Press Release : Forsyth County Receives $150,000 Through Grant Program by National Nonprofit StriveTogether to Improve Results at Major Milestones for Kids

WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA​ — The Forsyth Promise, a collaborative, education-focused initiative working to improve systemic outcomes for all of Forsyth  County’s students, has received $150,000 from StriveTogether, a national nonprofit working  to bring communities together around data to make decisions and improve results for kids.  The Forsyth Promise will use its grant award to activate the power of those with lived  experience in Forsyth County to plan and implement strategies that improve core community  education outcomes by reducing racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps.

“The difficult challenges we face will not be quickly or easily resolved. They require our  community to build new relationships, work across sectors, coordinate, and align. New  solutions require a willingness to change the ways we think and work. The data from our 2018  report is clear: although many core community education measures are holding steady improving for aggregate students, our system is not working for all students. There are  significant disparities in outcomes across all measures for which disaggregated data is  available and these disparities fall along racial / ethnic and socio-economic lines,” said  Wendy Poteat, Partnership Director of The Forsyth Promise.

The grant award from StriveTogether’s Cradle to Career Community Challenge program will  allow The Forsyth Promise to build a network of grassroots community advocates and  leaders. These grassroots leaders will share data and lived experiences to build a common  perspective of our challenges and opportunities, collaborate on identifying the most critical  issues to prioritize, and advocate and mobilize to move the needle on these community-wide  priorities for education.

The Forsyth Promise has been awarded a grant from the ​Promising Practices Fund​, which is  intended to find local projects applying bold strategies that can be spread across StriveTogether’s national network. These projects will focus on deeper community  engagement and align education with other sectors such as health, housing and  transportation. Eleven community-based organizations were awarded grants of up to $150,000 for one year.

Through the Community Challenge, up to $7 million over the next three years will fund  projects across the country that advance equity and spread bold strategies to help students  progress from kindergarten to postsecondary completion and a job. During this round of  grants, 10 communities also were selected for the Accelerator Fund. Communities in the  StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network were eligible to apply for the Community Challenge.

“StriveTogether launched the Cradle to Career Community Challenge because we refuse to  settle for a world in which a child’s ability to thrive is dictated by factors like race or income,”  StriveTogether President and CEO Jennifer Blatz said. “From partners across the country, we  know the urgency of this work and the value of creating lasting change in communities. We  are proud to start this year supporting 21 cradle-to-career partnerships to get real results for  youth and families.”

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As a Collective Impact Partner of United Way of Forsyth County, the Forsyth Promise​ facilitates education-focused collaborative, community-wide planning  and action in Forsyth County, North Carolina. They provide a framework to help all community stakeholders work together toward the goal of improved educational outcomes for all  students — from cradle to career. Our core values are Educational Equity, Inclusive  Stakeholder Engagement, and Data-Driven Decision Making. For more information, visit  ForsythPromise.org.

About StriveTogether 
StriveTogether is a national movement with a clear purpose: help every child succeed in  school and in life from cradle to career, regardless of race, zip code or circumstance. In  partnership with nearly 70 communities across the country, StriveTogether provides  resources, best practices and processes to give every child every chance for success. The  StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network reaches 10.5 million students, involves 10,800  organizations, and has partners in 30 states and Washington D.C.