Until All Youth Graduate Career Ready: A look at the Cape Ann Young Adult College & Career Collaborative

As the North Shore emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, all of us are thinking about resilience – how do we build a more resilient community?  At United Way, we build networks and capacity to tackle issues collaboratively. We do this because we know that deep, collaborative structures make our communities more resilient to crises like the COVID pandemic.  

As we work toward resilience, educational access and equity, United Way and its partners bring forward an important collaboration: the Cape Ann Young Adult College & Career Collaborative. On May 18th, the Regional Advisory Board for the United Way hosted a Lunch & Learn to highlight the lessons this collaborative has learned about building resilience over time as we work together to ensure all young adults on Cape Ann graduate with a plan for a career that will pay them a living wage.  

The Cape Ann Young Adult College & Career Collaborative is a collective impact initiative led by Wellspring House with United Way standing behind, beneath, and alongside as a mobilizer and a partner at the table. Together, this dynamic group of leaders has helped Cape Ann to move away from siloed programming and toward a united effort with shared responsibility for ensuring all youth and young adults graduate ready and with a plan for college and career success.  

The panel discussion posted below was hosted by the United Way North Shore Regional Advisory Board and moderated by United Way staff. It featured: 

• Laura Pedone, Wellspring House 
• Nikki Marin, Action, Inc. 
• Ken Riehl, Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce 
• JoAnn Leavitt: LEAP for Education 

Panelists reflected on how students have experienced education during the COVID-19 pandemic, what students need from their community, and how they as nonprofits have linked arms to meet these needs together.