Eagle Rock Participates in Opportunity Nation Summit

On February 25-26, 2015 in Washington, DC, The National Opportunity Summit will unite a bipartisan, cross-sector group of business leaders, nonprofits, elected officials and young adults for an important conversation about the urgent crisis of youth unemployment and its impact on opportunity in America.

BOSTON, Mass. — Opportunity Nation is happy to announce that representatives from our diverse, cross-sector coalition that includes groups from across the country will be among those attending the National Opportunity Summit this year, including Dan Condon of Eagle Rock School & Professional Development Center.

Eagle Rock will contribute to Opportunity Nation by collaborating on the following outcomes:

—To reach the goal of national 90% high school graduation rate by 2020, focus on dropout prevention and the re-engagement of recent dropouts and over-aged and under-credited students.

—Create an alternative accountability system for non-traditional high school students and programs, and improve and expand credit recovery programs. Examples include: flexible schedules; a reduction in seat time barriers through adaptive models; increased work-based learning time and competency/mastery based credit award…

Eagle Rock implements effective and engaging practices that foster each student’s unique potential and help young people use their minds well at Eagle Rock School and to support schools nationally to do the same. Eagle Rock serves adolescents who are not thriving in their current situations, for whom few positive options exist, and who are passionate about taking control of their lives and learning.

Opportunity Nation Coalition partners all have one thing in common: they are enhancing opportunities for youth and families by strengthening pathways to upward mobility and building strong communities.

Businesses, nonprofits, educational institutions and community organizations are all represented in our 300+ Coalition member organizations. They support the notion that all Americans should have access to opportunity and that where you start off in life should not determine where you end up. Though each partner does not necessarily endorse every proposal in the Opportunity Nation policy framework, they are committed to an inclusive, consensus-oriented dialogue and the idea that all of us have a role to play in expanding access to the American Dream.

The leadership, experience and voices of the Coalition will enhance the Summit and promote its goals long after the event itself is over.

Opportunity Nation’s Steering Committee includes America’s Promise Alliance, CFED, Jobs for the Future, Jumpstart, Points of Light, Seattle Colleges, United Way Worldwide, World Vision and Year Up.

The National Opportunity Summit is hosted by Opportunity Nation and co-convened by the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Business Roundtable (BRT), United Way Worldwide and Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG). The Summit is the first national opportunity event focused on the critically important issues of youth employment, skills training and meaningful cross-sector education and career pathways at both state and federal levels. Summit attendees include 1,000 business, nonprofit, education and government leaders and hundreds of young adults from across the country.

For the last three years, Opportunity Nation and its partners, including Eagle Rock, have been growing a movement to restore opportunity in America. This effort has reached a critical tipping point, particularly for our nation’s youth who face unacceptably high levels of unemployment and disconnection. The National Opportunity Summit is timed to maximize this momentum by promoting awareness, forging deeper partnerships and accelerating solutions.

WHEN YOUNG ADULTS DO WELL, COMMUNITIES DO WELL

Providing equal access to opportunity for all Americans is the defining issue of our time. The most direct and powerful way to accomplish this goal is to dramatically improve education and employment prospects for teens and young adults.

Each year, Opportunity Nation releases the annual Opportunity Index, a composite measure of 16 key economic, educational and civic factors that expand or restrict upward mobility for Americans, and provides and Opportunity Score for all 50 states and Washington DC and 2,900 counties. One of the indicators that correlates most closely with overall opportunity is the number of young Americans ages 16-24 who are neither in school nor working. When young adults are connected to school and work, communities are more likely to provide greater opportunity to their residents.

Currently, there are 5.6 million youth who are disconnected from school and work and millions more who lack meaningful pathways to education and career. Youth unemployment remains stubbornly high – twice the national average.

At the same time, many U.S. employers say that the inability to find qualified workers is their biggest obstacle to growth. Our economy demands a workforce equipped with the degrees, certificates and skills required to maintain our global competitiveness and support thriving communities where we live.

America’s future is at risk if we are not able to build a workforce that can compete. If we can connect our youth to the jobs of today and tomorrow, our communities – and our country – will prosper.

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Eagle Rock Professional Development Center works with educators from around the country who wish to study how to re-engage, retain and graduate students. Eagle Rock provides consulting services at school sites and hosts educators who study and learn from Eagle Rock practices. The non-profit Center is an initiative of American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

Opportunity Nation is a bipartisan, national coalition of more than 300 businesses, nonprofits, educational institutions and community leaders working to expand economic opportunity. Opportunity Nation seeks to close the opportunity gap by amplifying the work of its coalition members, advocating policy and private sector actions and releasing the annual Opportunity Index.