Accountable Bodies:Philanthropic Community

Create Neutral Space

Create dedicated physical space that is considered neutral for the primary purpose of learning, interaction and training, equipped with state-of-the-art technology and facilities.

Tags Racial Equity
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Create a Clearinghouse

Create a clearinghouse for professionally facilitated opportunities at various levels (school, inter/intra-race, private, etc.)

Tags Racial Equity
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Utilize Shared Guidelines

Utilize a shared set of guidelines, language, and benchmarks for philanthropic organizations addressing key causes of systemic inequality.

Tags Racial Equity
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Early Childhood Education

Ensure sufficient early childhood development and education programs to meet the demand and align all efforts around a high-quality model that produces measurable child outcomes:Birth to 3 years of age:Scale-up and integrate, for the region’s most needy children and families, evidence-based early childhood programs for a continuum of care, including but not limited…

Tags Youth at the Center
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Develop School Leader and Teacher Support Infrastructure

Create a school leader and teacher cohort model that promotes well-being by building connectivity and support among peers, facilitates lifelong learning and idea exchange and a ensures a personal experience within an environment of trust, respect and confidentiality Model:Young Presidents Organization (YPO)  

Tags Youth at the CenterEducation
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Increase Health Insurance Coverage and Access

Increase insurance coverage and access for everyone:Enroll more people in the Affordable Care Act marketplace Expand Medicaid Ensure the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is reauthorized so school-based health centers can use this as one source of funding care. To ease enrollment into CHIP, implement “presumptive eligibility” into the school-based health center settings for all children…

Tags Youth at the Center
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Establish School-Based Health Centers & Trauma-Informed Schools

Improve childhood physical and mental health:Establish School Based Health Centers:The creation of comprehensive school based health centers in the region should include access to mental health, case management and reproductive health. These centers keep kids in school (both by preventing illness and addressing behavioral health issues that lead to suspension and expulsion), in…

Tags Youth at the CenterEducation
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Coordinate Support Efforts

Develop a shared vision, community scorecard and system for coordinating important but fragmented efforts while valuing diversity, inclusion and transparency. Promoted model:Ready by 21  

Tags Youth at the Center
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Build Safe Neighborhoods

Support sustained, citizen-led efforts to develop safe neighborhoods, particularly the efforts of parents and families impacted by violence, and clergy working to build community and keep watch. Support should include, but not be limited to, planning, coaching, funding and service- provider coordination  

Tags Youth at the CenterBuilding Safe and Trauma-Informed Environments
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Fund Organizational Capacity and Client Outcomes

Encourage the funding community to invest in the attainment of outcomes and in capacity building versus payment for individual transactions (i.e. number of youth interviewed ). Our current and future regional issues are complex and require innovation, coordination, and collaboration.    

Tags Youth at the Center
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Create an Innovative Education Hub

Create an “innovative education center/hub” capable of building an inclusive, collaborative, and multi-disciplined education environment focused on leading our region into the 21st Century from early childhood to post-secondary. All efforts should be coordinated and represented by a broad and diverse constituency including but not limited to school district leaders representing low income districts, engaged…

Tags Youth at the Center
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Create the Spirit of Missouri Fund

Create the Spirit of Missouri Fund Invest in a range of innovations that have a strong potential to impact at a large scale our state’s most vexing challenges. Broadly define innovation as any solution that has the potential to address an important issue, including new business problems, technology, new delivery systems, public policy and/or behavioral…

Tags Youth at the Center
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Preferentially Fund Job Training Programs that Show Impact

Funding for job training programs throughout the state shall be prioritized for those programs that successfully serve, place, and retain job seekers as measured by dedicated performance metrics.  

Tags Opportunity to Thrive
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Create Pathways for Lower Skilled Employees

Modify incentive programs for employers to prioritize those that have internal career ladders creating clear pathways to higher skilled jobs for lower skilled employees.  

Tags Opportunity to Thrive
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Build a Poverty-to-Professional Model for Youth Serving Organizations

Missouri youth-serving organizations shall advocate for the development of a model that empowers low-income young adults to go from poverty to professional careers in an accelerated timeframe.

Tags Opportunity to Thrive
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Evaluate Job Training Success and Award Funding Accordingly

Incorporate the number of disconnected youth enrolled and graduated from job training programs with significant success in job placement and earnings as a metric in the performance evaluations of youth-serving organizations receiving public dollars and grant funds from local foundations in the St. Louis metropolitan region.  

Tags Opportunity to Thrive
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Align Funding to Build Capacity of CDCs

Engage area funders, non-profits, financial institutions, and private sector entities to align resources and provide financial support to encourage collaboration between community development corporations (CDCs) and build their capacity.  

Tags Opportunity to ThriveFostering Equitable Land Reutilization and Affordable Housing
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Enhance Collaboration Between Educational Institutions and Employers

Enhance and expand collaboration between educational institutions and employers statewide by:Establishing a regional intermediary to ensure greater public-private collaboration in assessing workforce needs and communicating those needs with K-12 institutions, job training programs, and post-secondary education institutions; Developing a regional strategy for aligning educational programs to workforce needs that has clearly established indicators to…

Tags Opportunity to Thrive
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Empowerment Centers

Identify empowerment centers throughout the St. Louis region to concentrate financial services that provide community development banking and multigenerational financial education (e.g., Prosperity Connection).  

Tags Opportunity to Thrive
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Invest in High Functioning CDFIs

Invest in high functioning Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to support community- based investments, financial literacy, increased banking, and access to financial tools designed to promote economic mobility. Fund financial education initiatives through:Public:Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP), Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs), municipal grants, etc. Private:Corporate grants, innovation and technological hubs, volunteers, etc….

Tags Opportunity to Thrive
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Create Universal Child Development Accounts

Expand the current scope of the MOST 529 Matching Grant Program so it is used as a platform for progressive universal Child Development Accounts that are:statewide and automatic (opt-out).

Tags Opportunity to Thrive
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