Our Story
Seeding Success is a Memphis Cradle to Career partnership that seeks to ensure every child has the support and resources they need to succeed.
As a leader of systems-level change, the Seeding Success partnership encourages collaboration among diverse partners, by building their capacity to make data-informed decisions that put children at the center; advocates for equity-based policies and funding to remove barriers and sustain improvements; and helps design systems to address disparities.
Addressing a Community Need
Seeding Success launched in January of 2013 as part of a strategic plan during the merger of Shelby County Schools and Memphis City Schools. A community engagement committee made a formal recommendation to create an organization that would help bring community and education systems together for a collective impact approach, ensuring that K-12 students and families would have the resources and support they need in the newly merged school system. We launched as part of a cohort of cities supported by StriveTogether and United Way Worldwide. Until 2015, Seeding Success was anchored at the United Way of the Mid-South.
In 2015, we joined the PeopleFirst Partnership, a collaborative effort dedicated to improving education outcomes and growing talent in Memphis and Shelby County. In July of 2017, the partnership voted to merge the entities involved and move forward as Seeding Success, an independent organization to focus on strengthening education to ensure student success from cradle to career.
Early Implementation
During the early years, Seeding Success supported collaboration, strategy, and the continuous improvement of student outcomes by implementing the Collaborative Action Network (CAN) approach. These sub-groups focused on pre-k, third-grade reading, and college access, convening 100+ leaders and community organizations.
Champions led the work of these networks within their sectors, like Porter-Leath, Knowledge Quest, Literacy Mid-South, Leadership Memphis, Communities In Schools, and the Workforce Investment Network.
Expanding Our Approach
Our work has evolved from supporting specific collaborative action networks aligned to student outcomes to designing, building, managing, and sustaining cradle-to-career systems that improve economic and social mobility.
Through research and feedback from our partners, we determined that to sustain long-lasting change in our community, we needed to broaden the spectrum of our work.
To advance economic and social mobility, we must discover ways to streamline the integration of systems like housing, transportation, health, and education, while utilizing social policy development as a tool for sustainability.
KEY NATIONAL PARTNERS
StriveTogether
Seeding Success is a member of the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network, a national network of nearly 70 local communities striving to achieve racial equity and economic mobility.
In 2013, Seeding Success was part of the first group to participate in the StriveTogether Leadership Program. This nine-month program supports network members in using data, facilitating conversations, and focusing explicitly on racial equity to achieve better outcomes for children. We adopted the approach internally and have used it to build the capacity of our partner organizations.
In 2018, Seeding Success achieved the StriveTogether Network’s highest designation of “proof point.” Proof point recognition is earned through effective community-wide efforts to change systems and improve outcomes for children. S2’s dedication to collaboration, continuous improvement, and using data to build the capabilities of partners and make decisions has empowered organizations to measure their impact more effectively, expand their efforts, and share practices to improve community-wide outcomes.
Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF®) is devoted to developing a brighter future for millions of children at risk of poor educational, economic, social, and health outcomes. Seeding Success adopted the Results-Based Leadership Process through their guidance and support, which aims to empower leaders to accelerate meaningful change across an organization. In this approach, leaders gain the skills and experience needed to be data-driven and outcome-oriented while focusing on collaboration and internal alignment. In addition to clearly defining their targeted results, results-based leaders also continually assess their progress and adapt their path as their work unfolds.
aecf.org