EdRedesign Lab Expands Research-Backed Success Planning Network to Six New Communities

The EdRedesign Lab’s Institute for Success Planning at Harvard Graduate School of Education announced six communities joining the fifth cohort of its Success Planning Community of Practice. Selected from a competitive national pool, the cohort will work across school systems, health and human services agencies, community- and faith-based organizations, and local governments to strengthen relationship-based personalized supports for children and families.

"Success Planning provides every child with a dedicated caring adult Navigator who serves as a connector, mentor, champion, and advocate. Navigators ensure children are known, seen, heard, and supported, partner with families, and connect them to supports and enrichments so they can thrive and realize their dreams. The communities joining this cohort are doing the hard work of bringing systems together across sectors to make that happen," said Tauheedah Jackson, deputy director of the EdRedesign Lab and the director of the Institute for Success Planning. “We've seen this strategy take root in urban, suburban, and rural places and serve as a unifying strategy that brings communities together to realize a community-wide shared vision of success for every child. By eliminating barriers and creating opportunities, Success Planning ensures all children can realize their full potential and have agency over their hopes and dreams."

Annually communities are invited to apply. This fifth cohort is being launched as research continues to affirm the model's impact. A landmark Harvard-Cornell study found that relationship-based personalization improves test scores, increases high school graduation rates, boosts college enrollment, and contributes to greater lifetime earnings. Previous Success Planning cohorts have seen similar positive gains in reducing chronic absenteeism and increasing academic achievement, ensuring a more seamless pipeline of opportunities and supports. The Success Planning strategy embraces the essential principles and practices of successful relationship-based personalization to support communities, as local communities design, implement, and scale initiatives. This allows cross-sector partnerships to identify gaps in supports and opportunities available for children and families and to access the data needed to make decisions, determine priorities, allocate resources, and drive policy and systems change.

The six new communities, selected for their commitment to centering youth voice and family engagement and addressing barriers to education, health, and economic stability are:

• San Diego, California (Chula Vista Elementary School District)
• Tallahassee, Florida (South City Foundation)
• Tampa, Florida (Sulphur Springs Neighborhood of Promise)
• St. Paul, Minnesota (St. Paul Promise)
• Akron, Ohio (Youth Success Summit)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (RestoreOKC)

The Success Planning Community of Practice is a two-year opportunity that includes a capacity building year focused on principles and practices, design elements, and data and evaluation considerations, followed by a second year dedicated to implementation, scale, and sustainability. The new cohort will join six communities returning for a second year: Flint, Michigan; Rochester, New York; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Union County, South Carolina; Wayne County, New York; and Wilmington, Delaware.

Launched in 2022, EdRedesign’s Institute for Success Planning supports local leaders and cross-sector community teams as they create transformational change in the lives of children and youth through relationship-based personalized Success Planning.

With generous support from the Barr Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Oak Foundation, and The Wallace Foundation, the Institute for Success Planning is accelerating community-driven efforts to advance more personalized systems of support. Through systemic approaches to individualized opportunities and supports, the Institute works to ensure all children and youth have clear and accessible pathways to succeed in school and life.