2011 ACT Report

Here is the 2011 ACT report on Minnesota. It provides up to date information about one aspect of college-readiness: http://www.act.org/news/data/11/states/pdf/Minnesota.pdf

Ready by 21 Webinar on July 26th

The Ready by 21 Partnership is committed to meeting leaders where they are, challenging them to do more, and helping them build the capacity to do so. Included in this endeavor is our free Ready by 21 Webinar series, aimed at introducing participants to the core components of Ready by 21. The webinar series is designed around the Ready by 21 Leadership Capacity areas (the 4Bs): Building Broader Partnerships, Setting Bigger Goals, Using Better Data for Decision Making, and Implementing Bolder Strategies. In our webinar series, we will provide an opportunity to learn the basics of the Ready by 21 Strategies via 3 part modules. Each module will consist of one introductory webinar, one webinar focused on a leadership capacity, and a focused webinar on a related tool or resource. We hope you can join us for this exciting series! Click here to register or contact Kiley Bednar at Kiley@forumfyi.org with any questions.

Win Airline tickets for your program!

From Southwest Airlines --

"In honor of our 40^th Anniversary, we want to spread the LUV even further to the communities we serve by giving 40 deserving nonprofit organizations the chance to win 40 roundtrip tickets each—that’s 1,600 tickets total. Starting July 12 through the end of day on July 14, nonprofit organizations focused on community initiatives that concentrate on education, diversity, military, environment, or families facing serious illness can submit a photo illustrating the positive work they do in the community along with their compelling story to showingluvfor40years@wnco.com to explain how they will use the 40 tickets to achieve the organization’s missions in the community."

You can learn more at http://www.blogsouthwest.com/blog/showing-luv-communities-40-years

‘Beyond the Numbers’ a documentary film project

Opportunity for youth with University of Minnesota students:

How are students interacting with ‘the numbers’ in their classrooms and schools?
What happens when ‘the numbers’ drive our education?

The Youth Education Justice Initiative (YEJI) is creating a short documentary film exploring the violence that occurs when students are reduced to numbers in their classrooms and schools. This project is being funded by the Summer 612 youth violence prevention campaign. We are working with youth to capture the stories that get silenced by “the numbers” in our education system: test scores, GPA, class rank, application fees, account numbers, student ID tags, graduation rates, school assessments, neighborhood demographics, etc.

This film is being produced collaboratively by students and a community filmmaker. The project will build the skills of youth to create their own media. Numbers do not have voices-Youth Do! Film is a medium through which youth can project those voices to a broad audience and become participants in the dialogues around education from which they are often excluded.

We have worked closely with youth from the Minneapolis Youth Congress and the Whose University? Campaign at the University of Minnesota to develop the vision for the film. These young people are at differing points in their experience in the education system- some are in high school, some have graduated, some are pursuing post secondary education. We are currently looking for a few more youth who are excited about exploring these issues and being a part of a collaborative film project to join the process. If you, or youth you are connected to, are interested in being a part of this project please contact YEJI ---Hana Worku and/or Jake Virden-----by
the end of this week, Friday, July 15th. The summer is moving quickly and so is this film!

Participants are committing to attend regular Saturday meetings and filming sessions that will be scheduled by the group and dependent on the availability of interviewees.

This work will be engaging and fast paced!
Hana Worku- haworku@gmail.com
Jake Worku- jakevirden@gmail.com

BABY PICS!!!

To illustrate how much we’ve grown over the year we’re asking Promise Fellows & Supervisors to send a baby picture (of yourself, under the age of 5) to Rachel Ayoub (email Promisefellow@mnyipa.org or mail to 1494 Grand Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105), with the subject line: BABY PICTURE OF (your name) by Friday, July 22nd! Can't wait to see all your cute faces!

Linking School, Afterschool, and Summer Learning to Support Student Success

There is growing national discussion about the need to create a more expansive definition of learning to include all the ways that youth can access educational opportunities—not just through the traditional school model, but also through afterschool activities, time spent with the family, and increasingly, through interaction with digital media. Broadening our ideas about where, when, and how learning happens helps communities to create richer learning pathways that have the potential to include more nonacademic opportunities to help youth gain the skills necessary for a healthy adulthood, offer a seamless learning environment that can help stem summer learning loss, and tap resources outside of schools for additional opportunities to help close the achievement gap.

Click HERE to access the full PDF.

The CANVAS

This summer, the Canvas will be offering two powerful and unique programs each and every Thursday evening. First, TEENS TAKING ACTION, a series filled with workshops and discussions (and food!) will investigate the intersection of community, social justice and the arts. Second, they'll be kicking off their THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE series, a weekly event focused on showcasing talent, loving the arts and just having fun. From poetry slams to concerts to dance battles and more, these programs will all be FREE.