There’s nothing quite like being in a room full of people who are working toward the same goal: better futures for young people. The 2025 StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network Convening in Atlanta was a reminder of what’s possible when we learn from one another, celebrate progress, and are honest about the challenges that are still ahead. Over three days, we heard stories of systems change, shared tools and strategies, and left with both urgency and hope for the work still to come. 

It was also a proud moment for our Minnesota partnerships as Sondra Samuels, CEO of the Northside Achievement Zone and member of the Generation Next Leadership Council, received the Bill Henningsgaard Cradle to Career Champion Award. As members of the Education Partnerships Coalition (EPC), we were thrilled to be in the room to cheer her on and celebrate her incredible impact.

Opening Plenary: Jennifer Blatz, CEO of StriveTogether and Susan Dawson, E3 Alliance Austin 

Economic Policies to Unlock Opportunity

The 2025 StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network Convening opened with a conversation between StriveTogether CEO Jennifer Blatz and Susan Dawson, founder of E3 Alliance in Austin, Texas. Their conversation grounded the convening in both urgency and possibility, offering lessons and insights on what it really takes to shift systems for thousands of students. 

Jennifer reminded convening attendees that “when communities come together, progress accelerates.” She also stated that “relationships move at the speed of trust,” showing the role of connection in making collective action (and impact) possible. 

Susan then carried that theme forward: “How do we change systems that impact thousands of students?” she asked. Susan stated that “positive peer pressure” is part of the answer – “different organizations come together and challenge one another to lift everyone up.” 

Most of Susan’s reflections centered on the role of trust in partnerships. “If you can establish trust, you can drive change more effectively,” she said. 

Susan also offered advice for those in the StriveTogether network: 

• The StriveTogether Theory of Action is a powerful framework for finding out where your partnership can be most effective. 
• The importance of sharing and learning from others and “failing forward”
• Creating communities of action – where partners come together around one topic – can share learning.” 

Susan also called on backbone leaders to: 

• “Not take no for an answer”
• “Find a way through to move forward”
• “Don’t be paralyzed by trying to do too much”
• “Use data, leverage it, and keep the work moving forward.”

Susan also pointed to the impact of using effective data. In Central Texas, less than one third of Black students were enrolled in advanced math classes, compared to 85% of white students. Through an “opt out” program that automatically enrolled students in advanced math by test score results, the region “closed the gap by 91%” – a change now benefitting over 52,000 students per year.

Susan’s book Changing Education Systems: Wisdom Gained by E3 Alliance in Driving Effective Change Using Data and Collaboration was given to every attendee at the Convening. 

Voices From The Plenaries

Throughout the Convening, speakers offered attendees memorable insights that captured both the challenges and opportunities of building more equitable systems. Across sessions, leaders came back to the same themes: collaboration, trust, strong systems, and the need to engage across differences as the keys that move this work forward. 

Economic Policies to Unlock Opportunity

Darrick Hamilton, Professor at The New School, shared his research on baby bonds – a bipartisan proposal to help close the racial wealth gap – before joining Michael Strain, Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, in a conversation about economic mobility and the role of local partnerships. Josh Davis, Vice President of Policy and Partnerships at StriveTogether, moderated the conversation. 

“Advancing tranquility and love should be outcomes of our economy.” – Darrick Hamilton
Prof. Hamilton reminded attendees that economic systems aren’t just about growth; they should also lead to healthier and more thriving communities. 

“Wealth gives freedom and choice. Without wealth, inequality is baked in.” – Darrick Hamilton
Prof. Hamilton described wealth as “fueling opportunity.” His call for baby bonds – a guaranteed trust account for every child – offers a pathway to economic security and mobility.  

“Seek out relationships with people who don’t share my views. You don’t want to be in an echo chamber.” – Michael Strain
Michael pushed participants to build stronger coalitions by engaging across differences.

Scalable Solutions for Workforce Outcomes
In this plenary session, Terri-Ann Brown, Director of Miami Tech Works, and Stephen Goldsmith, Professor at Harvard Kennedy School and Director of Data-Smart City Solutions, shared how communities are tackling workforce challenges by aligning education, training, and local job needs. Moderated by Jon Schnur, CEO of America Achieves, the conversation underscored that scalable solutions require collaboration, investment, and data that tells a clear story. 

“Solutions don’t happen without everyone working together,” Terri-Ann said. She emphasized that collaboration is the only way to create meaningful and lasting solutions. 

“Having data that tells a story can drive action.” – Stephen reminded attendees that data, when communicated well, can be a catalyst for change. 

From Classroom to Career: Creating Pathways to Economic Mobility

This plenary session brought together Melissa Connelly, CEO of OneGoal, John Garcia III, Executive Director of the Pathways Impact Fund at StriveTogether, and Paul Herdman, President and CEO of the Rodel Foundation, for a conversation on building stronger links between high school, higher education, and careers. Moderated by Bill Tucker, Deputy Director of the Education Pathways Program at the Gates Foundation, the discussion highlighted the critical role of mentoring, work-based learning, and long-term infrastructure in helping young people move from the classroom into economic mobility. 

“Students want to find connection and meaning. How do we make the connection from education to future opportunities?” Panelists emphasized that students are looking for connection, and that pathways must link what they learn in school to real opportunities.

“From pilots to policy, systems will overpower even the most charismatic leaders. Intermediaries need to be there for the long haul.” – Paul Herdman
Paul reminded participants that lasting change depends on durable systems and organizations, not just individual champions.

Uplifting the Narrative in Longitudinal Data

Joe Munnich, Executive Director at Generation Next, and Amanuel Medhanie, consultant with Parsimony Inc., lead a breakout session titled “Uplifting the Narrative in Longitudinal Data,” sharing how longitudinal data can tell a fuller story of students’ educational journeys. 

Joe and Amanuel shared that “longitudinal data can transform the understanding of young people’s educational journeys — from discrete points-in-time to complete pathways.” The session showed how when you follow the same students over time, you start to see pathways instead of isolated outcomes. This echoed Susan Dawson’s reflection in the opening plenary – that “everything starts with data.” 

Generation Next shared how they’re using this approach locally, by asking questions like: Who are the students we are tracking? What was their high school experience? What was their postsecondary experience? How can we support future success? Joe and Amanuel also highlighted local Twin Cities community partners like iLEAD, We Thrive, Bridging the Equity Gap (BTEG), and the American Indian Success Program, who bring essential context and lived experience to go alongside the data.

Participants then practiced how to shape strong research questions: “A well-defined question will help you focus your resources and keep you from getting lost in a sea of data,” they said.  Each person drafted and prioritized their top three questions, then sorted them into descriptive (what is happening?), normative (what should be happening?), or cause and effect (did X influence Y?).

A second exercise asked participants to design a simple data strategy: identify the student group of interest, decide when the data should be collected, name which outcomes matter most, and brainstorm possible sources. 

The takeaway from this session was simple but powerful: moving from single points to longitudinal stories helps us understand not just where young people are, but how their experiences over time shape their futures. Or, as Stephen Goldsmith put it in another plenary, “Having data that tells a story can drive action.”

View the full presentation here. 

One Voice, Many Partners: Strategies for Unified Messaging in Collaborative Work 

Molly Barrett Palma, Sr. Marketing & Communications Manager at Generation Next, and John Fanning, Director of the Education Partnerships Coalition of Minnesota (EPC), co-facilitated a session titled “One Voice, Many Partners: Strategies for Messaging in Collaborative Work,” which shared with participants strategies for aligning their coalition’s communications, using the EPC’s past work as a case study for how to balance statewide alignment with local distinctiveness. 

As a problem and solution session, Molly and John outlined the challenge in communicating on behalf of a coalition that involves nine organizations across Minnesota: words that inspire some may be off-limits to others, and what works in one community may not work in another. In the past, EPC’s answer to this challenge was creating lengthy, yet at times disjointed, Annual Reports – but as Susan Dawson reminded us in the plenary, “don’t be paralyzed by trying to do too much.” 

EPC shifted to a new model after John came on as Director of the EPC: narrowing the scope of communications and messaging needs, creating a limited set of deliverables, and investing in shared tools. EPC’s 2024/25 plan focused on three things — a website refresh, a new legislative priorities document, and a redesigned annual report. Clearer ownership and concrete steps created an easier process, while outside consultants provided capacity where partners couldn’t. The lesson shared was that clarity, deadlines, and defined roles help coalitions speak with one voice while still honoring individuality.

Participants got to test this approach through interactive worksheets. First, they mapped their network ecosystem — identifying not only direct partners but also funders, boards, families, and legislators who shape how messages are created and received. Then they practiced building a shared narrative, answering questions like: What problem are we solving together? What change do we want people to see? What unique assets does each partner bring? Finally, they mapped roles across their communications workflow — who drafts, who designs, who approves, and who amplifies? — while noting the supports needed to make each stage smoother.

By the end of the session, one theme carried through: local distinctiveness plus statewide alignment equals stronger impact. As Stephen Goldsmith put it in a plenary session, “Having information that tells a story can drive action.” The same is true for communications: when coalitions tell one story together, it strengthens influence with funders, policymakers, and the communities they serve.

View the full presentation here. 

Building More Equitable Data Practices

Members of the Equity in Practice Learning Community (EiPLC), a cohort formed with Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP), of which Generation Next is a part, shared what it looks like to center racial equity in data systems in this session. This session was facilitated by Briellen Griffin (Saint Paul Promise / Wilder Research), chair of the Generation Next Data Committee; Jessie Rios Benitez (AISP), Caitlin Schneider (Promise Partnership Utah) and Bridget Blount (Baltimore’s Promise). This session highlighted lessons from three communities (Saint Paul, Baltimore, and Salt Lake City) that are actively building more equitable and sustainable practices. 

The presenters shared that “we don’t just need to integrate data; we need to integrate people.” This framing echoed a theme we heard throughout the plenaries – trust, collaboration, and sharing stories are the foundation of lasting systems change. 

Generation Next, with our Leadership Council members Northside Achievement Zone, Saint Paul Promise and Wilder Research, are leading the Minnesota Education Equity Data Hub, with milestones including community interviews, community ‘meaning-making’ sessions, and a guiding principle that “data belongs to the people, not institutions.”  The other communities also shared their specific steps forward in this work:  

• Promise Partnership Utah has established a governance committee – clarifying roles, values, and definitions and is building tools that help partners and families understand how data is used.

• Baltimore Promise shared that their “Youth Data Hub” is state-legislated and community grounded, with an intergenerational governance group that reviews requests and interprets findings. Their biggest finding was that “trust is the real metric.” 

The session also invited participants to use a “Chart the Course” activity to imagine what data practices in their own communities could look like 10 years from now if equity was truly centered, then to identify milestones at years three and seven, and ending with actions they could start on right now. 

The takeaway from this session was that equity in data isn’t only about systems or infrastructure: it’s about shifting power, sharing knowledge, and making sure that communities most impacted are the ones shaping the questions and interpreting the answers. 

Closing Plenary – A Timely Call to Action on Economic Mobility
Sally Kohn, nationally recognized television commentator, writer and executive presence coach.

Sally Kohn closed the 2025 StriveTogether Cradle to Career Convening by calling out the “precarious moment as a nation” we are currently in, and that the root problem is that “too many of us feel left out and left behind.”

“Ideas, discussion, empathy, and connection are the only way forward,” Sally said. Those themes continued on through her reflections on democracy, which she described in three phases: 

Democracy 1.0: the radical idea of government “of, by, and for the people.” 

Democracy 2.0: broadening participation, slowly and imperfectly, to include more voices

Democracy 3.0: says that the pursuit of happiness — “the meaningful, substantive real ability not just to survive, but to thrive, to achieve one’s potential and goals in life” — is not just an afterthought of our nation, but the goal of our nation. 

Sally drew on her interviews with pro-democracy leaders across the world who told her the same thing: authoritarianism is rising less because of what it’s doing right, and more because of what democracy is getting wrong. “It is very, very clear in our country and around the world right now that democracy is in decline,” Sally said. Sally emphasized that when people believe the economy doesn’t work for them, they start to believe democracy doesn’t work for them either. 

Her challenge to the StriveTogether network was direct: the work we do to expand opportunity for young people is also working to save democracy. “The measure of a healthy democracy is healthy economic opportunity and less inequity,” she said. From boosting kindergarten readiness in Kentucky; to building civic infrastructure in San Francisco; to Baltimore’s push for young adults being self-sufficient; to Wisconsin’s state investments in early childhood, she pointed out that communities within the StriveTogether network are already showing what Democracy 3.0 looks like in action. 

Sally closed with a message to the network: “Democracy shouldn’t just give people a vote – it should give people power over their own lives.” She thanked the network for showing up “with curiosity, honesty, and commitment” and left us with a charge to keep moving forward together – until life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not just ideals, but realities for every young person.

As the convening came to a close, one main theme came through: when communities come together around shared goals, progress really does accelerate. From data that drives better questions, to communications that build alignment without losing local voice, to policies that unlock opportunity, trust and collaboration are what make systems shift. The work ahead is still big, but we have to keep moving forward together. We’ll carry that energy into 2026, when the Cradle to Career Network gathers again in Baltimore, Maryland!