An Intern’s Perspective: Amy Holiday

I come from a family of educators and have spent my four years in New Orleans getting involved with as much of the “Great Education Experiment” here as possible. So the opportunity to intern this semester with the Cowen Institute was obviously a really exciting one for me, and a great way to cap off the different projects I’ve worked on across the city so far. My task for the semester was to do a landscape analysis of different initiatives around the country focused on supporting disconnected youth. It was a project that represents the growing local discourse on how to best reconnect youth ages 16-24 who are neither in school, nor working. And the project also represents perhaps a greater more abstract question that we’re facing nationally: in this economic and social climate, how can we make sure youth are educated in a way that is relevant, engaging and productive?

The models were all very different and I looked at both programmatic and systemic types. But I had a particular focus on those that were multi-sector models, meaning they link together partners from the across the social services field. It’s a strategy dubbed “collective impact.” In a collective impact model, the goal is to create a network that systematically links numerous organizations – government, business, and nonprofits – around a clearly defined goal. As a result, there are substantial coalitions of like-minded groups working together in the social sector, instead of isolated spurts of impact. There are a variety of models across the country – some flourishing, others still gaining traction – that exist to support disconnected youth in some way. Some systems are preventive and focus on helping kids before they become disenfranchised from the education system.  And some are reactive and geared towards older youth. The Cowen Institute is working closely with other community partners to try to ascertain how a model like this can be implemented in New Orleans. My final project this semester was a database of research on national models, as well as a short report on some themes and trends that emerged and suggestions for the project.

I am interested in a career in educational policy and systems reform. So a major lesson I learned from researching in this space is that successful reform efforts do not exist in isolation. The ones that are sustainable bring together a multifarious cabinet of advisors and credentials. The collective impact idea is exciting, but it’s not necessarily innovative. It makes sense that we leverage synergy when trying to launch an audacious comprehensive initiative to help kids. Although I liked being able to learn about the range of models out there, I enjoyed most feeling a part of the nascent stages of this project in New Orleans. As the city moves forward with launching its own disconnected youth initiative, I’m excited to see what stakeholders are brought to the table.

The K-12 education experience is not one that is limited to classroom time. It is not one that we can measure simply by grades, enrollment or graduation numbers. A true quality education should be seen as a holistic investment in the whole child. And being able to explore various multi-sector models focusing on education for disconnected youth reaffirms that perspective.