Bridge to Success Community Partnership

Partners Empowering Youth, from Cradle to Career BTS is a partnership of over 90 local organizations, families and volunteers working together to prepare Waterbury's youth for success from cradle to career. By joining forces, we ensure the city’s youth have access to the quality healthcare, education and support they need to become responsible adults. Together, we are building a strong bridge to connect our youth to a brighter future. The partnership is rich with deeply committed, action-oriented, engaged volunteers from the schools, city, and community. BTS partners follow a collective impact framework working jointly towards equity so all children will be socially and emotionally ready for school, read well by grade three, graduate from high school on time to ensure they will be ready for the career of their choice. Waterbury is a StriveTogether cradle to career partner that recently achieved Sustaining Community status. Our Story Youth-serving organizations have a long history in Waterbury, delivering quality programming for a range of needs through collaboration with multiple organizations. To ensure the greatest impact on their community, the organizations realized that by working together they could do more good and have a collective impact. Representatives from these organizations worked together to create common goals and strategies. They turned to the community for answers - securing funding from local organizations - and asking parents and other community members what they wanted for the future of Waterbury’s youth. Working as a team, they drafted a community mandate to support Waterbury’s youth. In 2010, with the community mandate in hand, and working as a team local youth-serving organizations, they improved connections among the different strategies, and ultimately formed the Bridge to Success (BTS) Community Partnership, the state’s first cradle to career youth initiative. BTS partners work together to empower youth, and promote these key focus areas ensure that Waterbury’s youth succeed in school, work and life: Social/emotional skill development Early literacy Post-secondary and career preparedness Parent and caregiver skills Today, BTS continues to evolve. The partners engage families and over 90 public and private organizations to develop new approaches, share resources, and work collaboratively. Rather than work in silos, the partner organizations work together to maximize their effectiveness, and implement common strategies and programs at their individual organizations. The effectiveness of their work is analyzed by measuring kindergarten readiness scores, third grade reading scores, and high school graduation rates. By working together, the BTS partners are more effective in achieving the common goal that Waterbury’s youth succeed in school, work and life.