Bridging Richmond community update focuses on local and national cradle-to-career efforts

By Jennie Blizzard
Bridging Richmond External Relations Coordinator

Bridging Richmond, a regional partnership that coordinates organizations and their efforts to improve college and career readiness, welcomed community partners to Virginia Commonwealth University on Jan. 21 for an update on the significant momentum of national cradle-to-career partnerships and Bridging Richmond’s progress.

Jeff Edmondson, managing director of the StriveTogether network, was the keynote speaker. StriveTogether connects, supports and facilitates a growing network of communities across the country that are committed to building the civic infrastructure necessary to support the success of every child from cradle to career. The approach requires communities to come together to hold themselves collectively accountable for student success and to continuously improve their support to children by letting data drive action and decision making.

Edmondson mentioned four critical success factors that cradle-to-career partnerships need to be successful: cross-sector executive-level champions with clear roles; data that’s available; a basic and networked staffing; and data that drives action, not places blame.

“Data should be used as a flashlight, not a hammer,” Edmondson said.

He praised Bridging Richmond’s work over the past 18 months and its contribution to national cradle-to-career efforts. Bridging Richmond was named one of three recipients of StriveTogether’s Cradle to Career Catalyst Award, which recognizes partnerships for their roles in advancing and scaling national cradle-to-career initiatives.

Kelli Parmley, executive director of Bridging Richmond, spoke about Bridging Richmond’s role in the areas of focusing, mobilizing and improving college- and career-readiness efforts in the region. She also discussed Bridging Richmond’s engagement with regional entities such as the Capital Region Collaborative’s workforce preparation efforts. The partnership’s focus has been on middle-level math and college and career readiness.

Bridging Richmond was established in 2009 by VCU as a collaboration of K-12, higher education, business and philanthropic leaders in the Richmond region.

 

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