About This Episode
Season 3. Episode 9.
In this enlightening episode of Education Insight, we delve into the extraordinary world of collective impact and its profound influence on local education. Across the nation, communities are rewriting the narrative of student success by convening a unique blend of leaders from business, economy, and education sectors. They’ve discovered that when diverse voices come together to tackle educational challenges, remarkable things happen!
Join us as we sit down with two distinguished guests who are at the forefront of this movement. Sheila Thorton, President & CEO of OneFuture Coachella Valley, brings a wealth of experience in mobilizing communities for the betterment of education. She’ll share firsthand accounts of how collective impact has been a game-changer in the Coachella Valley.
Jennifer Splansky Juster, Executive Director of the Collective Impact Forum at the Fielding School of Public Health, is a leading expert in the field. She’ll provide invaluable insights into the principles and strategies that make collective impact work, and how this approach is revolutionizing education outcomes nationwide.
Tune in to discover the transformative power of collaboration, hear inspiring success stories, and gain a deeper understanding of how collective impact is reshaping the landscape of education. Whether you’re an educator, a community leader, or simply passionate about improving education, this episode will leave you inspired and informed. Don’t miss out on this enlightening conversation!
Featured Guests
Jennifer Splansky Juster
Executive Director of the Collective Impact Forum, a partnership between the nonprofit consulting group FSG and the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions
Biography
Jennifer Splansky Juster is Executive Director of the fielding-building initiative the Collective Impact Forum, a partnership between the nonprofit consulting & research group FSG and the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions. She is one of FSG’s leaders in collective impact field building, has worked on multiple collective impact engagements, designed training opportunities for thousands collective impact practitioners, and frequently speaks on the topic.
Jennifer has co-authored multiple publications on collective impact, including the report Guide to Evaluating Collective Impact and the articles “Centering Equity in Collective Impact,” “Committing to Collective Impact: From Vision to Implementation,” and “Essential Mindset Shifts for Collective Impact.” Over the course of her career, Jennifer has also worked with a range of foundations, nonprofits, government agencies, and corporations across sectors on issues of strategy, evaluation, and program design.
Former clients include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Marin Community Foundation, Girard College, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Silicon Valley ALLIES. A California native, Jennifer is a graduate of Stanford University and Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. She lives in Berkeley, California with her husband and two daughters.
Sheila Thorton
President & CEO, OneFuture Coachella Valley
Biography
As President & CEO of OneFuture Coachella Valley, Sheila Thornton is guided by its mission to assure all students succeed in college, career and life – expanding and enhancing the local workforce so that our youth and economy thrive. Prior to the formation of OneFuture Coachella Valley, Sheila served as Vice President of Workforce Excellence for the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP), where she led coalition-building, fundraising and program development for that division.
In March, 2017, she spearheaded the transition from Workforce Excellence to OneFuture Coachella Valley, a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose purpose is to advance a regional effort to align educational attainment with economic development. Sheila serves on the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus Advancement Board, the Growing Inland Achievement board of directors, the national leadership team for the Ford Motor Company Fund Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL) Initiative and the national advisory committee for Health Career Connection.
She is a former board member of the Linked Learning Alliance in California, and the California Future Health Workforce Commission. Sheila received a B.S. degree in Applied Math from Loyola Marymount University. Her early career as an analyst and project manager for an economic research and consulting firm and as Director of Community Services for a non-profit hospital has established a solid foundation for her current work – building and leading an organization that uses strong coalitions to guide the region’s students and future leaders toward success.
View our podcast page for more stories like this: https://inlandempiregia.org/gia-podcasts/
Education Insight tells the story of education in the Inland Empire through the diverse voices of those in and around the regional education community. The show is produced by Growing Inland Achievement, a collective impact organization in the Inland Empire with a mission to increase economic prosperity in the region by increasing educational attainment. Hosted by 30-year broadcast veteran Lacey Kendall, monthly shows explore topics ranging from education challenges and shortcomings to innovations and groundbreaking ideas that are driving student success.