One Year of Future Ready Bexar County: Paving the way for a brighter future for young people

One Year of Future Ready: Paving the way for a brighter future for young people in Bexar County

In the News: An Op-Ed by Our CEO and Chair in the San Antonio Express-News

Here is a synopsis of an op-ed by our CEO, Ryan Lugalia-Hollon, and our chair, Elaine Mendoza, that was published on May 25 in the San Antonio Express-News titled: “Paving the way for a brighter future for young people”

UP Partnership’s Future Ready Bexar County Plan, launched a little more than a year ago in April 2022, is a way for our community to deliver on an equitable recovery pledge to help our children and youth recover from the many ills of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a plan to ensure all young people in Bexar County are prepared for the future.

More than 85 organizations across varying industries are working together to provide services and/or funding to our young people. Together they’re pursuing a north star goal of increasing, from roughly 50 percent to 70 percent by 2030, Bexar County High School graduates enrolling in post-secondary degree or credential programs. And the plan is to achieve this while also reducing racial and ethnic inequities in enrollment.

Although 20 percent may seem like a steep increase in a seven-year time frame, data show this goal is attainable. According to the latest available data analyzed from the Texas Education Agency, 4,449 additional Bexar County students from the Class of 2020 would have needed to enroll in a post-secondary program to reach that 70 percent enrollment goal.

For the class of 2030, who will be sixth graders this fall, about 17,059 of the 24,270 students will need to enroll in a post-secondary program to achieve our goal.

This plan builds on the existing strengths of many of our partners, which have made commitments toward equity pillars of healing, access and voice.

You can continue to read the entire op-ed by clicking here.

We did, however, want to continue to expand on further examples that our youth serving organization Future Ready Bexar County Plan partners are conducting per pillar:

Pillar One: Healing: Young people will be future ready when they all have developmental relationships and healing supports they need.

Through funding awarded by Corporate Partners for Racial Equity (CPRE) by way of the San Antonio Area Foundation, UP Partnership’s My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio (MBKSA) and the Restorative Practices Collaborative (RPC) were able to fund six long-standing community organizations all of whom are Future Ready Partners — 100 Black Men of San Antonio, American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions, Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas, Empower House, Family Service Association and Rise Recovery — to provide direct training of restorative justice and social emotional healing in Bexar County. Currently, the RPC is in local school districts like East Central ISD, Harlandale ISD, Judson ISD and San Antonio ISD. These funds augment the power of the work being conducted within the RPC through the support of funders such as Blue Meridian Partners, USAA and others.

In addition to funds from CPRE, Rise Recovery was given funding from Self Financial, Inc. through a connection made by Spurs Sports and Entertainment, a corporate partner of the Future Ready Bexar County Plan. This will allow the organization to expand healing in Judson ISD, a Future Ready school district, by providing a healthy space for youth to learn about the importance of mental health, as well as the tools and skills to support their peers at home, in the classroom and beyond.

Alongside our restorative practices work, there has been significant movement in upskilling justice-involved youth through Chrysalis Ministries, which includes a three-year partnership between them and Future Ready organizations such as SA Worx to advance equity and economic mobility through workforce development services providing quality internships and job placement. It is anticipated that around 20-25 students will be recruited for a pilot Justice Involved Youth Workforce cohort starting in 2023.

Pillar Two: Access: Young people will be future ready when they can access high quality education and career opportunities.

Starting in Sept. 2022, Alamo Promise, a comprehensive last-dollar scholarship from the Alamo Colleges District Foundation, expanded its free tuition at any college within the Alamo College District to ALL students in Bexar County regardless of income or high school grade point average. This monumental point of access for our local young people to get into college was only further expanded in November, when the Alamo Colleges teamed up with the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) on the Promise-to-Promise program. This program allows students who maintain certain eligibility criteria to not only transfer to UTSA but have their tuition and mandatory fees covered for four years through UTSA’s Bold Promise.

Keeping in line with expanding access to postsecondary opportunities for all students, UP Partnership’s Diplomás network provided $60,000 in scholarships for part-time and full-time students who identify as Dreamers enrolled in three Future Ready partner higher education institutions — Alamo Colleges District, Texas A&M University – San Antonio and the University of Texas at San Antonio — through a program called the UPLift Dreamers Award. These institutions specifically distributed the funds they received to provide funding and scholarships to many Dreamers at these institutions throughout the 2022-2023 academic year.

UP Partnership through its MBKSA and Diplomás networks also hosted the inaugural Future Ready Youth Summit in November, bringing together approximately 400 students from East Central, Judson, Harlandale, San Antonio and Southwest Independent School Districts at Northeast Lakeview College. Programming at the Summit focused on providing college and career planning support to students in attendance, many of whom identified as boys and young men of color, Dreamers and/or Latinx students. In addition to those workshops, the students listened to inspiring keynote speakers, as well as fun visits from local mascots such as the San Antonio Spurs Coyote. This event is planned to be even bigger this year with a goal of increasing attendance to 1,000 young people.

Pillar Three: Voice: Young People will be future ready when their voices are heard and their leadership potential is nurtured.

After months of advocacy by UP Partnership’s Excel Beyond on the Bell (EBBSA) network youth development partners, successfully secured nearly $25 million for young people through the city of San Antonio’s American Rescue Plan Act funds in February. This funding will enable many of the plan’s partners to continue the work of growing their youth development programming and mental health services. Young people 12 to 19 expressed a need for mental health services in a spring 2022 survey conducted by the city. More than half of the respondents said COVID-19 negatively impacted their mental health.

This success exhibits the power of community members working together toward a common goal and why cross-sector partnerships are essential to the work we do in order to reach the North Star goal.

We also recognize that young people need to be a part of the leading team guiding the implementation of the Future Ready Bexar County Plan. Their voice is vital in the process and in keeping us adults accountable. To ensure that their voices are heard, UP Partnership asked its partners to bring at least one young person into one of the quarterly leadership tables that is guiding implementation work for the Plan called the Joint Organization Leadership Table (or JOLT). In March 2023, the table met at Family Service’s Association The Neighborhood Place where cross-sector leaders and youth leaders convened to continue to drive forward the Future Ready Bexar County Plan’s impact in an intragenerational manner for the first-time and is a commitment that we all continue to strive to grow as the implementation of this plan continues.

Future Ready partners such as the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology have also collaborated with many other Future Ready Partners to continue to grow their programming such as the annual SA Smart Challenge: The Mayor’s K-12 Smart City Challenge. SAMSAT in collaboration with the City of San Antonio’s Office of Innovation, Communities In Schools – San Antonio, Education Service Center, Region 20 and the San Antonio Area Foundation, have hosted the competition since 2018, bringing together 7th-12th grade teams from various Bexar County school districts to research a San Antonio-specific smart city problem and propose a strategy, product or service as a solution to the problem. All topics come from SA Tomorrow, San Antonio’s vision for 2040, and have included topics such as sustainability, digital inclusion, food insecurity, water resources and the 2023 topic of transportation.

To date, 1,155 students from 14 ISDs have formed 227 teams that have worked with subject matter and entrepreneur experts to present their proposed solutions to that year’s topic that include technical and marketing analysis at the Mayor’s Cup Competition Day which took place on May 24.

These examples are just a few highlights of the good work each one of the 85 Future Ready Bexar County partners do to help us reach that north star goal each and every day. With one year under our belt and three since our community decided to sign an Equitable Recovery Pledge, we cannot wait to see the progress San Antonio and Bexar County will continue to make with our education ecosystems’ continued aligned contributions.

If your organization is ready to join in on the Future Ready movement, please contact admin@uppartnership.org to find out more information on how you can become a Future Ready partner or donate to the work here.

You can also follow our progress by signing up for our newsletter and following us on social media.

100 Black Men of San Antonio is changing young people’s lives through workforce programming

100 Black Men of San Antonio is changing young people’s lives through workforce programming

May 1 was National Decision Day — a day that graduating seniors accept the offer of admissions to their school of choice — however  many of our Future Ready Bexar County Plan partners are celebrating with events across the month. 

While there are a lot of students we need to celebrate advancing into their postsecondary journeys, there are still a great deal of young people in our community who lack resources and opportunities that aid in enrollment to a postsecondary degree or credential program.

While there are Future Ready Bexar County Plan partners such as Workforce Solutions Alamo, San Antonio Growth of the Eastside and SA Worx that all work on aspects of readiness for, and access to, postsecondary programs, we are focusing today’s profile on the work that 100 Black Men of San Antonio is doing locally, particularly for young men and women of color. 

Nationally, 100 Black Men aims to improve the quality of life and enhance education opportunities for African-Amerians in their communities.  Our local organization does this through mentoring boys and young men and women of color through its programming. 

100 Black Men of San Antonio “focuses on education, economic empowerment, health and wellness and leadership development all anchored in mentorship,” the organization’s local Executive Director Dr. Milton Harris, DBA, told UP Partnership.

The organization specifically does most of their work by providing an alternative high school completion program for young people who have dropped out of high school which incorporates a workforce development credential component. This allows the young people going through 100 Black Men’s programming to have a say in their chosen career path.

Through a partnership with fellow Future Ready Bexar County participant, Communities in Schools San Antonio, mentorship is offered in Byron P. Steele High School, Clemens High School, John Jay High School, Oak Crest Elementary, Roosevelt High School and Sam Houston High School. The 100 Black Men also mentor with their Collegiate 100 of St. Philip’s College, a campus student success program in which mentorship is provided at the St. Philip’s College Early College High School with the intention of showing students that there are people outside of their family and school community that care about them and want them to succeed.

Another example of this is the work 100 Black Men of San Antonio has done includes work they are doing with the Broady Academy located in Kirby, Texas on the far eastside of Bexar County, which gives young people who are disconnected to school or workforce, also known as opportunity youth, the chance to obtain a high school diploma, not a GED diploma or certificate. 

This distinction in high school diploma attainment is important for those young people that would want to enter the U.S. armed forces, Harris explained, as “the U.S. military does not always allow entrance with a GED” and that through his organization’s experience they have seen the military frequently not accept candidates with a GED credential. 

Last year, 14 young men of color who were considered opportunity youth or who were underemployed were able to get this diploma through that mentorship program. Those young men will no longer be considered high school dropouts and are now reconnected to the path of potential postsecondary or credential programming, which is another part of 100 Black Men’s programming. 

Currently, the organization also offers several credentialing programs; two in-house workforce credentialing programs and other collaborative credentialing programs:

• Home Building Institute Pre-Apprenticeship Certificate Training (HBI-PACT) and the National Center for Construction Engineering Research (NCCER), both are performance-based learning curricula that incorporate academic skills training, life skills, career development and on-the-job training in construction. Participants in this program receive curriculum built by the National Center for Construction Education and Research on construction and maintenance and receive a certificate of completion that is accepted across multiple states.

•  Google Professional Certificate Program, which offers outside IT certification to any member of the community who would like to take the training. In the upcoming years, the hope is to bring this program in-house when qualified instructors are hired and the program expanded.

• Certified Nurse Assistant Program (CNA), which offers CNA skills and development training and certification to opportunity youth in partnership with the School of Excellence Certified Nurse Assistant training program.

100 Black Men of San Antonio also offers many other programs to the community that focus on healthy well-being of its programming participants, creating mentorship relationships and establishing access to credentials and workforce readiness, a key component of the the Future Ready Bexar County Plan — whose collective North Star is to increase the percentage of Bexar County High School graduates enrolling in postsecondary degree or credential programs to 70% by 2030. The plan is centered around the three equity pillars of healing access and voice, the must HAVEs for equity amongst Bexar County’s young people.

While 100 Black Men of San Antonio’s mentor and workforce development programs are firmly rooted in the access equity pillar — young people will be future ready when the can access high quality education and career opportunities — the organization recently received funding from the Department of Labor Education and Training YouthBuild grant and Corporate Partnership for Racial Equity (CPRE) to expand high school completion and workforce credentialing programming, as well as healing restorative justice practices in their community.

“YouthBuild literally saved my life,” said one participant.

While another participant stated that the programming they went through “was the step I needed to finally move forward in life.”

A total of 49 young men were enrolled across the organization’s programs. This work continues to combat the number of opportunity youth in Bexar County by ensuring young men who have either dropped out of high school or are underemployed have access to opportunities that can offer them a different future.  

Uniquely, 100 Black Men of San Antonio is a membership organization for those men who want to be a part of the work being done by being mentors. Prospective members must submit an application, letters of recommendation and be able to pass a background check. Final approval of membership is determined by the Board of Directors membership subcommittee. Once membership is approved, an annual fee of $300 is required before a new member becomes active in the organization.

For Harris, it is vital that those being mentored see people who are like themselves because “what they see is what they will be,” which is why the network of mentors come from various professional backgrounds including entrepreneurs, finance, banking, the military and more. The organization’s membership include successful men who often identify as Black, African American or Indigenous who are positive, loving and caring people that share their struggles and their successes with their mentees. The organization’s mentors are men and women who come from diverse backgrounds and demographics in order to offer the greatest exposure and opportunities to the youth served.

Looking to the future, Harris is looking to scale the certification from pre-apprenticeship programs, serve more participants and expand their workforce development to include electrical, plumbing, HVAC and welding training. Additionally, the organization is looking to not only solidify their relationships with current employment partners but to expand to new employers in the community.

When asked about any challenges or obstacles from the community or schools, Harris says that has never been an issue. Rather, “the biggest hurdle we face is the demographic we work with,” Harris acknowledges. “We work with young people who have dropped out of high school, or are living a rough life, causing them to have low self-esteem or low-self worth. That is the biggest hurdle that we face.

To overcome that hurdle, Harris and his team believe that cross-sector collaboration provided by UP Partnership is necessary to the work being done. They have been able to connect with other community organizations, school districts and so many more community members who have helped propel the work forward.

Discussing if he ever sees an end to the work, Harris doesn’t believe that will happen anytime soon. “Unfortunately, the need for the work has been around for decades and I see it being around for decades to come,” he said. “In the current system of education there are too many barriers that lead to young people dropping out. Ultimately, as long as there is poverty in our society, the work we do will be necessary.”

To learn more about 100 Black Men of San Antonio, please visit https://www.100blackmensa.org.

If your organization is ready to join in on the Future Ready movement, please contact admin@uppartnership.org to find out more information on how you can become a Future Ready partner or donate to the work here.

You can also follow our progress by signing up for our newsletter and following us on social media. 

2023 – March Newsletter

NEARLY 150 LEADERS CONVENED TO DRIVE FUTURE READY NORTH STAR​

On January 11, 2023, nearly 150 executives and senior leaders from 75 partners came together at the Future Ready Leadership Table event to provide strategy and drive forward the work of our  community Future Ready Bexar County Plan. 

The Future Ready Leadership Table oversees progress of this plan as we strive to reach our collective North Star goal of increasing enrollment of Bexar County’s High School graduates to 70% by 2030 – a goal that can be accomplished if an additional 5,000 students from our community enroll into a postsecondary or credential program.

During workgroup breakout sessions, leaders from pre-K12 and higher education met to align shared messaging strategies and commitments for the class of 2030, youth development leaders discussed ensuring access to quality programs for all young people and a group of fundraising and corporate executives met to discuss better alignment of investment within our community. 

Prior to these breakout work sessions, the world-renowned educational organization Harlem’s Children’s Zone (HCZ) President, Geoffrey Canada, joined Mayor Ron Nirenberg in addressing these leaders in a plenary session. 

Canada was in San Antonio alongside HCZ CEO Kwame Owusu-Kesse and a a delegation of eight representatives on a two-day excursion where they met with and shared next practices with Future Ready Partners such as East Central ISD, the Alamo Colleges District, Corporate Partners for Racial Equity and Communities in Schools- San Antonio. 

Data Point

48%

Postsecondary enrollment rate for Bexar County African American high school graduates from the Class of 2020.

This is 2% higher than the state average.

Meet UP Partnership’s K12 and Justice Team​

UP Partnership’s K12 and Justice team works with community partners through the My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio (MBKSA) network and the Restorative Practices Collaborative (RPC) to scale healing, restorative practices and programming for boys and young men of color. The team consists of John Jacobs “JJ”, Director of K12 and Justice, Suzette Solorzano, Senior Manager of Coaching and Facilitation, and Tyler Radwin, Manager of Community Engagement. Read more about them here.

Restorative Practices Collaborative Cohort 3 Kicks off

On January 19, cohort 3 of the Restorative Practices Collaborative (RPC) kicked-off at the Victory Center at San Antonio College. Subsequently, the cohort will meet eight times, including the February session that was held at San Antonio Independent School District’s office. RPC works to move Bexar County’s K12 and Justice ecosystems from a punitive to a restorative paradigm, as well as broadening the pathways to postsecondary success for justice-involved youth, opportunity youth and foster youth.

Cohort 3 has approximately 55 participants, the largest cohort of RPC to date, from East Central ISD, Judson ISD, Harlandale ISD and San Antonio ISD. One of the current cohort participants has immediately applied what they have learned and has since credited these practices with causing a “complete turn around in the classroom,” citing dramatic changes in behavior, improved classroom engagement, and improved test scores.

The work being done by this collaborative was recently also highlighted at a national Department of Justice conference and the work by Future Ready partners Empower House and San Antonio ISD’s Rhodes Elementary was recently featured in this article. 

UP Partnership joins forces with Search Institute, a national research organization, to augment Excel Academy work

In February, UP Partnership announced its partnership with Search Institute, a Minnesota-based positive youth development and equity-focused organization, to collaboratively expand the framework of Excel Academy to a national scale. Through a $1.6 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, a new three-year framework that helps organizations to cultivate relationships – and character-rich climates has been developed and piloted with the latest cohort of the leadership program that started last September. For those interested in further developing their developmental relationship leadership skills, stay tuned soon for the upcoming Excel Academy application cycle.

Future Ready Joint Leadership Table

Cross-sector leaders and youth leaders representing them came together at Family Services Association’s The Neighborhood Place to continue to drive forward the Future Ready Bexar County Plan’s impact in an intragenerational manner. The table discussed action commitments per organization and underwent training over two of the developmental relationship elements: expressing care and sharing power. Contact UP Partnership Chief Impact and Strategy Officer, Emily Calderón Galdeano, at emily@uppartnership.org for more information.

Legacy Leadership Initiative brings mental health strategies to the community

In partnership with Communities in Schools San Antonio, The Ecumenical Center, and District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran, UP Partnership convened 15 young people and their parents to discuss mental health, coping strategies and community resources. It was a powerful event that ended with a drumming circle and a reflection on the day’s learnings. Learn more about the Legacy Leadership Initiative here.

Request for Presenters:
Future Ready Practitioner Conference on May 22

UP Partnership is looking for presenters for the Future Ready Practitioner Conference on May 22 at St. Mary’s University. The theme is Relationships are The Work, and focuses on aspects of Developmental Relationships. For some examples of focus areas please check out the link here. Proposals are due by March 24th, 2023 and can be submitted here. Contact UP Partnership Senior Manager of Community Engagement, Jonathan Weaver, at jonathan@uppartnership.org for more information on the event.  

New Horizons and Opportunities Grant Request for Proposals

Through support from the San Antonio Area Foundation made possible by Corporate Partners for Racial Equity (CPRE), UP Partnership has released a grant application specifically aimed toward providing campus-based restorative justice training and capacity building for school districts and their alternative schools. For more information contact, John Jacobs, Director of K12 and Justice, at john@uppartnership.org. 

Communications Council on May 11 

UP Partnership’s Future Ready Communications Council meeting for cross-sector communications and marketing representatives will meet on May 11 At the last meeting, Council members discussed the various actions organizations are taking to create more opportunities for postsecondary enrollment for Bexar County’s students. Contact UP Partnership Director of Communications, Jeannette Garcia, at jeannette@uppartnership.org for more information.

Is your institution an official Future Ready partner yet?

It’s not too late to become a partner in the Future Ready Bexar County community-wide strategic plan. Please email UP Partnership CEO, Ryan Lugalia-Hollon, at ryan@uppartnership.org to join the more than 75 institutions that have already signed on to ensure Bexar County’s young peoples are future ready!

 

Youth voices needed for city-wide mental health survey

Future Ready partner City of San Antonio have launched the second annual SASpeakUp survey focusing on teen mental health for young people between the ages of 12 and 19. The survey will be available for responses through April 9, 2023, at SASpeakUp.com/TeenHealth.

Working together to bring Restorative Practices to Bexar County schools

Working together to bring Restorative Practices to Bexar County Schools

Founded by the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation, American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions (AIT-SCM) works to preserve and protect Indigenous cultures and traditions. One of those traditions that has gained popularity in recent years is restorative practices which are deeply rooted in healing — healing of an individual, healing in relationships and healing in communities.

Unlike punitive means of punishment that disproportionately impact students of color, restorative practices works to foster support and care in school communities. A long time community partner, AIT-SCM works directly with My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio — an UP Partnership network that works on removing systemic barriers to safety, education and career success for boys and young men of color — to deliver Community Building Circles to school districts such as Judson ISD and San Antonio ISD.

As AIT-SCM’s former Director of Development Karla Aguilar explains, “while the language of restorative justice is contemporary, the foundation of it is always seeking restoration and renewal to find the well-being of community.”

The AIT-SCM Institute includes restorative justice experts to train and advise community members in restorative justice programming, training and implementation. They teach the complicated process that starts with pain and anger, to address the root causes of the problem. Restorative justice validates lived trauma, while allowing young people to have a voice in the process. They provide tools to resolve conflicts in a positive manner.

An example of this vital work can be seen in AIT-SCM’s strong relationship with Harlandale Alternative Center, a school located within Harlandale ISD which works with opportunity youth to instill confidence and self-worth to ensure students are quality learners and contributing members of society. AIT-SCM provides continued support to the students in the Center as they work to return to their home campuses. The work seeks to lower the rate that students will reoffend when they return to their home campus, which can reduce the possibility of dropping out, disconnection and/or prison. This partnership came about through Harlandale Alternative Center’s principal Andrew Dominguez reaching out to the AIT-SCM directly. 

AIT-SCM also works with students outside of the classroom through The Solution Project, which was established with the help of young people who sought to continue their connection with the organization through ongoing mentorship and support systems. Based on the knowledge that there are many problems in our communities, The Solution Project gives young people a voice in the potential solutions to those ongoing issues. 

“[Restorative Justice] is vital because the poorest school districts in San Antonio are set up to be the ones that hemorrhage young people into the criminal justice system because they are so drastically under-sourced,” Aguilar said. “Restorative justice is cost-effective, viable solution that improves the lives of all those on campus and gives families the tools to be able to unpack the pain they live in on a regular basis.”

The work that AIT-SCM does is heavily rooted in the Future Ready Bexar County Plan, an action-focused strategic plan that brings together cross-sector community partners who are invested in reaching the plan’s collective North Star goal – to increase the percentage of Bexar County High School graduates enrolling in postsecondary degree or credential programs to 70% by 2030. In Bexar County, the number is currently around 50%. The work that AIT-SCM aligns with the healing equity pillar, which is one of the three Future Ready equity pillars alongside access and voice – the must HAVEs for equity among Bexar County’s young people.

If your organization is ready to join in on the Future Ready movement or the Restorative Practices Collaborative, please contact admin@uppartnership.org to find out more information on how you can become a Future Ready partner or donate to the work here.You can also follow our progress by signing up for our newsletter and following us on social media. 

To learn more about AIT-SCM and support the work they are doing, you can visit www.aitscm.org. 

Organizations join forces to create a national standard for a leadership program geared toward youth-serving professionals

Organizations join forces to create a national standard for a leadership program geared toward youth-serving professionals

UP Partnership’s leadership program for youth-serving professionals sets the standard using Search Institute’s Developmental Relationships Framework

UP Partnership, a San Antonio-based collective impact organization, and Search Institute, a Minnesota-based positive youth development and equity-focused research organization, are collaborating to create a national standard for a leadership development program. This program is specifically geared toward augmenting youth-serving professionals’ ability to better connect and build transformative relationships with those they serve, which in turn helps young people develop character virtues, such as generosity, self-control, civility, respect, humility, purpose, and curiosity.

Since 2019, UP Partnership has led Excel Academy, a leadership program rooted in racial equity, continuous improvement, adaptive leadership, and Search Institute’s Developmental Relationships Framework. The core of Search Institute’s Framework is based on five elements vital to transformative relationships between youth-serving professionals and young people: expressing care, challenging growth, providing support, sharing power and expanding possibilities. Excel Academy participants are invited to engage in learning around these five elements through a racial equity lens. These elements are important for professionals to utilize in helping young people succeed while also focusing on equity.

“Developmental relationships are close connections through which young people discover who they are, cultivate abilities to shape their own lives, and learn how to engage with and contribute to the world around them. Our Developmental Relationships Framework guides youth-serving professionals toward creating meaningful relationships with young people and providing the support and encouragement they need to thrive,” says Search Institute CEO, Ben Houltberg.

Search Institute and UP Partnership have worked together for several years on various projects. In the spring of 2022, both organizations saw an opportunity to scale up Excel Academy through a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. Through a $1.6 million investment, Search Institute and UP Partnership are currently creating the framework to further expand Excel Academy to a national scale through a new three-year framework that helps organizations to cultivate relationship- and character-rich climates.

“Through Excel Academy more than 75 youth serving professionals in over 26 youth-serving organizations in Bexar County have been impacted through the program, to-date. We are bringing together two professionals each from selected youth-serving organizations – one senior level, one frontline staffer. Having both perspectives at the table is vitally important to ensure diverse voices are heard,” said Emily Calderón Galdeano, UP Partnership’s Chief Strategy and Impact Officer. “The reach that both have to attain feedback from their teams and students inform how the participants create and continually improve their organizational work plans.”

Together senior-level and frontline staff members will co-create an organizational improvement plan that will help them implement changes based on the content covered in the sessions. Frontline and senior-level staff also receive individualized coaching from UP Partnership staff, and training from Search Institute, Quantum Possibilities, and UP Partnership facilitators.

Miray Seward is Search Institute’s Research Scientist and primary researcher for this pilot. The primary lead of Excel Academy at UP Partnership is Senior Manager of K12 and Youth Development Shelby Drayton.

A total of 23 organizations received a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. To learn more about this grant and read more about the other awardees you can click here.

About Search Institute
Search Institute is a nonprofit organization with a sixty-plus-year history of collaboration with youth-serving organizations to conduct and apply research that promotes positive youth development and advances equity. Our tools build connections that help all young people learn and grow.

About UP Partnership
Founded in 2009, UP Partnership is a San Antonio-based nonprofit that convenes partners in Bexar County that provide healing, access, and voice to local youth to create equitable systems and ensure that all young people in the county are ready for the future. Its work is conducted through collaborative efforts with its partners that focus on education and youth development initiatives and have signed on to a community-wide strategic plan called Future Ready Bexar County or its networks of My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio, Diplomás, and Excel Beyond the Bell. UP Partnership has 130 local partners and 500 volunteer leaders across seven sectors including: early childhood, preK12, postsecondary education, youth development, workforce, justice, funders, corporate partners and local government.

UP Partnership’s social media accounts for systems change networks are moving

UP Partnership’s social media accounts for systems change networks are moving

Big news: Social media accounts for UP Partnership’s systems change networks Diplomás, Excel Beyond the Bell San Antonio and My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio are moving! In January 2023, you can find out more about network news, happenings and updates by following UP Partnership on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn using the handle @UPPartnershipSA.

This move comes as network structures and priorities are shifting toward the Future Ready Bexar County’s Plan’s collective North Star goal to increase the percentage of Bexar County’s High School graduates enrolling in postsecondary degree or credential training to 70% by 2030. While the ongoing work of our systems change networks has an independent purpose, their operations are now highly braided under UP Partnership as the backbone organization.

Our Tomorrow’s Instagram page will also be renamed to UP Partnership Youth Voice.

We look forward to continuing to provide you with our latest network and future ready news through the UP Partnership brand.

2022 Year in Review – Newsletter

To all of our partners, a sincere thank you for your collaborative work in making 2022 a successful year!

In 2022, UP Partnership launched the Future Ready Bexar County Plan with a goal of getting at least 70% of our community’s high school graduates enrolled in a degree or credential program by 2030 from the current 50% enrollment rate. Those who earn an associate degree typically make $400,000 more over the course of their lives, and those who earn a bachelor’s degree typically make $1.2 million more than those with a high school diploma.

Making sure that all of our young people are future-ready is our entire community’s responsibility. UP Partnership works with partner organizations like you so more young people can access higher-quality, more inclusive programming and support.

JANUARY

  • Starting in January, we used 2022 to build a more unified movement across our partnership. The Future Ready Bexar County plan is now a shared framework for all interested child- and youth-serving institutions in our community. Our systems change networks – Diplomás, Excel Beyond the Bell San Antonio, My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio and Our Tomorrow – are key anchors for this plan’s implementation.

  • Advanced by a committee of young people, UP Partnership was able to give eleven youth-led groups from Southwest, East Central, San Antonio Independent School Districts, and the Center for Young Minds grants worth a total of $43,000. These grants, awarded in December 2021, support youth-initiated and youth-led projects across the districts.

FEBRUARY

  • A combined $25 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds were allocated by the City of San Antonio to child and youth-serving organizations in the fall of 2022. Advocacy by UP Partnership’s Excel Beyond the Bell Network throughout 2021 culminated with an initial $10 million in ARPA funds budgeted for youth-serving organizations in February, with an additional $15 million allocated toward young people’s mental health in September.

MARCH

  • My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio honored 67 high school boys and young men of color as scholarship recipients. The event celebrated the scholars and provided valuable professional development opportunities for our partners and network teams.

APRIL

  • Nearly 100 community leaders, including executives and staff of major youth-serving institutions across Bexar County, gathered on the steps of City Hall to launch the Future Ready Bexar County plan, a countywide collective alignment plan that aims to reduce historical systemic inequities. You can see the action commitments of each of the 72 Future Ready partners here.

MAY

  • The annual Excel Beyond the Bell San Antonio Summit was held with the theme of “We’re All in This Together: Focusing on Healing, Resilience, and Racial Equity.” More than 160 youth development professionals attended from nearly 40 institutions to learn best practices from EBBSA community organizations.

  • The third annual Growing UP in San Antonio (GUISA) conference was held virtually. GUISA connected practitioners and community members in discussing how we can support Dreamers, Latinx students, boys, and young men of color on the path to postsecondary success.

JUNE

  • In past iterations, Excel Academy participants have received training from national research organization Search Institute on Developmental Relationships, while UP Partnership provided coaching and continuous improvement training and Quantum Possibilities provided racial equity training. In June, Search Institute asked UP Partnership to deepen our relationship by elevating our Excel Academy as a model community practice. As a result, the two organizations have started a multi-year pilot to further expand Excel Academy’s model through funding for the John Templeton Foundation.

JULY

  • UP Partnership virtually convened more than 150 senior leaders of institutions for the inaugural Future Ready Leadership table. Together, we highlighted projects that are already having an impact on Bexar County students and in reaching our North Star of 70% postsecondary enrollment by 2030. The Future Ready Leadership Table will next meet in January 2023.

AUGUST

  • Partners from Diplomás and My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio convened at Weathered Souls Brewing Company to honor their network chairs for their hard work and dedication.

  • As part of the Future Ready Bexar County plan’s aligned communications strategy, UP Partnership launched the newly designed Communications Council. This Council brings together leadership and communication professionals to share best practices, stories of success, and new opportunities as they relate to healing, access, and voice, the must-have equity pillars for young people in Bexar County.

SEPTEMBER

  • Excel Beyond the Bell San Antonio held its annual CEO Roundtable Retreat to connect and renew relationships as they push to provide high-quality youth development programs for San Antonio’s young people.

  • UP Partnership hosted the My Brother’s Keeper Texas Statewide Summit with more than 100 individuals from Austin, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio to propel the mission of My Brother’s Keeper forward as a statewide coalition.

  • UP Partnership staff traveled to Chicago for the 2022 StriveTogether’s Cradle to Career Network Convening, where we joined with partners from across the United States to network, learn and collaborate with those doing the same good work. The lessons learned throughout the convening will help us fine-tune promising practices as we continue to serve as the backbone of the Future Ready Bexar County plan.

OCTOBER

  • UP Partnership cannot do our work as a backbone organization without the generosity of those that fund our work. These funders have continued their investment, including 3M, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Blue Meridian Partners, Charles Butt Foundation, City of San Antonio’s Department of Human Services, Educate Texas, a public-private initiative of Communities Foundation of Texas, Enterprise Holdings Foundation, Corporate Partners for Racial Equity, National Post-Secondary Institute, San Antonio Area Foundation, StriveTogether, and USAA.

NOVEMBER

  • My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio and Diplomás networks brought together nearly 400 juniors and seniors from partnering school districts for the inaugural Future Ready Youth Summit that took place at Northeast Lakeview College. Programming focused on providing college and career planning and support to students in attendance, many of whom identified as boys and young men of color, Dreamers, and/or Latinx.

  • UP Partnership staff members traveled with Restorative Practices Collaborative representatives from Judson ISD, Harlandale ISD, and San Antonio ISD to Oakland, CA, to observe and learn the next practices from successful restorative justice programs in that area to replicate in Bexar County schools. The Restorative Practices Collaborative is currently operating in these three districts with plans to expand in the upcoming year.

  • UP Partnership launched the inaugural Future Ready Joint Leadership Table, where the majority of our 71 institutional partners came together to build cross-agency connections that will support the advancement of healing, access, and voice for the Future Ready Bexar County Plan.

  • To honor the leaders of our Excel Beyond the Bell network, UP Partnership hosted a youth Development Appreciation Dinner on November 1 at Pedrotti’s Ranch.

DECEMBER

  • At the end of 2021, UP Partnership was named one of the six implementation partners by Corporate Partners for Racial Equity to support My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio and its justice work. Working closely with the San Antonio Area Foundation, two rounds of grants were made through this fund in 2022. The first grant was used to strengthen our Restorative Practices Collaborative by funding six long-standing community organizations to grow local school districts’ healing capacity An additional grant was made to help justice-involved young people attain internships and re-enter the workforce.

  • In conjunction with Say Sí, we invited diverse young artists from local high schools, grades 9 – 12, to submit artwork to the “We Are Now” 2022 Exhibit with artwork ranging across many platforms, including film, painting, sculpture, music, dance, and theater. The exhibit will occur in mid-December.

Future Ready postsecondary partners provide and assist for local high school juniors’ and seniors’ post-high school graduation plans during inaugural event

Future Ready Postsecondary Partners Provide and Assist for Local High School Juniors’ and Seniors’ Post-high school graduation plans during Inaugural Event

On Nov. 3 and 4, two of UP Partnership’s networks, My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio and Diplomás, hosted the inaugural Future Ready Bexar County Youth Summit which brought together approximately 400 students from East Central, Harlandale, San Antonio and Southwest Independent School Districts at Northeast Lakeview College. Programming at the summit focused on providing college and career planning support to students in attendance, many of whom identified as boys and young men of color, Dreamers and/or Latinx.

“It is UP Partnership’s belief that young people will be future ready when they feel supported to enroll, attend and succeed in postsecondary programs that lead to living wage careers,” UP Partnership’s Chief Impact and Strategy Officer Emily Galdeano Calderon, Ed.D., said

“ With the support and partnership of our Future Ready partners made up of leaders from local school districts, colleges and out-of-school time organizations, we were able to provide targeted workshops on topics such as the college admissions process, financial aid, college life and support services, as well as better support on how these students can choose their career and future degrees after graduation,” she added.

In addition to those workshops, the students listened to inspiring stores from our keynote speakers that included Rebecca Alejos, Certified Advisor of High School Programs at Northeast Lakeview College; Michael Brooks, Founder of History in the Making, LLC; Brand Crooms, motivational speaker and visiting assistant professor at Trinity University; Tangila Dove, Vice President of Student Services at Northeast Lakeview College; Warren Hurd, Vice President of College Services at Northeast Lakeview College; and Ryan Lugalia-Hollon, Ph.D., CEO of UP Partnership, as well as had a fun visit from mascots such as the San Antonio Spurs Coyote, San Antonio College’s Ace the Armadillo and the host campus’s mascot Nico the Nighthawk.

Providing access to information and resources about college readiness and the college admissions process aligns with UP Partnership’s Future Ready Bexar County Plan which launched in April. This community-wide plan brings together more than 70 partners working toward the plan’s collective North Star goal – to increase the percentage of Bexar County’s High School graduates enrolling in postsecondary degrees or credential programs to 70% by 2030. In Bexar County, that number is currently around 50%. This plan focuses on the three equity pillars of Healing, Access and Voice — the must HAVEs for Equity amongst Bexar County’s young people.

If your organization is ready to join in on the Future Ready movement or the Restorative Practices Collaborative, please contact admin@uppartnership.org to find out more information on how you can become a Future Ready partner or donate to the work here. You can also follow our progress by signing up for our newsletter and following us on social media. 

Restorative Justice: Its impact on our schools and disciplinary practices

Restorative Justice: Its impact on our schools and disciplinary practices

The Indigenous practice of restorative justice has been gaining momentum in school districts as an alternative to traditional, punitive forms of discipline such as suspensions and expulsions. Zero-tolerance punishments tend to be disproportionate for boys and young men of color, as well as contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline.

Unlike zero-tolerance forms of punishment, restorative justice focuses on healing the harm that has been done, learning social skills to avoid future conflict and to reintegrate the offender back into the school community. As Jeff Price, Principal of Taffola Middle School, explains, “Restorative [Justice] is not no discipline. When that consequence is done, we welcome them back and discuss what happened, what we could have done differently, what was your role in it and what are we going to do going forward.”

Working with longstanding community partners, Restorative Justice has been implemented in local school districts like Harlandale ISD, Judson ISD and San Antonio ISD. The benefits of Restorative Justice in these school districts have been tangible and noticeable. Change can be seen in everyone – students, teachers and administrators – as they embrace restorative practices in school. School communities are seeing the benefits of a healthy campus culture and students are learning valuable life skills of how to process their thoughts and feelings and to use their voice to express themselves in a more positive way.

“To me, circle is life because it helped me become the person I am today. It helped me grow,” said one Taffola Middle School student.

As we continue to work towards the collective North Star goal of the Future Ready Bexar County Plan — to increase the percentage of Bexar County High School graduates enrolling in postsecondary degree or credential programs to 70% by 2030 — restorative justice will be integral in reaching that goal. Promoting both healing and voice, along with access, have been identified as must HAVEs for equity Bexar County’s young people.

If your organization is ready to join in on the Future Ready movement or the Restorative Practices Collaborative, please contact admin@uppartnership.org to find out more information on how you can become a Future Ready partner or donate to the work here. You can also follow our progress by signing up for our newsletter and following us on social media.

UP Partnership is thankful to our partners and ask for your support on Giving Tuesday

UP Partnership is thankful to our partners and ask for your support on Giving Tuesday

At UP Partnership, we do the vital work of ensuring that all young people in Bexar County are ready for the future. Our Future Ready Bexar County Plan serves as the framework to reach the community’s collective North Star — to increase the percentage of Bexar County’s High School grades enrolling in postsecondary degree or credential programs to 70% by 2030. In Bexar County, that number is currently around 50%. To reach this goal, our work focuses on the equity pillars of HEALING, ACCESS and VOICE — the must HAVEs for EQUITY amongst Bexar County’s young people.

We do this work with the more than 70 community partners, across varying sectors, who have signed on to the Future Ready Bexar County Plan. While UP Partnership does the work as a backbone — serving as the lead convener and providing space for collaboration and centralized support — it is our community partners that are the “boots on the ground,” putting in the necessary work to ensure all young people can reach their full potential and become contributing members of society.

It is their hard work, in their communities, that is propelling forward the collective North Star of UP Partnership’s Future Ready Bexar County Plan.

On Giving Tuesday, Nov. 29, we ask that you consider supporting our nonprofit partners during this national day of giving back to your community, in whatever way you can. It is through the generosity of donors like you that our partners can continue their vital work of supporting and bettering the lives of people in their communities. A complete list of our Future Ready partners can be found here.