Aligned Impact Muscatine Releases First Annual Report
Collective Impact Initiative Shows Gains in its First Year
Muscatine, IA: Aligned Impact Muscatine’s first annual report shows that we can improve our community by working better together. Kindergarten readiness, chronic absenteeism, post-secondary completion, and under-employed adults are social issues that sound overwhelming to most people. But to Aligned Impact Muscatine’s strategy networks, these issues are a call to action. When AIM’s Leadership Council looked at community data, they recognized the need to have cross sector teams working on these four complex social challenges.
“Many community organizations were making a difference in these areas with their specific clients. However, the population level data for Muscatine was remaining the same.”, explained Kim Warren, AIM Director. “We use the collective impact framework as a guide for how to tackle complex problems, but what it all really boils down to is one simple idea – When we work together to achieve a common goal the whole community benefits.”
One area that has seen huge gains is the reduction in chronic absenteeism. The Muscatine Community School District did great work within their buildings this year to increase attendance. Community organizations came to the table to help with community wide marketing, leadership development opportunities for at-risk middle school students, and piloting resource coordination for families in crisis at Central Middle School. “Many of our students leave our buildings at the end of the day and go back to stressful situations at home. Without the support of community organizations, there is no way we can meet the complex needs of all our students,” stated Dr. Riibe, MCSD Superintendent.
To view AIM’s first annual report and see the progress all four strategy groups have made visit alignedimpactmuscatine.org.
About Aligned Impact Muscatine: Aligned Impact Muscatine is a grant-funded initiative that uses the collective impact framework to address some of our community’s most pressing issues. AIM brings together all sectors of the community to try to achieve its goals:
-Increase the percentage of Muscatine students who graduate from High School.
-Increase the percentage of post-secondary completion.
-Increase training opportunities for adults to address unemployment and underemployment, to enable workforce capable to sustain and grow Muscatine’s economy.
To learn more about AIM visit alignedimpactmuscatine.org