Blog

Every month, America Forward is highlighting a few examples of the vital work being done by our Coalition members to support students, families, educators, workers, elected leaders, advocates, and communities across the country. If your organization has resources, an announcement, or a story that you would like to see included, please send it to america_forward@newprofit.org.

Alternative Staffing Alliance

To help their community stay connected during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond – both to one another and to timely and relevant information – the Alternative Staffing Alliance has created a dedicated space on their webpage for key resources and community events. They offer access to virtual roundtables; the Checkr Fair Assessment Course, an hour-long online course and certification that, “defines background report terminology and uses scenarios to help businesses comply with EEOC guidelines and refine their hiring criteria and rationale for assessing candidates”; a Vision 2020 workbook, and other resources.

The Opportunity Network (OppNet)

At the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, OppNet worked quickly to ensure that their response to the pandemic was equitable and that all of their students could continue to learn and thrive, despite major shifts in education delivery that created and exacerbated the conditions for wide-spread learning loss. Understanding that the same communities disproportionately impacted by the virus were also those most likely to be left behind in recovery efforts, OppNet launched UninterruptED: Unstoppable Learning, “a robust and comprehensive open-access learning platform, that [is] easily and freely accessible by any first-generation student and young person of color seeking dynamic online lessons.”

Turnaround for Children

As communities across the country continue to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, Turnaround has created a blog series, Responding to Crisis Within A Tiered Supports System, to help educators and school leaders build better school crisis plans. The series includes a range of tools and resources about what a tiered support system is, why a school crisis plan is important, the roles and responsibilities of school members, how to engage families, how to monitor progress, and more.

College Forward

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen the financial burden on many students pursuing higher education. To help current and prospective college and university students, and their families, navigate financial aid options, College Forward has put together FAFSA 101, a resource full of FAFSA information covering “the who, what, when, where, and why of applying for federal aid.”

Transcend

Over the past nine months, educators across the country have had to adjust to a drastically changed education landscape. To highlight the extraordinary efforts of teachers, school leaders, and others, Transcend and the Association of School Administrators came together to produce the Leading During Coronavirus Series, a blog focused on the “inspiring and actionable stories of leadership from across our education system: young people, families, educators, principals, superintendents and other system leaders, non-profits, business, policy-makers, and more,” during the COVID-19 crisis.

AppleTree Institute

COVID-19 continues to keep children out of classrooms across the country, and many parents are engaging more with their children’s learning than ever before. As a resource for parents of young children, AppleTree Institute created this video, Using Praise and Rewards with Your Child (and subsequent PDF), focused on “helpful tips and strategies…on how to effectively reward and praise behavior,” as part of their Every Child Ready program.