Public Private Partnerships Continue to Fuel Bold System Change for Kids in Portland and Multnomah County
Portland, Ore. (June 27, 2012) – Today, Grant Word, president, Middle Market Banking, Tom Perrick, vice president, State Government Relations manager, JPMorgan Chase and Deneen King, volunteer member of The Oregon Community Foundation’s (OCF) Metro Leadership Council, attended the All Hands Raised Board of Directors meeting to present investments in support of the managing role of All Hands Raised with the Cradle to Career Partnership in Portland and Multnomah County. JPMorgan Chase presented a $50,000 grant and The Oregon Community Foundation presented a $25,000 grant. The Cradle to Career Partnership is a public/private partnership that supports bold, data-driven system alignment to increase academic success for all youth from cradle to career.
Belle Cantor, program officer for Scholarships at OCF said of the grant, “OCF is excited to support the work of All Hands Raised in their leadership of the Cradle to Career effort, bringing together schools, the community, businesses and other leaders to increase educational success for all youth in Multnomah County.”
Catalyzed nearly two years ago by a frustration with rolling reforms and a desire to break down silos and partner in a more focused way to raise student achievement, especially among students of color, All Hands Raised began to adapt the national Cradle to Career framework locally. The Partnership was founded on the belief that a structured, cross-sector, cross-cultural effort can achieve the large-scale improvements that individual efforts, with their individual objectives and strategies, cannot.
Most recently, community leaders engaged in the work moved forward 12 community-wide indicators that will be used to measure the educational outcomes of children and youth from age zero through 25. These indicators include: Birth Weight, Kindergarten Readiness, Kindergarten Attendance, Third Grade Reading, Sixth Grade Attendance, Eighth Grade Math, Tenth Grade On-track to Graduate, Disproportionate Discipline of Students of Color, English Language Learners Annual Progress, On-time High School Graduation, Postsecondary Enrollment & Completion, and Youth Ages 16-24 Enrolled in School and/or Working. This fall, All Hands Raised will release its first Report to the Community, which will present the indicators and help create a common understanding of the work needed to be done through the Partnership to improve student achievement.
This is the second major investment by JPMorgan Chase in this work; the first was a $100,000 investment made in 2011. The Oregon Community Foundation joins JPMorgan Chase and the following companies and organizations as pioneering investors in this work: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Boeing Company, City of Portland, Living Cities, Northwest Evaluation Association, NW Natural, PGE Foundation, Portland Children’s Levy, Portland State University, Providence, The Standard, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette and U.S. Bank.
“JPMorgan Chase is pleased to once again make a significant investment in this critical work,” said Brian Stewart vice president, Corporate Responsibility, JPMorgan Chase and who also serves on the Steering Committee, which guides the work of the Partnership. “We support initiatives that provide opportunities to transform education and we view this grant as a crucial step in providing a pivotal element of a successful framework as it relates to the Cradle to Career Partnership.”
For nearly two decades All Hands Raised (formerly the Portland Schools Foundation) has been a consistent and effective advocate for excellent and equitable education for all students. Through the Cradle to Career Partnership, All Hands Raised coordinates the many well-intentioned but disconnected community efforts aimed at improving educational outcomes for kids. Multnomah County is one of only seven demonstration sites in the national Strive Cradle to Career Network. The local effort builds on the experience of All Hands Raised in convening community partners to take collaborative action grounded in data and evidence, most recently through Ninth Grade Counts, which has contributed to significant, large-scale improvement in student outcomes.
Chase is the U.S.consumer and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.2 trillion and operations in more than 60 countries. Chase serves consumers and small businesses through 5,200 bank branches, 16,200 ATMs, mortgage offices, and online and mobile banking as well as through relationships with auto dealerships and schools and universities. Chase also has issued more than 90 million credit cards. More information about Chase is available at www.chase.com.
The mission of The Oregon Community Foundation is to improve life in Oregon and promote effective philanthropy. OCF works with individuals, families, businesses and organizations to create charitable funds to support the community causes they care about. Through these funds OCF awards more than $60 million annually in grants and scholarships.
