Stable kids are smart kids

This month across the country our kids are back to school. Whether the kids attend public or private school, these are important formative years for our young people. The years where children not only learn to read and write, but they also start build the base for their cognitive problem-solving skills and social emotional reasoning. Coupling fundamental knowledge with curiosity and developed coping skills is the key formula for a community’s future economic success.?

We in the Community Development profession have a growing responsibility to support key elements towards a nurturing environment that will help our kids achieve in school and be ready for a career in a mid-21st century world. We are accomplishing this task through innovation, creativity, and partnership which both acknowledge schools’ importance in the continuum of the workforce development system and meeting stability needs for the student to thrive.

A few years back when I was with the City of Brooklyn Park, our team acknowledged the need increased involvement from suburban municipalities to stave off a growing skills gap between available living wage jobs and the skills of job seekers. High demand jobs today require some level of post-secondary education. Traditionally, the workforce development system starts with a dislocated worker or an adult over 25 years of age lacking proper educational attainment to compete in the job market. With growing expectations in the market for skilled labor and global competition forces on industry, Community Development professionals have an obligation to shift our systems to meet these needs.

One of the most impactful programs we host is direct work experience. In Minneapolis, that program is StepUp, a partnership between the City, Achieve Twin Cities, PPL, Minnesota DEED, schools, and employers. The CPED team includes my colleagues Tammy (Pfaendtner) Dickinson , Shandella Darring, Theresa Angelopoulos , and Maryan Sharif-Abdinassir . StepUp is a 20+ year old program which provides more than 1,200 young people each summer with paid jobs with local employers. In Brooklyn Park, that program is BrookLynk formed by in partnership between the cities of Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center and the Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth led by Rebecca Gilgen and managed by my former colleague Jolene Rotich . BrookLynk has provided paid internships to over 400 youth. Besides being paid, participants of these programs gain invaluable professional experience and connections for future mentorship and opportunity. ???

Another key innovation to support young people looks past obvious and conventional ideas such a training or work experience and towards the stability of the student. This innovation supports a child where they live, understanding that “having a safe, stable place to call home is foundational to well-being and critical for children’s development”. In 2019, Mayor Jacob Frey prioritized the formation of Stable Homes Stable Schools in partnership with the Minneapolis Public Schools, Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, Hennepin County, Pohlad Family Foundation, and YMCA of the North. The program has offered housing supports to more than 1,500 families with more than 4,400 students so that the kids are more likely to end the school year in the same classroom they started. Housing Director Elfric Porte and program manager Jamie Radel coordinate the partnership for CPED, manage resources, and track outcomes. ??

As with all community development efforts we look to the needs of today for the outcomes of tomorrow. Investing in our young people always has a positive return. We continue to see more opportunity for creativity for their sake and for our overall community.