bridgeport prospers partnership agreement

Fiscal Year 2024-25

Bridgeport Prospers Cradle to Career is committed to advancing equitable systems change promoting the well-being of Bridgeport’s children, youth, and families.

It is our vision that everyone in Bridgeport, CT will have an equitable opportunity to thrive, leading to stronger communities. We adopted the principles of Collective Impact and the StriveTogether Theory of Action (TOA) to build a cradle to career infrastructure that addresses the academic, social-emotional, health, and well-being needs of Bridgeport’s families. 

Bridgeport Prospers has identified the target social issues and inequities within the city and is working to address them through our initiatives. These issues are known as both the Social Determinants of Health (which affect health outcomes) and the Social Drivers of Health (which affect quality of life due to the policies, systems, and structures) leading to the inequities or disparities experienced by children, youth, and families. These issues are barriers and key levers on the cradle-to-career continuum that need to be moved to reach pathways to economic mobility by 2030.

Purpose of Agreement 

This Partnership Agreement is intended to articulate the shared intention of the Bridgeport Prospers Cradle to Career to implement its vision and mission and outlines the roles and responsibilities of partners and those of the backbone organization. 

The Partners of Bridgeport Prospers are entering this agreement with the organization and one another to ensure a foundation built on shared accountability, continuous improvement, solidarity, inclusion, and respect.

To ensure better outcomes for children, youth, and families, we aim to foster the following: 

  • True system building and transformation 

  • Leadership and innovation 

  • Shared commitment to the methodology of Collective Impact (as referenced above) 

  • Cost-effective practices 

  • Leveraged learning 

  • Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access in all aspects of the work 

Benefits of Partnership 

As a partner with Bridgeport Prospers, I/my organization can expect to receive:  

  • Collaboration and support in the co-development of strategies and action plans to move the needle on community level outcomes 

  • A dynamic working relationship in a network of diverse leaders and community members across multiple sectors 

  • Access to local programmatic data and other evidence–based data to support informed decision-making and action plan development and implementation  

  • Opportunities to build a sense of unity and collective identity surrounding the work of many Bridgeport community-based organizations  

  • A unified and amplified advocacy position with greater community impact through the collaboration and alignment of best (cross-sector) practices, resources and services that will further inform member and community work  

  • Access to networking and meaningful professional development opportunities  

  • Assistance with the identification, alignment, and leveraging of short and long-term investments  

  • Regular communication about the work of the partnership and individual members to amplify best practices  

  • The opportunity to be featured as a partner on our website and annual community impact report 

Responsibilities of Partners 

As a Partner of Bridgeport Prospers, I and/or my organization commit(s) to building trust amongst Partners and throughout the community by operating with honesty and transparency, valuing, and actively promoting equity and unity, and by modeling a shared commitment to our work by: 

  • Working within the established principles of Collective Impact and the StriveTogether framework.  

  • Ensuring that Bridgeport Prospers is a community of learning by participating in outreach activities, events, and initiatives (as available), as well as workgroups and task forces that pertain to shared work in systems building and transformation.  

  • Publicly advocating for the mission of Bridgeport Prospers and my role as a Partner. 

  • Aligning organizational and programmatic interests with other Partners wherever and whenever possible.  

  • Identifying and leveraging investment opportunities around infrastructure and specific bodies of work to sustain the organization and the work of our members. 

  • Creating a collaborative environment where all sectors of the community are intentionally engaged in the work. 

  • Practicing open and candid communication, providing clarity, participating with an innovative spirit, embracing growth and optimism, and demonstrating forward thinking. 

  • Displaying a steadfast commitment to sustainable, long-term, systems change, and continuous improvement to measurable outcomes for Bridgeport’s children, youth, and families. 

  • Ensuring that there is no action without data. The partner(ship) commits to sharing data that advances our collective goals and objectives and informs our decision-making. 

Within FERPA and HIPAA guidelines, I/we will:  

  • Commit to equitable data practices that center youth privacy, influence decisions, and measure impact.  

  • Prioritize and rely on quantitative and qualitative data to identify trends, define problems, test strategies, analyze results, and align activities and resources.  

  • Identify ways to amplify what is working locally and within other evidence-based practices. 

  • Persistently remind myself/us that behind every data point is a child. 

Bridgeport Prospers commits to making decisions that are focused solely on better outcomes for children, youth, and families by: 

  • Convening Leaders/Partners around data-identified need, prioritized initiatives, or cohorts of children.  

  • Establishing a central location for notes, documents, and other relevant information that is easily accessible. 

  • Assisting Partner organizations with their alignment with Bridgeport Prospers’ mission and outcomes.  

  • Providing Members with information, resources, and data to facilitate decision-making and ensuring that privacy will be at the forefront of any conversation about sharing data. 

  • Working with members to establish/align a better system of data collection.  

  • Honoring Bridgeport Prospers’ membership in the StriveTogether Network and our “Commitment to Quality.” 

  • Establishing partnerships to create opportunities for shared resources, leveraged investment and communities of learning.  

  • Participating in a community of learning and practice, and actively exchanging knowledge and expertise with peer cradle-to-career partnerships.  

  • Evaluating our progress and partnerships periodically. 

  • Executing a comprehensive internal and external communications plan to highlight the work of our Partners and increase visibility and familiarity within the greater community. 

Upon signing this Agreement, your name and organization (if applicable) will be listed on the Bridgeport Prospers’ website. 

Partner information

Glossary of Terms: 

  • Cradle to Career: Recognizing that systems and structures across our communities exist to perpetuate barriers towards optimal wellness, we are committed to building a movement that ensures the success of every child by transforming systems and achieving more equitable outcomes for children and families. It is a commitment to a long-term, data-driven strategy that involves the entire community in supporting children from early childhood through to their entry into the workforce. 

  • Collective Impact: A structured approach where the partnership works across government, business, philanthropy, non-profit organizations, and community to achieve significant and lasting social change collaboratively.  

  • Strive Together Theory of Action: The StriveTogether Theory of Action™ supports communities building the civic infrastructure necessary to transform the systems that shape opportunity. It provides progressive milestones rather than a prescription for change, which allows local context to guide the framework. 

  • Social Determinants/Drivers of Health: outside factors that influence health outcomes including but not limited to the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, as well as the broader forces and systems that shape the conditions of daily life. These can encompass economic policies, social norms, social policies, racism, climate change, and political structures. 

  • Common Agenda: The partnership has a shared vision for change that includes a mutual understanding of social problems and a joint approach to solving the problem through agreed-upon actions.  

  • Shared Measurement: The partnership agrees on the ways success will be measured and reported, with a concise list of common indicators identified and used for learning and improvement. 

  • Mutually Reinforcing Activities: Includes identifying opportunities to collaboratively outreach and promote our areas of focus included but not limited to: co developing outreach events, convening community groups to foster engagement, or collaborating on activities to advance policies through our state. 

  • Continuous Communication: Frequent and structured open communication across the partnership to build trust, reassure mutual objectives, and maintain collaborative momentum. 

  • Backbone Support: Ongoing support by Bridgeport Prospers, including guiding the initiative’s vision and strategy, supporting aligned activities, building public will, and mobilizing funding.  

  • Shared Community Vision: A diverse group of community members agree on what shifts to policies, practices, resources, and power structures to produce equitable cradle-to-career outcomes. This framework promotes collaboration, fosters a sense of belonging, and increases engagement within the partnership. 

  • Evidence-Based Decision Making: The partnership commits to collecting, analyzing, sharing, and acting with data (i.e., both outcomes and systems data), including youth and family perspectives and narratives, to make shifts in policies, practices, resources, and power structures that produce equitable cradle-to-career outcomes. 

  • Collaborative Action: We believe in the power of our organizing to move closer to a shared vision for social change. Our shared vision is inspired by our ideas and united in common ethics. We want our collaborative action to foster sustainable leadership, meaningful relationships, and lead to systems change. 

  • Investment and Sustainability: The partnership has cultural, financial, and social assets to support the collaboration necessary for producing and maintaining shifts in policies, practices, resources, and power structures that will lead to equitable cradle-to-career outcomes.