuum and using data and evidence to inform our decisions. We are engaging local stakeholders from all backgrounds to track our progress and adjust our course.
how we work
Achieving large-scale change involves working in new ways. Bridgeport Prospers has adopted the following 6 conditions for the collective impact in Bridgeport.
Common Agenda
Fact-based Decision Making
Mutually Reinforcing Activities
Collaborative Action and Open Engagement
Investing in What Works
Backbone Organization
Working to improve education success for every child through a data-driven, quality collective impact approach. Connected by their work on the ground, StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network members (like us) are committed to sharing knowledge, building upon what works, and driving action to improve key outcomes along every child’s path to education success. StriveTogether is a national, nonprofit network of about 70 collective impact movements, which provides a collective impact approach and related Theory of Action. Their nationally recognized Theory of Action is centered on four pillars: shared community vision, evidence-based decision making, collaborative action, and investment sustainability.
Key outcome areas
Bridgeport Prospers has identified nine outcome areas for intense focus. They are points along the cradle-to-career continuum that are proven to be key levers that need to be moved to achieve the cradle-to-career vision and goals.
Within each outcome area, specific measures will be used to track progress and hold the community accountable for its success.
Infant Health - All Bridgeport infants will be healthy
Kindergarten Readiness - All Bridgeport children will be ready for kindergarten
Early Grade Reading - All Bridgeport children will be reading on grade level
Middle-Grade Math - All Bridgeport students will master middle-grade math
High School Graduation - All Bridgeport youth will graduate from high school, enroll in and graduate from college, and be career-ready
Youth Safe from Violent Crime - All Bridgeport youth are safe from violent crime and other at-risk activities
Post-secondary Enrollment - All Bridgeport young adults will enroll in college, apprenticeship, or career training
Post-secondary Completion - All Bridgeport young adults will achieve post-secondary degrees or credentials
Youth Employment/Jobs - All Bridgeport young adults will be prepared to enter the labor market
In each outcome area, we measure what matters, identify effective practices, and align resources so that we are investing in what works.
“We believe that there is no other way society will achieve large-scale progress against the urgent and complex problems of our time, unless a collective impact approach becomes the accepted way of doing business.”
Get to know our Cradle-to-Career Ecosystem partners in Connecticut
Pictured left to right are Isabel Almeida (President & CEO of United Way of Coastal and Western CT), Althea Marshall Brooks (executive Director of Waterbury Bridge to Success Community Partnership) Edith Presley (President of Stamford Cradle to Career), Katerina Vlahos (Executive Director of Bridgeport Prospers), Bridget Jancarz (Vice President of Network Impact at StriveTogether), Jennifer Barahona (Executive Director of Norwalk Acts), Melissa Hannequin (Executive Director of Danbury Collective) and Kathleen Callahan (Policy and Civic Engagement Director of CT’s Cradle to Career Coalition).
Pictured left to right are Edith Presley (President of Stamford Cradle to Career), Katerina Vlahos (Executive Director of Bridgeport Prospers), Jennifer Blatz (President & CEO of StriveTogether) and Jennifer Barahona (Executive Director of Norwalk Acts). Not pictured are Althea Marshall Brooks (Executive Director of Waterbury Bridge to Success) and Melissa Hannequin (Executive Director of Danbury Collective).
What is COLLECTIVE IMPACT?
Imagine if we were able to achieve this vision: every child succeeds from cradle to career.
The impact would be tremendous. Children would thrive. A sense of hope would emerge for neighborhoods, communities, and regions. Our economy would also improve as a more skilled workforce feeds innovation and growth.
We are building a civic infrastructure in the Bridgeport community to support improved cradle-to-career outcomes. This infrastructure involves local stakeholders as part of the solution. This is long-term, roll up our sleeves work that will help us connect and align efforts, use data to inform us about what is working and why, and will position us to advocate for what works. Across the country, local stakeholders, practitioners, policy-makers, and funders are recognizing the need to work in this collective way to solve complex social issues.
Watch a workforce development conversation about career exploration and readiness for students in grades K-12, in partnership with the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, Bank of America, and Fairfield County’s Community Foundation.