On April 30, 2024, over 20 staff members from 11 New York and surrounding area community foundations attended CFLeads’ Economic Mobility Regional Convening. The in-person, day-long gathering fostered space for learning and sharing as community foundation staff delved deep into core economic mobility concepts.
Throughout each session, speakers presented actionable steps to showcase practical ways community foundations can work with local decision-makers, such as residents and local government, to advance economic mobility. The convening’s agenda was rich in networking, peer learning, tool/resource sharing, and discussions with issue area experts.
About the NY Convening
The convening began with a panel that addressed the status of affordable housing and workforce development strategies and actions with a regional lens. The captivating panel, moderated by CFLeads’ Vice President for Learning and Impact, Dr. Leonard Brock, included timely insights from:
- Tina Barber, Executive Director of Community Foundation for South Central New York
- Dr. Juhanna Rogers, Senior Vice President of Racial Equity and Social Impact of CenterState CEO
- Meghan McDermott, Assistant Vice President for Digital Equity of ConnectALL
Partners including Urban Institute, Results for America, and Opportunity Insights, presented free, accessible tools and resources which attendees could explore and take back to their community foundations. The Rochester Area Community Foundation provided an impactful personal account of their work with the Upward Mobility Framework.
Five Key Takeaways
- While data is a starting point and provides valuable insight, community narrative is also needed to drive change.
- Survey fatigue is real. Close the communications loop with those you ask for insight by using various formats including video, audio, and written.
- Five pillars to support upward mobility are identified and outlined in Urban Institute’s Framework.
- Urban Institute’s Upward Mobility Planning Guide was created for local government but can be adapted and utilized by community foundations.
- While Urban Institute’s mobility metric data tables are a refined resource, communities are encouraged to also explore local county and city data partners.
- Results for America’s Economic Mobility Catalog includes over 50 strategies with around 200 programming or practices categorized by focus area for local leaders to use as a resource.
- Opportunity Insights’ Opportunity Atlas provides comprehensive data which traces the roots of outcomes, such as poverty and incarceration, to the neighborhoods in which children grew up.
- In addition, the Social Capital Atlas is a tool to examine the social capital in communities and its correlation to upward mobility from poverty.
We know that communities are unique and vary greatly. There is not one program or approach to fit each community, making local action, collaborative cross-sector partnership, and resource sharing a necessity for co-creating tailored, actionable approaches. Thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, New York was the first of five regional convenings taking place throughout 2024.
Upcoming Regional Convenings
- State College, Pennsylvania – registration closed
- Wichita, Kansas – July (registration opening soon)
- South – coming soon
- West – coming soon
For more information about CFLeads’ Economic Mobility work, visit our website.
