AASA Joins National Initiative to Scale Up Holistic Systems to Support Youth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
James Minichello
703-875-0723
703-774-6953 (cell)
jminichello@aasa.org  

Alexandria, Va. – September 1, 2020 –AASA, The School Superintendents Association, is pleased to announce today the organization has joined with the Forum for Youth Investment (The Forum), the National Urban League, the American Institutes for Research and more than 30 other national education and youth development organizations to help stimulate equity-driven solutions, practices and policies in schools and communities that bolster supports for students.

Today’s announcement comes at a time when public education is filled with new challenges for school district leaders, principals, teachers, students and families as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The growing concerns about children’s welfare, especially the most vulnerable, are shared by every organization that supports learning and development. If there was ever a need for a whole child, whole school, whole community approach to strategic planning, it is now.

“Schools cannot rebuild after the COVID pandemic alone. The magnitude of the work needed to build back better together suggests the need to build back smarter,” said Karen Pittman, president of the Forum for Youth Investment.

“This could be the beginning of a powerful change in American education,” said Daniel A. Domenech, executive director, AASA. “We all agree that we cannot return to business as usual. This can be a watershed point in our history where we work together and finally succeed in promoting equity and excellence for all learners.”

“Build Forward Together,” an initiative of the Readiness Projects will focus on how to bring coherence to local efforts to rebuild and re-imagine a community’s learning ecosystem.  AASA brings valuable skills and expertise to this project to help local school and community leaders work together for a better future for all children and youth.

For more information, contact Bryan Joffe, AASA project director, at bjoffe@aasa.org. Click here for more information about AASA’s work about equity in public education.

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About AASA
AASA, The School Superintendents Association, founded in 1865, is the professional organization for more than 13,000 educational leaders in the United States and throughout the world. AASA’s mission is to support and develop effective school system leaders who are dedicated to equitable access for all students to the highest quality public education. For more information, visit www.aasa.org.

About the Forum for Youth Investment
The Forum for Youth Investment is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan “action tank” committed to changing the odds that all children and youth are ready for college, work and life. It provides ideas, services, and networks that leaders need in order to make more intentional decisions that are good for young people. The Forum helps leaders increase their capacity to more effectively make the case for and manage the collaborative efforts that are needed to change the odds for youth; improve the alignment and appropriateness of child and youth policy agendas and investments; and strengthen programs’ and practitioners’ capacity to create environments in which youth thrive, across all the systems and settings where young people spend time. For more information, visit www.forumfyi.org.