Collaborating and Convening
A key strategy in Helios’ goal to achieve education reform in Arizona is to convene community leaders, education advocates and others to facilitate a better understanding of the Latino student achievement gap in the state and to secure a shared commitment to leading the nation in closing that achievement gap. Through collaboration and convening, Helios is engaging regional and statewide partners in problem-solving, knowledge sharing, community mobilization and dissemination of best practices that work to ensure that all students are ready for college and career, and that Latino students, especially, are pursuing and achieving a postsecondary education in line with their peers. The Foundation’s convenings around Arizona’s Latino student achievement gap, its collaboration in statewide early literacy efforts and its supportive role in the collective impact effort Thriving Together, are examples of Helios’ use of collaborating and convening strategies to advance education reform.
Arizona’s Economic Imperative: Leading the Nation in Latino Student Success
In April 2015, Helios convened 200 community leaders in Arizona to discuss the state’s growing Latino student achievement gap and the impact this achievement gap is destined to have on the state’s economy. Entitled Arizona’s Economic Imperative: Leading the Nation in Latino Student Success, this convening allowed leaders to expound upon Arizona’s changing demographics and increasing Latino population which makes up a majority of the state’s workforce pipeline.
It is imperative that Arizona address the Latino student achievement gap in order to maintain Arizona’s ability to expand, attract and retain vital growth industries, transforming the state from a low-skill, service economy to a high-skilled, knowledge-based economy. Arizona must ensure that all students not only graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and career, but also complete a postsecondary education.
“If we do not address the Latino degree attainment gap in Arizona, our state risks becoming a second or third-tier economy. We are positioned for either greatness or peril. We must commit to greatness and take advantage of the unique opportunity we have to lead the nation in recognizing Latino student success as a true economic imperative.”
Vince Roig, Founding Chairman, Helios Education Foundation
Read On Arizona
In order to promote early literacy and language development, Helios Education Foundation recognizes the importance of collaborating with local organizations in order to improve academic outcomes for young children. As a result, we’ve invested $1.3 million in the development of Read On Arizona - a statewide, public/private partnership of local agencies, philanthropic organizations and community stakeholders committed to creating an effective continuum of services to improve language and literacy outcomes for Arizona’s children from birth through age eight. Read On Arizona is committed to helping create an early literacy system that delivers the right program at the right time for every child.
Read On Arizona is committed to helping create an early literacy system that delivers the right program at the right time for every child.
Thriving Together
The Thriving Together mission is to build a robust community and economy through collective action that fosters success from birth to career for every child, youth and young adult. Helios has invested $375,000 in this initiative which brings together community resources to help students improve educational results within the greater Phoenix metropolitan area as they reach key benchmarks in their development, placing and keeping them on a path to success. The Thriving Together approach is based on the tenets of collective impact, which helps communities identify and tailor a common thread toward solving the community’s unique challenges.
