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InCommons Collaboration Challenge
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Recently named a 100 Best Places to Raise Kids, Edina is a great place to live. Edina's Connecting With Kids (CWK)- a community wide collaboration in the city of Edina, MN - was a contributing factor in that honor. Working with the school district, the city administration, the business and faith communities, as well as local civic organizations, CWK strives to support asset development in our town's young people. Our vision is to be a community where children have the support they need to grow up to be responsible, healthy and caring adults.
Contributor
Heather Haen Anderson2010-10-29 11:52
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About You
About You
First Name
Heather
Last Name
Haen Anderson
Country
United States, MN, Hennepin County
About Your Organization
Organization
Connecting With Kids
Organization Website
connectingwithkidsedina.org
Organization Phone
952-688-8081
Organization Address
5701 Normandale Rd
Organization Country
United States, MN, Hennepin County
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Your Story
Collaboration Title
New entry
Country your work focuses on
United States
Describe your locally-based collaboration and the problem it sought to address
Recently named a 100 Best Places to Raise Kids, Edina is a great place to live. Edina's Connecting With Kids (CWK)- a community wide collaboration in the city of Edina, MN - was a contributing factor in that honor. Working with the school district, the city administration, the business and faith communities, as well as local civic organizations, CWK strives to support asset development in our town's young people. Our vision is to be a community where children have the support they need to grow up to be responsible, healthy and caring adults.
Tell us about the community in which this collaboration took place
Connecting With Kids is a local, non-profit organization that is highly regarded in our community, yet has no public funding. Our ability to continue our 12 year journey toward asset building in our youth is threatened by a lack of available funds. With your help we can grow CWK into an even more impactful group, committed to healthy kids and a healthy community.
Issue Selector
n/a
Partnership
Who was involved in co-creating or implementing your collaboration (other organizations, leaders, community members, etc.)?
Our organizatiion includes leaders from the school district, the City of Edina, the Chamber of Commerce, the Edina Community Foundation and the faith and business communities. We also have three Edina High School students on our Board to guide our decision making.
To what extent does your collaboration involve partnerships that are outside or cross traditional organizational or sector boundaries?
We are truly a community wide initiative. We include leaders and decision makers from a broad spectrum within the community to garner support for our youth. We also invite the general public to embrace the idea that all members of the community are responsible for the health and well-being of our children.
Innovation
What makes your locally-based collaboration innovative and unique?
We are the only collaboration in our city that ties together school, City, business, civic organizations and the faith communities. We strive to break down barriers and to encourage residents with opportunities to connect with kids. Individuals and organizations are reminded of their importance to the kids of our town - whether or not they have children or grandchildren of their own. We have organized such things as a community "Welcome" for high school students on the first day of school. That idea has morphed into a student run Welcome Week for incoming sophomores and students new to the high school (our high school runs 10-12).
Did you take risks in establishing this collaboration? Explain
When CWK was formed 12 years ago, nothing like it had been done in our community before. We aimed to unite the various entities in the community for the good of our children and community. One example is "Edina Unplugged" - one night when no homework is given, no extracurricular events are held and families are encouraged to spend time together.
How did this collaboration differ from the normal way of doing your work?
Before CWK, there was, of course, the desire to help our youth, but with CWK we now have a structured response as to how to support asset development in children. Their is now a conduit for ideas and information to include as many members of the community as possible.
Impact
How do you know your collaboration has been effective?
Individuals often tell me of how CWK has personally impacted their lives and encouraged. But on a more "official" basis, Edina was recently named one of America's 100 Best Communities for Young People and CWK was specifically named as a contributing factor. Many of of our individual programs, such as Kids Voting Edina have won local awards. In 2008, 1/2 the children in Edina participated in Kids Voting. The Edina Day of Service, which would not be possible without CWK, has become an annual event with hundreds of volunteers giving thousands of hours of their time. Students are now members of most City boards and commissions - including our own.
What progress or impact has been made?
Without the funding to pay for student testing for the past several years, it is difficult to accurately state our recent impact. However, with InCommons help we could afford the important - missing - piece of evaluation for our program.
Next Steps
How would you go about continuing, expanding, or replicating this collaboration?
The Board took a chance 2 1/2 years ago by hiring its first Executive Director to help lead the organization. When the recession hit, fundraising became increasingly difficult and as a result we have had to reduce or eliminate some of the projects that we had planned. Your grant would make a significant difference to CWK. It would allow us to evaluate our success, continue the events we now organize, and find more innovations to help our youth. Projects like intergenerational dialogues to discuss youth substance use; immigration and race relations; leadership, etc could be further explored and expanded. Additional and intentional asset building could be fostered.
Describe the current stage of implementation and desired next steps
Without funding, CWK will die. We have already had to cut back on staffing hours and as a result, programming has been pared. When CWK hired it's first Executive Director in 2008, the hope was that I would grow the program. I have done so, but fundraising has become increasingly difficult. With no public funding, we must ask that community members contribute financially. However, many people do not understand the behind the scenes work that CWK does. We are close to "institutionalizing" CWK as a community value in Edina, but the next year or two is crucial. With your help, we can get there.
| 133 weeks ago Heather Haen Anderson updated this Competition Entry. | |
| 133 weeks ago Heather Haen Anderson submitted this idea. |
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