Collective Impact Project Identifying Actionable Strategies for Advancing CYD
Building on the national agenda set forth at the National Summit on Creative Youth Development in 2014, the first-ever National Blueprint for Creative Youth Development will identify and prioritize actionable strategies for achieving shared goals for cross-sector advancement of creative youth development (CYD). Goals include supporting and advocating for effective business models, new revenue sources, and increased funding; documenting and communicating impact through shared language, systems, and tools; connecting programs with local community development initiatives to improve community outcomes; and strengthening cross-sector partnerships among local and national organizations.
The Blueprint is a collective impact project of the Creative Youth Development National Partnership, of which the National Guild for Community Arts Education serves as backbone organization. Through this project, the Partnership will add additional partners representing the youth development sector. Leveraging their national assets, partner organizations will connect to local communities and nonprofits to collect data, implement needs assessments, and gather catalytic case stories of youth development through creative learning. Through this research and a two-day national meeting of cross-sector stakeholders, the Blueprint will be created to reflect common goals, language, and strategies to increase access to CYD for American children and youth.
The Blueprint will be guided by a cross-sector, 12-member national advisory committee and a 10-member steering committee of CYD practitioners. It will be published in December 2017.
Denise Montgomery, founder and principal of CultureThrive, is project director for the Blueprint and through that role will be providing capacity to the CYD National Partnership. Montgomery is author of “The Rise of Creative Youth Development” (Arts Education Policy Review Journal, June 2016), which was commissioned by the Partnership. She was also lead author and researcher of Something to Say: Success Principles for Afterschool Arts Programs From Urban Youth and Other Experts, published by The Wallace Foundation.
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