Cross-Sector Leaders Gather to Engage in the Work of the All Hands Raised Partnership

Portland, Ore. (November 15, 2012) – Today, more than 350 cross-sector leaders from around Multnomah County gathered at Concordia University to learn more about the progress of the All Hands Raised Partnership is making locally, and to engage in two workshop sessions to dive deeper into five areas: Eliminating Racial Inequities and the Opportunity Gap, Ensuring All Children are Prepared for Kindergarten; Leverage Summers: Building a Pipeline of Supports from Ninth Grade into College and Careers; Linking Community and Family Supports to Keep Students Engaged and Attending School; and Postsecondary Success: Keeping All Students on the Path to Completion.

One of the many highlights of the morning included recognition of Portland Mayor Sam Adams for his tenacious focus on education during his term, “Sam the person cares deeply about education; Sam the Mayor made it his bully pulpit and galvanized the community around improving outcomes for our kids,” said CEO of All Hands Raised, Dan Ryan.

Jeff Edmondson, managing director of the national Strive Partnership complimented the progress being made locally saying, “take comfort in knowing that you are blazing the trail and people from across the country are learning from you.” He also noted that this systemic work is not a quick fix, this work takes time – moving the entire community in a coordinated fashion, together, is an incredible job.

Over that last 12 months partners have come together to move the community from ideas into action, following a disciplined continuous improvement process. We know that together we can achieve so much more than we could alone – but we also know that simply working together will not get us the large-scale changes we seek. We must be willing to think differently, share bravely, transcend our individual agendas, focus on getting more efficient in everything we do, and let evidence and the lived wisdom of our community members guide our actions.

All Hands Raised Partnership Overview (November 2012)

Agenda for Raising Our Hands, Raising the Bar

Workshop Descriptions for 11/15/12

Raising Our Hands, Raising the Bar PowerPoint

The mission of All Hands Raised is to champion education, equity and excellence from cradle to career inside and outside of the classroom by mobilizing leadership, ideas, resources, and community action to ensure kids throughout Portland and Multnomah County achieve their full potential. We manage the Partnership to adapt the national cradle to career framework locally. This is a community-wide effort to methodically, significantly, and permanently improve educational outcomes for children and youth, birth through college and/or career. And, we remain true to our roots, stewarding PPS parent-led fundraising and managing the PPS Equity Fund.

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