On The Same Page

Posted on by Beth Greeley

David Leonhardt of the New York Times wrote about the challenge of “vaccine alarmism,” that is, basically weighing down excellent vaccine findings with too many caveats.  Rather than clarifying, the added layers of information and nuance confuse the public.  Or worse, make them question the value of getting vaccinated. He spoke about this with Kate Grabowski, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins.  Leonhardt reported that she said “The message from experts is being misinterpreted.  That’s on us.  We’re clearly doing something wrong.”

Grabowski told Leonhardt that the fundamental message about vaccines should be: “They’re safe. They’re highly effective against serious disease. And the emerging evidence about infectiousness looks really good. If you have access to a vaccine and you’re eligible, you should get it.”

The new Alliance for Disease Prevention and Response aims to get everyone playing a role in combatting COVID-19 on the same page in terms of messaging, outreach and informing efforts at local, state, tribal and national levels. Shared Cause is honored to partner with the American Public Health Association on this national effort.

For more information, read the announcement here

What Lessons Are You Learning?

Posted on by Beth Greeley

We’re about six months into this coronavirus crisis of unimaginable dimension. There is plenty we’ve all learned about things that went horribly wrong and things that were already horribly out of whack.  On the flip side, what have we learned about doing things differently?  What innovations or perspectives have either sprung from the crisis or have come into the spotlight because of the crisis?

Schooling is different from learning

Dr. Mathew Boulay from the National Summer Learning Association, author of a new book, “How to Keep Your Kids Learning When Schools are Closed”, makes a distinction between schooling and learning.  We associate school with academic learning and traditional output.  But schools go so far beyond that.  They provide structure to children’s – and families’ – days.  They provide invaluable lessons about living as a member of a community and how to make that work.  And as was underscored in the economic collapse from the pandemic, schools are centers for physical sustenance.  (How to Keep Your Kids Learning When School is Closed)

Where will that distinction lead us?  That’s an open question, but we all have a much better and shared understanding about what schools mean to parents, teachers, children, and the broader community.  Perhaps that leads to better funding or better and different measures of achievement or cements much closer relationships among all the stakeholders.

TV to the rescue

As television, internet, and gaming content – and the ways it is all available on demand — exploded over the last couple of decades, lots of attention focused on how much screen time is appropriate for children, from the very early years to teen years.  And what harm screen addiction might cause.  

Turns out, though, that television in the form of PBS Kids has come to the rescue in a big way in communities across the country, providing outstanding, inspiring lessons with no internet required. The “Digital Divide” has gotten a lot of attention because of the pandemic.  School districts and non-profits worked heroically to deliver one-to-one parity of computer devices for children who didn’t own any and to build networks of hot spots where students could gain access to the internet.  It made a difference, but no technology enjoys the saturation that television does:  96% of American households own a TV, while 74% of American households own either a desktop or laptop computer.  The percentage of households with internet 81%.

PBS and its 330 member stations around the country mapped programming to state education standards, developed daily blocks of lessons for pre-K to Grade 12 students backed up with easy-to-use resources for teachers and parents.  Studies are already underway to see what the impact such robust television offerings can have on remote learning.  There could be a valuable lesson. PBS Education

How you say it.  How you send it.

A school superintendent from a Florida district noted there has never been a moment when schools and teachers and parents have been so linked by common cause and communication as during this pandemic. The shift from homework to home learning has had a profound effect.

At the same time, the volume of information coming at parents (and teachers) has been overwhelming.  Todd Rogers of Everyday Labs shared insight on easy ways to boost connection to families, in ordinary times as well as times like these.

One striking approach is to automatically enroll all families in school-to-home communications as the default; in other words, rather than asking parents to create an account, and log-in, etc., offer them only an “opt-out” option.  Everyday Labs found this strategy moves parents’ continued enrollment in school communications programs from under 10% to 96%.  Text messages are great for news alerts and very specific actionable items, while letters are really effective for important dates, for instance, because they are “physical artifacts” that get stuck on the fridge and kept top of mind.  Mail addresses also tend to remain more stable than email and phone.

Whatever the format, personal and partnership oriented is always better than impersonal and penalty oriented.  Everyday Labs found in one study that four letters a year showing parents in graph form how much their child was absent, how that compared to the class, and what real impact absenteeism has on the student’s learning reduced chronic absenteeism by 10%.  It’s crucial, too, to keep the message simple and skimmable – always important but especially now when so much is in flux.  (Family Toolkit)

Pushing Forward

Posted on by Beth Greeley

Shared Cause has been working with foundations of all sizes for nearly 30 years.  In these upending times, non-profits are rightly worried about how to move forward with their work and how to support that work.  Will their foundation partners stay the course?  Will they retrench?  Or will they adopt new ways of working that offer promise for the future?

From where we sit, there are things to be hopeful about.  Here are some of the trends we’re seeing.

Trust-based philanthropy

  • The current crisis is accelerating a move toward what’s being called “trust-based philanthropy” – in other words, trusting that non-profits know best how to serve their constituencies quickly and efficiently.  More foundations are allowing grantees to turn project-based grants into general operating support. Further, they are waiving deadlines and reporting requirements.  Could this signal a return to more unrestricted grant making?  Also, to be responsive, leading foundations are empowering more staff decision making (versus board approval) to streamline their giving.

Cementing collaboration

  • Instead of pulling back on grant making, some foundations are committing to increase their giving beyond their mandated level.  This happened during the Great Recession, too.  The last recession also spurred a move toward greater strategic collaboration.  During the heart of that downturn, we helped a consortium of philanthropies and public sector leaders come together to increase investment in the development of stronger systems of educational support for Boston residents.  Similar civic collaborations emerged nationwide.  In communities all around the country these kinds of partnerships are now built into the civic culture.  These efforts are too wired-in to be abandoned.

Taking stock

  • We’re hearing that staff of large foundations are making decisions on two levels:  What immediate actions can they can take to protect the viability of non-profits whose work aligns with their missions? While still defining strategies that will advance their objectives over the long term. This is a good time for non-profits to influence how foundations will pursue their priorities in post-pandemic times.
  • With respect to individual giving, wealthy donors will likely continue to be generous.  During the Great Recession, many institutions conducted historic capital campaigns.  The challenge, though, for smaller non-profits is that so many lack the staff and volunteer capacity to maintain the kinds of relationships that lead to large gifts.  Foundations may want to take this up as a social justice issue.

What’s next

How and when our economy, our schools and our lives get re-started are still giant question marks. One thing is clear, the work of many non-profits will be even more critical on the other side of this crisis.  We see our client partners from the early care and education and youth development sectors, to college attainment and opportunity youth workforce training determined to keep their mission in focus and to be even more prepared to carry out the work.  In this environment, it’s encouraging to see the philanthropic sector adopting practices that put non-profits in the lead.

“Silver Linings Playbook”?

Posted on by Beth Greeley

Parents across the country have suddenly found themselves on the front line as teachers for their children. Fifty-five million K- 12 students are furloughed from school – some for the rest of the year.  Districts and teachers are scrambling to devise “distance learning” modes or, at the very least, ways to stay in touch with their students and offer enrichment.

For families with access to computers and internet, the good news is that there are lots of online platforms with good, free content and fun ideas to keep kids learning; from PBS Digital Learning to NASA, from Jump Start to Khan Academy.  And there’s a growing trove of funny memes on how parents and children are adjusting – or not!

Parents as first teachers

This experience calls to mind how important parents and caregivers are to their children’s intellectual and emotional development, beginning in the very earliest days of a child’s life.  Brain science and the study of early childhood development are revealing how even the simplest interactions between an infant or toddler with a parent or caregiver pay off in a big way.  

The first three years of brain development is like a fast-tracked construction project.  A baby’s brain makes 700 new connections every second in response to what is happening around him or her.  Parents and caregivers can keep these connections firing by doing simple things – no home-schooling experience required.

The science also points to how enduring an early focus on “executive function” can be.  Yes, that’s right:  executive function (EF) development for infants and toddlers can be as effective as IQ in predicting a child’s learning success in school and beyond.  Such things as self-control and focus, communicating, gaining perspective, and other EF skills can be easily practiced by parents and caregivers with their young children and babies.  

Minds in the making, Fun in the making

Mind in the Making, first a book by Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of Families and Work Institute, and now a movement in early care and education, links the science of brain development to guiding principles for parents and teachers and to strategies for bringing an EF  focus to life for all children, beginning in their earliest weeks and months.  It is sponsored by the Bezos Family Foundation and provides training programs and free, downloadable skill-building tips for early childhood caregivers and for parents.

Another exciting science-based, and fun inspired, tool is Vroom (https://www.vroom.org).  Provided free by the Bezos Family Foundation, it is available as an app, by text, and on Facebook and Twitter.  Vroom translates MITM science and experience into one thousand tips for how parents and caregivers can turn everyday events – changing diapers, getting dressed, walking outside – into brain-building and relationship-building moments.

In our work in early childhood care and education, we have seen MITM and Vroom add real value to communities building systems of care for children and support for families.  We’ve been helping early childhood leaders in Nevada and Mississippi develop stronger statewide support systems for families with young children that use these and other proven tools.  

We’re all in this together

This pandemic has upended normal life as we all knew it.  It has caused enormous stress and heartbreak.  It also has shown how generous people can be, how brave they can be, and how resourceful they can be. If there is a bright side to this time of homeschooling and distance learning, it is to remind us how parents are our children’s first teachers.  And to learn that there are tools and networks to support everyone in that effort and have fun while they’re at it.

This terrific YouTube clip shows how fun it can be to build skills with your child.  Enjoy.

Bending the Arc, One Young Man at a Time

Posted on by Beth Greeley

In the context of moving more Americans into the skill level they need for satisfying, family-sustaining jobs in the 21stcentury, making public college tuition free is a hot topic.

Post-secondary learning has a big impact on earning.  Census data from 2016 noted that people with high school degrees earned an average of $35,615 a year. Those with a bachelor’s degree jumped up to an average of $65,482 per year. People holding advanced degrees made an average of $92,525 a year.  While all Americans need to be on this learning and earning trajectory, it is crucial to raise up those who lag furthest behind:  young black and Hispanic men.  If college attainment is a lever for a lifetime of higher earning potential, it is also a lever for economic equity.

The challenge is more than money

Is college tuition, though, the biggest obstacle to college attainment for young men of color?  Experience tells us, no.  The climb up and over begins with the aspiration and the confidence to go to college.  But getting through college, even with financial support, is a challenge.  College attainment stats show that while 57% of white college-going men earn a bachelor’s degree in six years or under, only 33% of black men do.  

Colleges and universities are trying an array of approaches to help students stick it out and achieve their goals.  Some use intensive advising, making sure that students choose the courses they need to stay on track for completing on time.  Others offer robust academic support to ensure classroom success.  While others focus on keeping financial woes at bay.

Another approach – targeted directly at young black men and young men of color – creates a comprehensive social support system built on the values of service, discipline, leadership, and accountability.  It models success and makes it okay to look and speak and act and dream differently.  It builds networks at individual colleges as well as providing a national structure that links students together while they are in school and keeps them connected after they graduate.  And it reaches down into high schools to activate those students’ aspiration to attend college.  The organization is called SAAB (the Student African American Brotherhood). Its audacious ultimate goal is to change the national conversation about race.  SAAB is explicit about how guiding young men of color to higher educational attainment and consequent career success will help erase the divide our society has suffered for so long.

Visualizing success

Nearing its 30th year, SAAB has 350 chapters in 40 states with 12,000 college and high school student members.  Founder Tyrone Bledsoe, Ph.D. was inspired to build the SAAB model in reaction to the woeful GPA of African American men at his institution, Georgia Southwestern State University, where he was associate vice president for student affairs.  The grade point difference was stark between the university average and that of young black male students.  “Doc”, as he is called, began with a weekly check in session where students could express their struggles and they could, together, suggest answers and lend moral support.  The reaction was powerful. Students could visualize success, not only in terms of raising grades up, but also in terms of becoming leaders and building agency, and they could learn from each other how best to get there.  

As the experiment expanded, SAAB added elements of service not only to the chapter’s home communities but also service to making the chapters thrive.  SAAB is more bottom-up than top-down.  Each chapter writes its own strategic plan – in collaboration with its university or college advisor partner – to realize its goals and recognize what works best for their members.  Running the chapters is part of training for success beyond college.  

The SAAB effect

The SAAB effect on persistence has been substantial and sustained.  The average for all black students to attain a bachelor’s degree in six years or less is 40%. SAAB members have an 80% persistence rate over that fraught first year to second year and have a completion rate of 86%.

SAAB’s latest echelon of support is an “Ambassadors Council”.  The council is national in scope now, but aiming to spin off regional councils as well.  Ambassadors not only provide financial support to grow the organization to meet the scale of need, but also provide active career guidance and networking entrée for SAAB members.  With thousands of SAAB graduates out in the world, the organization has formed a formal Alumni Council, too.  The role is to extend the support, encouragement and affirmation students received while in school to their years as graduates as they make their way.

At national and regional conferences, you can spot SAAB members a mile away. They have a confident air.  They walk with purpose.  They look sharp.  They are engaged with the world. They are ready to embrace the future.  Yes, college costs matter.  Financial support matters if more young people, especially men of color, are to aspire to and earn post-secondary degrees.  But so does mentoring and support and accountability and inspiration.  With the passing of each year, SAAB brothers are bending the arc of history, one member at a time.