It has been an eventful and exciting start to the school year, with Future Ready Collier’s collective impact perspective reflected through important meetings and initiatives. At our networkwide kick-off in September, over 100 participants joined from across the Future Ready Collier partnership. At that meeting, we announced our new Action Teams, allowing network members to better focus their interests and time.
October welcomed the first meetings of those new Action Teams: Early Development, Quality Childcare, Literacy, Parent Engagement, Out of School Time, Work-Based Learning, and Access to Post-Secondary Education. With around 60 representatives from network member organizations lending their expertise, conversations encompassed partnerships, collaboration opportunities, and access to resources. Action Team co-chairs facilitated identification of the challenges currently facing our community, and how we can collectively make progress.
UF Lastinger Center Listening Tour
Recently, Future Ready Collier was grateful to welcome the University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning for dialogue with Future Ready Collier partners as a part of their ongoing Listening Tour. The focus of this outreach is “to gather stakeholder input on education needs and identify ways to substantially improve K-12 mathematics education and achievement in Florida.”
The Lastinger Center is a respected education thought leader in the state, and an established partner to Future Ready Collier. To assist their work, Future Ready Collier agreed to help distribute the electronic surveys developed for both students and adults to support their Listening Tour. The information gathered will be compiled into final reports intended for State officials and policymakers.
Future Ready Collier Featured at State Meeting
I had the terrific opportunity to speak at a meeting of the Consortium of Education Foundations of Florida in September. The topic was, “What it means to be an LCAN,” or Local College Access Network. Future Ready Collier is the LCAN for Collier County, partnering with the Florida College Access Network (FCAN), and through the Community of Practice.
At the September meeting, I was fortunate to co-present alongside FCAN and Bridge2Life. We discussed how Education Foundations serve as the backbone organizations for LCANs. These affiliations help to ensure that Florida’s students are prepared for life after high school. Champions For Learning is Collier County’s Education Foundation, and the backbone partner to Future Ready Collier.
CCPS Needs Your Help: Strategic Planning
Locally, the Collier County Public School District (CCPS) is asking for public comment as they work on their 2025-2029 Strategic Plan. CCPS previously circulated a question about the most important steps for the district. Top themes included high-quality teachers, curriculum, and class size.
Question 2 asks for impressions of the quality of the educational experience provided by CCPS. Commenters are invited to give specific examples. You can access the online form to respond to CCPS, and for other information about the Planning the Pathway initiative, by clicking here. CCPS is currently seeking responses to Question 2 through November 1.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Additional Future Ready Collier networkwide meetings are currently scheduled for November 29, February 27, and May 15, each from 8:30am to 10am. Specific details about locations will be circulated once confirmed. Networkwide meetings broadly cover the progress and needs of the Future Ready Collier collective impact network, as well as topics of interest related to education and student and family supports.
Action Teams will meet again November as they work on specific tasks and goals. These meetings allow network members to dig more deeply into targeted subject areas. Conversations often generate ideas for new collaborations and programs.
For more information about any of Future Ready Collier’s work, please reach out to info@futurereadycollier.org.