Connecting Communities Policy Symposium (October 28, 2009)

In partnership with the Massachusetts Afterschool Partnership (MAP), Boston Beyond organized the Connecting Communities Policy Symposium, bringing together over 250 education and youth development professionals with city and state leaders to develop a unified voice on after-school and expanded learning policy. 

The symposium featured Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo,and Dr. Priscilla Little of the Harvard Family Research Project, who presented Expanded Learning Opportunities: A Pathway to Student Success.  The event also featured a panel of leading nonprofit and city leaders, including Boston representatives Claudio Martinez of the Hyde Square Task Force and Dr. Tiffany Cooper Gueye of BELL. 

In his address, Mayor Thomas M. Menino set the tone for a system of school and community partners working together  around shared goals for children and youth.  He released the city's Education Pipeline "birth through college success" strategy.  In urging attendees to use data to track results, Menino advised, “Let’s use that data to hold ourselves accountable for results. We can have flexibility in approaches, but we need to shoot for the same goals.”