Executive Director’s Report

The 10-Year Perspective

For our first eight years, we tried to do three things: 1) to support policy research and advocacy on behalf of children, 2) to improve teaching and learning through the Connecticut Center for School Change, and 3) to engage communities and parents through the Children First Initiative.

The early investments in policy research helped us to learn about Connecticut in ways that we might not have expected. For example, the public opinion study called The Broken Contract, undertaken by Public Agenda, demonstrated that the biggest gulf in the state was not between black and white citizens, nor between urban and suburban communities, nor between the wealthy and the poor, but between educators and the general public. Addressing that gap led us to shape the initiative we call “Community Conversations,” now under the leadership of the League of Women Voters of Connecticut. This project, which has touched the civic lives of 69 Connecticut communities, creates an opportunity for communities to engage in dialogue about education issues, unconstrained by adversarial posturing. Citizens begin in this way to find common ground on which to build and implement action plans for improving the lives of children and the education enterprise.

Other research has further helped the state to become educated about important issues. For example, The Social State of Connecticut report, undertaken in partnership with the Connecticut General Assembly and the Commission on Children, has revealed in each of the past 10 years the needs and challenges that exist in this wealthy state. We are pleased that Connecticut was the first state to embed such a report in law. The Social State prompts discussions of policies that can lead to a better quality of life for all. This year, we honor the memory of that report’s author, Marc Miringoff, who passed away as this Memorial Fund report was being completed, for his vision and commitment to the ideal of holding ourselves accountable for the condition of our society.

In the early years, our focus on community and parent engagement became a seven-year, $7 million initiative called the Children First Initiative (CFI). CFI worked with seven cities to improve life and education outcomes for children from birth to eight. Appreciating this new approach, an assistant superintendent of schools from one community noted, “It seems that the Memorial Fund is asking communities to learn to be more reflective about the condition of their children.” In fact, we strove to create the possibility for communities to work collaboratively, across sectors, with us and with others as true partners. Deepening this relationship remains a primary goal. Much of what we learned through Children First is embedded in the Discovery Initiative, which has been the focus of our work from 2001 to 2003 and which is the subject of this report.

During the first decade our strategies intertwined in ways that were powerful beyond our expectations. For instance, in 1997, the Connecticut General Assembly passed the School Readiness Act, which has since allocated over $40 million annually to create and sustain new spaces in high-quality preschools, benefiting 6,500 children statewide. In 1997 legislative staff met directly with Children First community representatives and asked for information on the need for and projected cost of early care and education in their communities. Within two weeks, the communities provided the information to the legislature, with research and communications assistance from the Memorial Fund. While passage of the School Readiness Act was a policy triumph for advocates and policymakers, we also view it as a triumph of community voice.

We are also learning how to integrate the school change work of the Connecticut Center for School Change. Its executive director, Andrew Lachman, has shifted the focus from individual schools to districts and, more specifically, to instructional leadership. The Center’s new Superintendents’ Network and Principals’ Academy help districts that want to work on systemic change by focusing on student outcomes. The Center now devotes more than half its efforts to Discovery districts, while acting as content experts on education to the Initiative overall.

Looking forward...

The story of our current Discovery Initiative continues today across Connecticut. In 2001, the Trustees of the Memorial Fund made a six-year $15 million commitment to Discovery. In its first two years, Discovery has introduced us to an extraordinary range of individuals who are willing to commit time, energy and resources to the idea that all children deserve a good start in life. Preliminary research is showing that this simple yet powerful idea is not only sound social and educational policy, but also has measurable economic benefits.

Nothing means more to me as a foundation leader than that the Memorial Fund live out the values we espouse in ways that other people can detect. The central challenge of mid-life for both people and institutions is to bring behavior into closer conformity with values. We work hard at that.

So, what is our situation today? Very challenging indeed. As with most foundations, our economic power has been constrained by three years of turmoil in financial markets. Nevertheless, the promise of the Discovery Initiative — that we can engage citizens in more effective ways to improve children’s lives — has seemed to capture people’s imaginations. As of this report, 49 Connecticut communities have joined Discovery. They represent over half of the student population of Connecticut, and high proportions of the state’s poor and populations of color.

Nothing is a better antidote to poverty than a good education. Most children, advantaged or disadvantaged, are capable of high levels of achievement. Connecticut has the financial and intellectual resources needed to make sure that every child enters school ready to learn, and to make sure that every school is ready to teach and to uphold high standards. Nothing less is acceptable. Connecticut has enjoyed a privileged position among the states in income and in leadership. To sustain that position in the future requires a new level of intention and investment in the lives of our children. We try every day to live up to that level of intention. In doing so, we believe we are doing our part to forge a stronger Connecticut and a stronger nation.

David M. Nee
Executive Director