Birmingham, AL May 23, 2018 —United Way of Central Alabama (UWCA) will receive $150,000 to align the community around a plan for improving reading proficiency for Birmingham City Schools elementary students. Mayor Randall Woodfin, Superintendent Lisa Herring, and Drew Langloh, UWCA President, will appear together to announce this initiative. UWCA applied for the grant using the strengths of the Bold Goals Coalition of Central Alabama and incorporating key elements from the “The Woodfin Way” transition plan and the priorities that the Birmingham City Schools have identified. This grant commences an intensive 6-month effort to streamline and align all stakeholders behind one plan to improve student-centered literacy efforts.
“We know that by aligning all of the community’s resources around an actionable plan that the sky is the limit for children, not only in Birmingham, but throughout Central Alabama,” United Way of Central Alabama President and CEO Drew Langloh said. “The Bold Goals Coalition of Central Alabama convenes partners to make real change happen in Central Alabama, and this grant helps accelerate that change.”
The grant is an award from the Together for Students initiative, created by three national, education-focused nonprofit organizations — the Coalition for Community Schools, Communities In Schools, and StriveTogether — with support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Ford Foundation.
Birmingham was one of just 10 communities nationwide selected for this grant. Other key local partners in this grant include Birmingham Education Foundation, Norwood Resource Center, and Alabama Possible.
About Bold Goals
The Bold Goals Coalition of Central Alabama aligns the community to address disparities in education, health and financial stability in Blount, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair and Walker counties. Impact-area workgroups are made up of key regional leaders from businesses, non-profits, government, and education systems. These workgroups examine root causes, establish common, measurable goals and align community partners. This collective impact process encourages collaboration and looks at an “upstream” approach in order to make a greater impact in our community. United Way of Central Alabama is the backbone organization for the Coalition.
About the Coalition for Community Schools
The Coalition for Community Schools, an initiative of the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL), is an alliance of national, state and local organizations that utilize community schools as an equitable continuous improvement strategy for public schools, and an approach to build stronger and healthier families and communities.
About Communities In Schools
Working directly in more than 2,350 schools in 25 states and the District of Columbia, Communities In Schools is the nation’s leading dropout prevention organization proven to keep students in school and on the path to graduation. For the 2016-2017 school year, Communities In Schools served nearly 1.6 million students and successfully helped 99 percent of our case-managed students stay in school.
About StriveTogether
StriveTogether leads a national movement of nearly 70 communities to get better results in every child’s life. We coach and connect partners across the country to close gaps by using local data, especially for children of color and low-income children. Communities using our proven approach have seen measurable gains in kindergarten readiness, academic achievement and postsecondary success. The StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network reaches 10.4 million students, involves 10,800 organizations and has partners in 30 states and Washington, D.C.