Abstract

It is increasingly clear that schools alone cannot address all of the factors needed to close the opportunity gap between low-income and underprivileged students and their middle-class and more affluent peers. For one thing, the school day and school year are simply too short to adequately address the factors at play. Moreover, student needs are multifaceted, and a multidisciplinary approach is required to adequately meet them. Thus cross-sectional collaboration is needed, particularly in addressing how learning can be extended beyond the school day and school year, and into the early childhood years. This capstone details my efforts to bring a collective impact approach to out of school time programming in Somerville, Massachusetts, where I spent a year working for the superintendent of schools and in conjunction with a variety of school, city, and civic leaders toward a shared goal of expanding access to and advancing equity through extended learning that meets the needs of all students and families. I argue that Somerville is the right place at the right time for this type of effort due to its progressive and diverse citizenry, innovative and committed leadership, and broad base of political will for expanding out of school time due to the affordability crisis being experienced across economic strata in the city. Through a new Community Cabinet of local leaders, a taskforce to organize providers and connect them to government officials, a new education foundation to support the efforts financially, and a community visioning process to co-commission and co-design long-term goals, I created opportunities for collective ideation, planning, and implementation. The results included an increase in quality afterschool programming for low-income and marginalized students. They also revealed systemic challenges, however, including entrenched inequities, cultural disconnects, and competing priorities. The work is now at an important crossroads, and political will and courage is necessary to deepen reforms and to cultivate meaningful leadership among diverse community stakeholders. Done well, this effort has the potential to extend the ideals of inclusive, participatory democracy at the municipal level. I argue that this promising model shows the power that collective impact can have when it is intentionally purposed toward a project for which no one institution or group can initiate, implement, or sustain the work that is necessary for success.