StriveTogether - Collective
Impact
“Building a Cradle to Career Civic
Infrastructure”
Core Leadership Team Orientation
June 26, 2014
Greetings and Introductions
Core Leadership Team
Frank Borres, CEO
American View Productions
Chairman, Citywide NRZ
Adrienne Farrar Houel, President & CEO
Greater Bridgeport Community Enterprises, Inc.
Most Reverend Frank J. Caggiano, Bishop
Diocese of Bridgeport
Bill Jennings, President & CEO
Bridgeport Hospital
Joseph Carbone, President & CEO
The WorkPlace, Inc.
Council
Dr. Fred McKinney, President & CEO
Greater New England Minority Supplier Development
Carmen Colon, Executive Director
Alpha Community Services
Janet Ortiz, Director
Nehemiah Commission
Pablo Colon III, Vice President
Radio Cumbre Broadcasting, Inc
Rabbi James Prosnit
Congregation B’nai Israel
Rosa J. Correa, Director, Strategic Relations
Career Resources, Inc.
Frances Rabinowitz, Interim Superintendent
Bridgeport Public Schools
George Estrada, Vice President for Facilities
University of Bridgeport
Reverend Cass Shaw, President & CEO
Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport
Anita Giliniecki, President
Housatonic Community College
Martha K. Shouldis, Ed.D., President & CEO
St. Vincent College
Armando Goncalves, Market President, Southern CT
Manager/Consultant
Peoples’ United Bank
Donna Thompson Bennett, Curriculum
Parent Leadership Training Institute
Tonight’s Agenda (In your binder)
Core Leadership Team Orientation Dinner
Thursday, June 26th, 5:30pm -8:00pm
Bridgeport Holiday Inn
AGENDA:
5:55 – 6:00
Opening Thoughts
6:00 – 6:10
Greetings/Introductions/What to expect from the evening
6:10 – 6:20
Opening Remarks(Call to action! What do communities usually do? How is this different?)
6:20 – 6:30
Role of Core Leadership Team
6:30 – 6:35
Blessing of the Team
6:35 – 6:45
Accountability Structure
6:40 – 7:00
Pre Work Review/Intelligence Transfer
7:00 – 7:20
Next Steps (Planning Retreat, Community Sessions, Design Institute)
7: 20 – 7:40
Questions/Clarifications/General Discussion
7:40 – 7:45
Closing Thoughts
Call to Action!
• 99.1% of Bridgeport families receive
free or reduced price lunch.
• 13.1% of Bridgeport students are not
fluent in English.
• 37.6% of Bridgeport children live in
poverty
• Kindergarten readiness proficiency*Language Skills 32.4%, Literacy
32.4%, Numeracy 32.4%,
Personal/Social 39.2%,
Creative/Aesthetic Skills 46.7%
• 40.4% of Bridgeport children were at
or above 3rd grade reading
proficiency in 2013
• 66.3% of the class of 2012 graduated
High School
• 53.4% Bridgeport youth are
unemployed
*Avg. 4 year proficiency percentages
What do communities usually do?
• We look for a heroic leader to fix things
• We undertake “one-off” projects
• We advocate for investing in “silver bullets”
How is this different?
•
•
•
•
•
Unity and inclusiveness
Alignment of outcomes
Measure progress toward goals
Persist using continuous improvement
Mobilize resources for impact
Collaboration
Collective Impact
Convene around
Programs/Initiative
s
Work Together to
Move Outcomes
Prove
Improve
Addition to
What You Do
Is What You Do
Advocate for Ideas
Advocate for What
Works
7
Role of Core Leadership Team
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Champion Vision
Affirm Direction
Promote the Initiative
Encourage Broad Engagement
Advocate for What Works
Keep the Order
Model and Enforce Core Values and Guiding Principals
Core Leadership Team: Near Term
Action• Affirm Membership. Is there anyone else should help lead?
• Select Chairperson(s) in coming weeks
• Attend the Planning Retreat on July 30th (Prepare for group
affirmation and development of Core Leadership
Charter/Covenant)
DRAFT- Accountability Structure
CORE LEADERSHIP
TEAM
OPERATIONS/IMPLEMENTATION
TEAM
OUTCOMES
COMMUN
ITY
ACTION
NETWORK
COMMUN
ITY
ACTION
NETWORK
FUNDERS
TABLE
COMMUN
ITY
ACTION
NETWORK
COMMUN
ITY
ACTION
NETWORK
DATA
TABLE
COMMUN
ITY
ACTION
NETWORK
Pre – Work Overview:
• September 2013 United Way (support of BOA and GE) brought Jeff
Edmondson from StriveTogether to Bridgeport to discuss the possibility
of building a cradle to career civic infrastructure in Bridgeport.
• While attendees said “Yes” when asked if this work was worth pursuing,
there was a clear expression of caution given the erosion of trust, high
level of fatigue and conflicting agendas.
• As a result, United Way (UW) committed to significant additional prework to:
 Gain additional input/insights
 Demonstrate inclusiveness/promote broad engagement
 Build understanding of Collective Impact
 Help raise the dialog
 Identify the right leadership
 Determine next steps
Pre-Work Continued…
Engagement/Input• Over 130+ interviews conducted
• Input Summarized (Attributes for
Leadership Team, Candidate
Recommendations, Consensus
Observations,
Recommendations)
Communications• Issued White Paper
• Developed one page basic
Information Sheet
• Established webpage/very basic
• Partnership with Sacred Heart
School of Management/Effective
Communication Strategies Project
• Ongoing expansion of
communication list
Core Leadership Team Attributes:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Servant leaders/no agenda
Neutral (not immediately polarizing)/community credibility
Diverse/culturally competent/community competent
Influencers/not all the same old/can keep the order
Cross walkers/can help bridge divides
Can model respect, forgiveness, active listening,
transparency, can consider different opinions, values talents
and assets of the community
• Willingness/courage to lead in difficult times
Consensus Observations• Community is deeply divided/feelings are much more personal and difficult to
recover from
• Trust is hard to come by/ certain groups or individuals are significantly more
polarizing and need to be part of the larger engagement but not seen as leading
the effort
• Community wants to move forward to make positive impact but is rudderless at
the moment
• Concerns exist about how CI will impact funding /resource allocation- “Will this
take money away from the community?”
• The community is changing and the traditional distribution of power and
influence is not the future
• Leadership needs to be developed/long time lock on leadership positions has
stifled new leadership potential/diminished energy, enthusiasm, innovation
• Strategies/actions need to be sustainable and have community ownership/buy
in
• Funders must not set the agenda but should support the agenda
Recommendations• Cannot be owned or driven by United Way/Board. Core Leadership Team and
community must lead (UW is the support organization). The community will
listen and watch this carefully.
• United Way should engage other organizations to provide backbone functions in
areas they are expert in. This will not only avoid duplication and leverage
community assets, it can help model servant leadership/collaboration/setting
differences aside, etc…
• Prior to diving into outcomes/measures/evidence/investment, the Core
Leadership Team must get out into the community to listen and learn with
authenticity and help/model/pursue truth telling and forgiveness work to help
with healing and trust building.
• Core Values and Guiding Principles for the initiative should be developed very
early on.
• Communications must be transparent, culturally relevant, frequent and
authentic.
• Extensive, ongoing, daily, work must be undertaken to promote broad
community level engagement and further develop an understanding of the
initiative.
What the Community had to say…
“We can not surrender.”
“We have many assets in Bridgeport that we need to tap.”
“The voice of divisiveness can not continue louder than the voice of unity.”
“We need to replace the anger and hatred with love and understanding.
We owe this to our children.”
“We can make progress if we are inclusive and if we don’t leave residents
on the outside looking in.”
“Our children need to see our leaders working together to solve problems
regardless of our differences.”
“We need to focus positively. People are tired of the ugly, negative
dynamics.”
“We need to respect one another even if we have differences.”
Next Steps:
• Planning Retreat, July 30th – 8:00 am – 2:30 pm (University of
Bridgeport)
• 2-4 Community Sessions (August – September)
• Design Institute/Full Community Engagement (October)
Questions/Comments/Clarifications?
• Orientation binders contain additional background
information
• More information on the Planning Retreat will be forwarded
in July
Thank you for your
courageous leadership!
“Together we can improve outcomes for Bridgeport
children and families-cradle to career”