StriveTogether - Collective Impact “Building a Cradle to Career Civic Infrastructure”

1. StriveTogether - Collective Impact “Building a Cradle to Career Civic Infrastructure” Core Leadership Team Orientation June 26, 2014

2. Greetings and Introductions Core Leadership Team Frank Borres, CEO Adrienne Farrar Houel, President & CEO American View ProductionsGreater Bridgeport Community Enterprises, Inc. Chairman, Citywide NRZ Most Reverend Frank J. Caggiano, Bishop Bill Jennings, President & CEO Diocese of Bridgeport Bridgeport Hospital Joseph Carbone, President & CEO Dr. Fred McKinney, President & CEO The WorkPlace, Inc. Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council Carmen Colon, Executive Director Janet Ortiz, Director Alpha Community Services Nehemiah Commission Pablo Colon III, Vice President Rabbi James Prosnit Radio Cumbre Broadcasting, Inc Congregation B’nai Israel Rosa J. Correa, Director, Strategic Relations Frances Rabinowitz, Interim Superintendent Career Resources, Inc. Bridgeport Public Schools George Estrada, Vice President for Facilities Reverend Cass Shaw, President & CEO University of Bridgeport Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport Anita Giliniecki, President Martha K. Shouldis, Ed.D., President & CEO Housatonic Community College St. Vincent College Armando Goncalves, Market President, Southern CT Donna Thompson Bennett, Curriculum Manager/Consultant Peoples’ United Bank Parent Leadership Training Institute

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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”

6. How is this different? • Unity and inclusiveness • Alignment of outcomes • Measure progress toward goals • Persist using continuous improvement • Mobilize resources for impact

7. Work Together to Move Outcomes Convene around Programs/Initiatives Improve Prove Addition to What You Do Is What You Do Advocate for What Works Advocate for Ideas Collective Impact Collaboration

8. 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

9. 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)

10. DRAFT- Accountability Structure CORE LEADERSHIP TEAM Community OPERATIONS/IMPLEMENTATION TEAM Community Community OUTCOMES COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK FUNDERS TABLE DATA TABLE Community

11. 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 pre-work 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

12. Pre-Work Continued… Engagement/Input- 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 • Over 130+ interviews conducted • Input Summarized (Attributes for Leadership Team, Candidate Recommendations, Consensus Observations, Recommendations)

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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.

16. 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.”

17. 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)

18. Questions/Comments/Clarifications? • Orientation binders contain additional background information • More information on the Planning Retreat will be forwarded in July

19. Thank you for your courageous leadership! “Together we can improve outcomes for Bridgeport children and families-cradle to career”