The Shifting Ready for Kindergarten Landscape

As we've mentioned before, and visually demonstrated in our now-infamous boat video, the early childhood landscape locally and statewide is shifting.

We've taken another crack at explaining the shift in the slides below.

ELM Slide 1

ELM Slide 2

 If you prefer a written explanation- read on. The post below further describes two points:

• Early Learning Multnomah (the state's early learning hub in Multnomah County) will take on the convening role formerly held by the Ready for Kindergarten Collaborative.

• SVP will continue to manage the Collaborative's chosen strategies, relationships with the demonstration school sites, and innovation projects needed for progress in the Ready for Kindergarten arena.

SVP has been co-convening the Ready for Kindergarten Collaborative with Multnomah County for a few years now.  As part of the All Hands Raised Partnership, our role as co-convener included organizing and facilitating connection and conversation and aligning priorities and activities toward the goal of getting all children ready for Kindergarten. Our job was to rally individuals and organizations that have a stake in early childhood, lead a group process to determine shared priorities, and support action toward those priorities.

Now, there is a new entity that will take on much of the role the Collaborative has been filling.  Charged by the state with the task of setting priorities and funding outcomes-based strategies, Early Learning Multnomah (ELM) will be the convener and facilitator of the collaborative space starting in April. Led by Multnomah County and our local United Way, ELM will lead processes to set shared priorities and help ensure that the community is working together to meet the needs of young children in the county. ELM is one of the state's (currently 5 and soon 16) early learning hubs. These hubs are accountable to the state and are asked to set targets and demonstrate impact on early learning.

With the launch of ELM, we have the opportunity to shift our convening role of the Ready for Kindergarten Collaborative to a more sustainable system. ELM will take the place of the Ready for Kindergarten Collaborative in the All Hands Raised Partnership. The strategies that the Collaborative chose to prioritize will continue to move forward through ELM. Social Venture Partners will play a role in advancing those two strategies: Kindergarten Transitions and Community Education Workers.

The Collaborative also selected eight "demonstration site" schools that are acting as learning labs and implementing the strategies the Collaborative has prioritized. These schools are testing and sharing best practices around how best to prepare students for Kindergarten. Social Venture Partners will also continue to manage the relationship with these eight schools to ensure support for their students and families and progress for the system.

SVP will continue to move strategies forward and play a key role in innovative approaches to help get all children ready for kindergarten. SVP will no longer play the "neutral convener" role. This shift will allow us to work our strengths as a venture philanthropy organization. We'll bring resources like talent, financing, and can-do, innovative action to barriers and bottlenecks to progress and help scale up what's working