Ready by 21® National Partners

The Ready by 21 national partners are an unprecedented coalition of prominent national organizations whose members touch the lives of more than 100 million children and youth across the country. Created in 2008, the partnership offers leaders tools and supports to change the way they do business together, so that more young people are ready for college, work and life. Learn about the unique commitment of the Ready by 21 National Partners.

The Forum for Youth Investment is the founder and managing partner of Ready by 21. It takes primary responsibility for the development and coordination of Ready by 21 national partnership.

United Way Worldwide is the signature partner of Ready by 21. It has called on all local United Ways to engage community stakeholders in creating data-driven strategies that improve outcomes for our children and youth.

Our mobilization partners represent the education, government, nonprofit, business and community philanthropy sectors—and have pledged not only to work with the Forum for Youth Investment but to work with each other:

Our technical partners have longstanding experience and offer on-the-ground tools and incentives to help leaders improve the lives of children and youth in their communities. They are among the most recognized and respected child- and youth-focused technical assistance organizations in the nation:

Together, these partners have committed to recruit other national organizations into the partnership, engaging all of the key stakeholder groups that need to be involved at the state and the local level. They have also made the commitment to bring their expertise, perspectives and clout into the places where the Ready by 21 Challenge currently has traction.

 

The Forum for Youth Investment is a nonprofit, nonpartisan "action tank" dedicated to helping communities and the nation make sure all young people are Ready by 21: ready for college, work and life. Informed by rigorous research and practical experience, the Forum forges innovative ideas, strategies and partners to strengthen solutions for young people and those who care about them. A trusted resource for policy makers, advocates, researchers and program professionals, the Forum provides youth and adult leaders with the information, connections and tools they need to create greater opportunities and outcomes for young people.
United Way Worldwide (UWW) is a ubiquitous community resource with over 1,300 local United Ways that serve more than 90 percent of the country and raise and reinvest more than $1 billion annually to improve child and youth outcomes. In 2007, United Way Worldwide announced a commitment to expand on its early childhood development national initiatives in response to community requests for ensuring better outcomes for older youth. United Way Worldwide is working with the Forum to build and implement a complete set of tools, resources and technical assistance that supports children and youth from birth through young adulthood. In 2008, UWW will work with the Forum to create an expanded frame-work, pilot the use of the Ready by 21 framework and tools in selected places, and provide learning opportunities for all interested local United Ways and community partners.

Read the Forum and UWW concept paper.

American Association of School Administrators (AASA) is the professional organization for more than 13,000 education leaders. AASA has a history of championing efforts to address non-academic issues that directly affect student learning. In 2006, funding from Philip Morris U.S.A. Youth Smoking Prevention allowed AASA to work with the Forum to bring more focus and intentionality to these efforts. In 2007, the Forum and AASA co-planned a day-long workshop on expanding learning opportunities for 30 superintendents that laid the groundwork for the 2008 AASA strategies agenda.

Read the AASA Leadership for Change report on the 2007 Superintendent of the Year event co-hosted by the Forum and to find out about more work AASA and the Forum are doing.

America's Promise Alliance is a cross-sector partnership of 400+ corporations, nonprofits, faith-based organizations and advocacy groups that are passionate about improving lives and changing outcomes for children. Founded in 1997 with General Colin Powell as Chairman and chaired today by Alma Powell, America's Promise Alliance wants to ensure that all young people graduate from high school ready for college, work and life. Their work involves raising awareness, encouraging action and engaging in advocacy to provide children the key supports we call the Five Promises: Caring adults, Safe Places, A Healthy Start, An Effective Education and Opportunities to Help Others.

More on America's Promise Alliance

Corporate Voices for Working Families (CVWF) is the leading national business membership organization representing the private sector voice in public policy issues relating to working families. Collectively, their 55 partner companies have annual net revenues of over $1 trillion and employ 4 million individuals throughout all 50 states. CVWF has worked with the Forum over the past three years to expand its commitment to children and youth from early childhood to workforce entry. At the end of 2007, the Corporate Voices board voted to consolidate the organization’s child and youth focused work under a workforce readiness umbrella.

Read the op-ed issued by CVWF about the Ready by 21 Challenge.
See similar relevant publications from CVWF.

National Collaboration for Youth (NCY) represents more than 50 national, non-profit youth development organizations that collectively serve more than 40 million young people and have a physical presence in virtually every community in the country. In February 2007, the National Assembly (the parent organization of NCY) made a bold commitment to collectively generate unique knowledge about the youth development sector and exercise leadership on behalf of those they serve. NCY stepped up to take the lead. In 2008, NCY and the Forum formed a strategic alliance to use Ready by 21 as the basis for the development of NCY’s member knowledge and leadership work.

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) is the leading bi-partisan organization supporting state legislators and legislative staff in all 50 states. NCSL’s members rely on its program staff to get information on a range of legislative and policy issues. The volume, range and fragmentation of concerns related to youth, however, are particularly frustrating to legislators. In 2005, NCSL, the Forum and the National Governors Association addressed this problem by convening state teams with representatives from the executive office and the legislature. In 2007, NCSL began work with the Forum to explore legislative options for integrating youth engagement into policy.

More info about NCSL.

 

Search Institute generates, synthesizes, and communicates new knowledge; convenes organizational and community leaders; and works with state and national organizations to support the healthy development of children and adolescents. This includes conducting applied research and evaluation, managing a full line catalog of products, publications and tools, providing a series of trainings, and providing an array of surveys to help leaders and communities better understand the developmental needs and strengths of youth. They are engaged with 600 plus communities.

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