The Denver Education Compact

Problem

For too long, far too many of Denver’s children have grown up without a full opportunity to succeed, and in a city as resource rich as Denver that shouldn’t be the case. Incredible organizations and people have been tirelessly working to provide Denver’s youth the opportunities they deserve to access a high quality education. However this work was often done in silos. There were often competing interests and scattered strategies. This led to unnecessary overlap, limited financial resources, and not enough students getting the supports and services they deserved.

Solution

Mayor Michael Hancock helped coordinate the creation of “The Education Compact,” a citywide collaboration between 20+ key Denver institutions working to create a robust cradle-to-career continuum for Denver’s youth – where all students enter kindergarten prepared, graduate high school prepared, complete a postsecondary pathway and obtain a job. By having a diverse group of community leaders that represent Denver’s many neighborhoods, industries, and sectors housed under one organization means that resources can be brought to bear and deliberate collaboration can occur to increase educational attainment for all Denver students.