StriveTogether

09/01/2026

💫 The StriveTogether team is made up of passionate changemakers working behind the scenes to connect, champion and support communities across the country. Each person plays a unique role in helping local partnerships strengthen outcomes for youth and families.

👋 Meet Ashwina Kirpalani-Vasanjee, vice president of insights and analytics at StriveTogether! Ashwina joined the team in early 2023 and leads the vision and implementation of the organization's data and analytics strategy to advance impact across the Cradle to Career Network. By analyzing robust assessment data along the StriveTogether Theory of Action™ and other national datasets, Ashwina and her team generate insights that inform internal decision making, support network members and contribute to national conversations around how place-based partnerships improve outcomes for every child, from cradle to career.

We asked Ashwina: What's one thing about your background or journey that shaped how you approach this work? Here's what she shared

💬 "My parents immigrated to the U.S. when I was young, and the reason was simple: they wanted a better life and a better education for their children. Education was our answer — it was the thing they staked everything on, and it delivered. That's why I've spent my entire career in it: teaching in the classroom, then working in for-profit education, and for the past 13 years in the nonprofit education sector.

I want every child to have access to the opportunities I've had. That's what motivates me to do this work. I know that the systems I work on every day — the ones that decide whether a child gets access to a strong kindergarten, a good school, a real path to a career — are the same kinds of systems that changed my family's trajectory. Systems change is personal to me. Every network member we support, every data point we collect, is in service of making sure that path exists for more kids the way it existed for me."

Learn more about Ashwina. https://hubs.li/Q04w4Rw00

08/26/2026

Morgan Riffe started college as a sophomore. 🎓

Not because she skipped a year — because dual-credit courses through her school's partnership with Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College meant she arrived with credits already earned.

"The number one thing that was very impactful is when I went into college, I had a lot of credits," she said

Morgan is now a fourth-year medical student. Her path started years earlier, with a regional college partnership built by the Appalachian Cradle to Career Partnership (APPC2C) — one that also includes GEAR UP advisors helping students through FAFSA and applications.

Because the college was within the region, Morgan didn't have to relocate to get that head start.

🔗 Read Morgan's full story. Linked in the comments.

08/25/2026

Postsecondary enrollment across ImpactTulsa's network is seeing strong gains. Hear how they did it — and what your community can borrow — in a live conversation with ImpactTulsa on August 25 at 4:00 p.m. ET.

At the center of the work is the Graduation Game Plan, a feeder strategy that's helped off-track students of color get back on track and graduate by the end of summer. ImpactTulsa is a My Brother's Keeper Model Community with an approach to create population-level change across the cradle-to-career spectrum, especially regarding college enrollment. One of their goals is to raise the share of Tulsa County graduates enrolling in college, with young men of color at the center of that push.

We'll dig into what's working, what it took to build, and advice for how other communities can apply the same approach.

Featuring:
• BerThaddaeus Bailey, Managing Director of My Brother's Keeper, ImpactTulsa
• Dr. Laura Latta, Executive Director, Tulsa Higher Education Consortium
• Chantelle Lott, Community Education Outreach Manager, Tulsa Higher Education Consortium
• Moderated by Josh Pollack, Network Advisor, StriveTogether

08/19/2026

We are six weeks out from seeing you in Baltimore!

At the end of September, more than 600 changemakers from across the StriveTogether Network will gather for 4 Million Futures: Fulfilling Our Promise for America's Youth — two and a half days of peer learning, connection and action planning with the people building civic infrastructure in communities nationwide.

With the addition of our youth tickets, youth leaders from Network communities will be in the room as participants — learning alongside the people shaping this work.

On our last day together, we'll be starting our day with youth from Baltimore during the plenary Youth at the Center: Young Baltimore Leaders Shaping the Future.

This plenary brings together a panel of Baltimore youth leaders who are building solutions in their neighborhoods, advocating for change and pushing systems to serve young people better. Their perspective gets at something central to place-based partnerships: what changes when young people lead.

Joining us:
▪️ Camila Calero, Baltimore's Promise
▪️ Chanya Anderson, Senior Manager, Youth Leadership, Baltimore's Promise
▪️ Kerra Dukes, Inaugural Policy Coordinator, Baltimore's Promise
▪️ Tobius Nance, CollegeBound Foundation

We'll see you there! Check out the full agenda here: https://hubs.li/Q04tB3QW0

08/19/2026

💫 The StriveTogether team is made up of passionate changemakers working behind the scenes to connect, champion and support communities across the country. Each person plays a unique role in helping local partnerships strengthen outcomes for youth and families.

👋 Meet Melissa Kevra, chief of staff for the Pathways Impact Fund catalyzed by StriveTogether. She serves as a senior strategic partner in launching and operationalizing a national fund that equips regional intermediaries to scale purposeful pathways — connecting students to good jobs and economic mobility.

We asked Melissa: What inspired you to join the Pathways Impact Fund at StriveTogether and be part of the cradle-to-career movement? Here's what she shared 👇

💬 "I've spent my career deeply passionate about making a difference for young people, and I've seen firsthand how many students still lack access to clear pathways that lead them to earning a living wage. That's why I joined the Pathways Impact Fund — to ensure more young people are on a clear pathway to fulfilling, well-paying careers. At a time when the job market is in flux, AI is driving constant change, and students are experiencing more anxiety than ever, this work feels incredibly important, and I couldn't be more excited to be a part of this movement."

Learn more about Melissa and her work: https://hubs.li/Q04tydyh0

08/18/2026

Right now, 62% of high school graduates enroll in college directly after graduation. By 2031, about 72% of U.S. jobs are expected to require education or training beyond high school — which means the gap between those two numbers is a gap in opportunity.

Closing it takes more than encouragement. It takes systems that guide students through a complex process: clear transition planning, rigorous academic preparation, visibility into every pathway (not just a four-year degree) and partnerships between schools, colleges, employers and families that stay aligned around the same data and goals.

StriveTogether's Postsecondary Enrollment Playbook is built to help communities do exactly that. It includes:
• Essential questions to guide local strategy
• Data insights on what drives — and blocks — enrollment
• Real examples from communities strengthening advising, affordability and pathway visibility

📘 Explore the full Postsecondary Enrollment Playbook: https://hubs.li/Q04thXHf0

08/18/2026

Economic mobility and the civic infrastructure that supports it are under strain right now. Public trust is fraying, resources are contracting, and the cross-sector partnerships that move families toward opportunity are being tested.

This moment calls for us to build on our strengths and make changes that support that our mission — and it's why we're so excited to welcome Eshauna Smith as our new president.

Eshauna brings a rare combination of deep field credibility and executive leadership experience, plus a long-standing relationship with StriveTogether's leadership and deep knowledge of this work. As a core member of the executive team, she'll focus on organizational alignment, strategy and innovation, as well as field coordination efforts that will advance the impact of place-based partnerships nationwide.

For more than 15 years, StriveTogether has proven that place-based partnerships are the most effective way to increase economic mobility. Eshauna's leadership sharpens our ability to deliver on that promise and reach our bold 2030 vision: four million more futures on a path to economic mobility.

Welcome to the team, Eshauna! We are so excited for you to start next week.

Read more about this moment: https://hubs.li/Q04tl3-10

08/17/2026

A region's education-to-employment pipeline is only as strong as the partnerships behind it. Schools, colleges, employers, funders, and local leaders all have a role to play, but someone has to hold the pieces together when priorities compete and systems don't naturally talk to each other.

We want to bring that conversation to next year, featuring our CEO Jennifer Blatz, Richard Tagle at E3 Alliance, and Alex Flores at Austin Regional Manufacturers Association, moderated by former senior reporter Lauren Camera, so they can unpack how communities can identify real workforce demand, redesign pathways around it, align funding and data across institutions, and expand access for students who are too often left out.

The SXSW closes August 23 – vote for our pane here: https://hubs.li/Q04tcxRT0

PanelPicker® is the official SXSW user-generated session proposal platform. Enter ideas and vote to help shape Conference programming for SXSW and SXSW EDU.

08/17/2026

We’ve teamed up with The EdRedesign Lab for an exciting conversation between our own Jennifer Blatz and Rob Watson.

Getting a student across the finish line to graduation and career takes the work of a whole community, yet most lack a shared strategy to connect schools to community programs and employers.

In their fireside chat, Rob and Jennifer will dig into ways to build that alignment, drawing on Harvard research and lessons from over 100 place-based partnerships. They’ll tackle how to build shared accountability across independent institutions, discuss the data-sharing agreements that make coordination possible, and explain the kind of trust that makes these systems last.

The SXSW is almost closed – vote for us here: https://hubs.li/Q04tcc3L0

PanelPicker® is the official SXSW user-generated session proposal platform. Enter ideas and vote to help shape Conference programming for SXSW and SXSW EDU.