The Way Forward: Episode 2 of 3 - A Deeper Look at Education

Welcome to the 2nd episode in a 3-part series on education we’re calling Short-Cuts.  Shorter podcasts that together will provide deeper insights into a specific area.

In this episode, we’ll be visiting with the Executive Director of Waterbury Bridge to Success, Althea Brooks,  to learn how United Way was instrumental in their formation and in their continuing success. 

This episode is brought to you by:

United Way Platinum Premier Sponsor Drew Marine, a leading provider of technical solutions and services to the maritime industry. Learn more at drew-marine.com

And

Largay Travel - to start planning your next great getaway visit largaytravel.com

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Way Forward, the United Way of Greater Waterberries podcast, and the second episode in our new three-part series on education we're calling shortcuts. Shorter podcasts that together will provide deeper insights into a specific area. This episode is brought to you by United Way Platinum Premier sponsor Drew Marine, a leading provider of technical solutions and services to the maritime industry. Learn more at Drew-Marine.com. And Larguay Travel, start planning your next great getaway by visiting Larguayetravel.com. In our first episode, we had a dynamic conversation with United Way Vice President of Community Impact, Jason Martinez. Today we're going to dive deeper into the education impact area with Executive Director of Waterbury Bridge to Success, Althea Brooks. Alright, well, welcome back everyone. We're going to continue our conversations on the education impact area, and I'm joined now by a very lovely guest. I have Athea Brooks, who's the Executive Director of Waterbury's Bridge to Success. So welcome.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Thank you. Thank you for having me, Scott.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

So can you tell me, let's for starters start, what is Bridge to Success?

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Bridge to Success is a cross-sector partnership of 90 or more organizations, educators, leaders, youth, parents, caregivers, interested parties, funders who come together using a collective impact approach to really making change by centering racial equity for children and youth in the city of Waterbury so that they can be successful in school, career, and life.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Well, that makes a lot of sense. So can you tell me a little bit about the strategic partnership with United Way and how that helps bridge to success?

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Definitely. Bridge to success now is 11 years old, but it came into fruition as a result of the Youth Policy Prevention Council. And individuals had come together after folks were saying, I'm seeing you in six different meetings, we need to come together. And United Way leaned into that space and became the convener of organizations to come together to really begin to take a collective approach to making change for youth in the city of Waterbury. And the result was really beginning to look at this work from cradle to career, zero to twenty-four, and the impact on youth. And United Way was the organization who brought folks to the table.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

That makes a lot of sense. So you mentioned cradle to career. I hear there's a six-phase process. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Definitely. The work is guided by our national partner strive together, but the six-phase process is really, as I said, looking at children from zero to 24. So the six phases are kindergarten readiness. The second phase is third grade reading. We know literacy is huge, a big piece of the work United Way does. The third phase is middle math. We know math is a critical factor, right, in any future success of a youth. Then we look at high school graduation, which we know really begins to determine the economic right viability of the future of a youth. But then we also look at post-secondary enrollment and post-secondary completion. And that work then shows up in our collaborative action networks. And so that in the case of the kindergarten readiness, the third grade reading, that happens in our early care and education collaborative action network. And then when we look at middle math, high school enrollment or high school graduation, that happens in our positive youth development collaborative action network. And then post-secondary enrollment and completion happens in our college and career pathways collaborative action network. But it's all undergirded by really our our organizing and advocacy collaborative action groups, and that's our Parents of Waterbury and our Let Youth Lead Youth Advisory Think Tank.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Well, that makes it all come together. I understand, yes. So there's one more thing that I'm curious about, and it's just like your personality. I hear about this Sparkler app. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Sure. As I mentioned about our collaborative action networks, and I want to mention United Way's been a big partner in the uh expansion of the Sparkler app in the city. Actually, I have to say, uh, when the opportunity came forth, it was United Way who came to BTS and said, hey, you guys are doing a lot in the early care and education space. This might be a great opportunity to really bring tools to the community that really can engage parents and providers to really help ensure our kids are kindergarten ready. And that's how Sparkler came about. We actually were the second round of cities, so one of four cities who had the opportunity to roll out this really unique approach to really surveilling the development of children zero to five using this mobile app called Sparkler that embeds the ages and stages questionnaire that looks at five key domains around children's development. And so in our early care and education CAN, where United Way shows up as a part of it in our home visitors network, which was one of the larger networks where the Office of Early Childhood, who funds the Sparkler app, gave the priority to really utilize that app. And during this last pandemic, during this pandemic and last year, it was extremely critical for organizations to stay in touch with families, and they use the Sparkler as a way of helping them really assess what was going on with children at that time.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Well, it's the you know, it's the times, right? We're all on apps, that's how we're we're communicating, and you guys are obviously doing a great job of that. You know, I've learned a lot here myself about what Bridge to Success is up to, and I think everybody else has learned a lot about how you guys are really helping uh the community and the educational impact area. So thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. Glad to be here. Thank you for joining us for the second in our three-part shortcut series on education. Tune in for our next episode as we speak with Superintendent of Waterbury Public Schools and United Way board member, Dr. Verna D. Ruffin, as we learn more about how United Way is making a difference for students and families. To learn more about United Way's work in education, visit UnitedWayGW.org. Thank you everyone for tuning in. We'll see you next time on the way forward.