Message from CEO:
Leaping Forward Together – Reflections on Seven Years of Partnership
My family and I made the leap to San Antonio seven years ago this July. We wanted to be closer to our parents and we wanted our parents to be involved in our children’s lives. We were also excited to escape Chicago winters, even knowing we were trading them for the unrelenting heat of Texas summers.
This was a leap that led to many others.
I was fortunate to get a job supporting Excel Beyond the Bell San Antonio. Two years into that work I took on the executive role with UP Partnership, known at the time as the P16Plus Council. We then merged Excel Beyond the Bell and UP in service of making San Antonio the “top city in the country for youth to learn, grow, and thrive.” …
Working alongside many other contributors, our collective has helped the larger San Antonio community to deepen its commitment to racial equity.
Read the rest of our CEO’s reflections and the successes we all have collectively advanced during the last seven years.
Data Driven
The Latest Network Updates
Diplomás + My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio
On August 19th, Diplomás and MBKSA will kick-off the 2022-2023 school year with a Collaborative Social at Weathered Souls Brewery. Registration is required and we hope to see you there! Email
Jonathan Weaver at Jonathan@uppartnership.org for more details.
Excel Beyond the Bell San Antonio
In mid-June, youth-serving professionals from local organizations, such as Youth Code Jam, Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas, YWCA, YOSA and PRESA Community Center, Catholic Charities, Ella Austin Community Center, JOVEN and North East ISD’s Kids’ Involvement Network, graduated from the Excel Academy. Excel Academy is a 10-month professional development course that equips youth serving practitioners with the tools they need to more holistically integrate Search Institute’s proven framework for “Developmental Relationships” practices within their agencies. Relational techniques that can be used to implement this framework include: expressing care, challenging growth, providing support, sharing power, and expanding possibilities.
My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio
On September 29th, San Antonio will host more than 100 individuals from Fort Worth, Austin, and Houston for a convening that will champion the MBK Texas initiative. In preparation for the upcoming 88th Texas Legislative Session, these individuals will collectively set a statewide policy agenda focusing on school community safety, and youth civic engagement.
Our Tomorrow
In conjunction with SAY Sí, the “We Are Now” 2022 exhibit is seeking submissions from a diverse set of young artists ranging across many platforms of art, including film, painting, sculpture, music, dance and theater. Encourage a young artist in your life to submit their artwork by Sept. 30th at bit.ly/wearenow2022.
Future Ready Bexar County
On July 20th, UP Partnership virtually convened more than 150 senior leaders of institutions for the inaugural Future Ready Leadership Table. Together, we highlighted preliminary projects that are already having an impact on Bexar County students and in reaching our North Star of 70% postsecondary enrollment by 2030. Recordings of the event are available here:
Jayde Beebe
Director of Data and Information Management
Team Member Highlight
Jayde believes in the power of data. As the Director of Data and Information Management, she empowers our community to make data-driven policy for young people that ultimately leads to systems change. A self-proclaimed data geek, Jayde is a big picture thinker.
Prior to joining the UP Partnership team in 2019, she worked for the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH) and Haven for Hope, where she worked with city leaders and community stakeholders to develop project monitoring and evaluation tools to help inform system-level planning and prioritization of needs for the community that is experiencing homelessness. She enjoys ‘nerding out’ over data dashboards, traveling, and spending time with her two dog-children, Eleanor and Margo.
UPportunities to get involved!
Is your institution an official Future Ready partner yet?
It’s not too late to become a partner in the Future Ready Bexar County alignment plan. Email ryan@uppartnership.org to join the nearly 70 institutions that have already signed on to ensure Bexar County’s young peoples’ futures!
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