Members of the Northfield Promise Council of Champions and the Northfield Racial & Ethnic Equity Collaborative (NREEC) met at the Northfield Police Department meeting room on May 20 to continue their collaborative work and to discuss an effort to get more local youth on a path to economic mobility.

Northfield Promise has made a commitment to this goal as a member of the national StriveTogether network. StriveTogether’s vision for 2030 is to have 4 million more young people on a path to economic mobility, which it defines as the ability of an individual or family to achieve economic success, power, and autonomy, while feeling valued in their community.

HCI Network Impact Director Meleah Follen told the meeting attendees that Northfield Promise needs to set its own local “know your number” goal for the 2024-25 school year and decide how it can best measure whether Northfield succeeds in meeting that goal. Participants then spent time discussing potential tools for measuring progress, and the challenges of defining who is included in the measurement.

HCI Executive Director Sandy Malecha said HCI representatives will follow up with participants over the summer to talk about how they see their organizations contributing to this goal. The economic mobility discussion will be continued at the fall meeting of the Council of Champions and NREEC leaders.

Also at the May 20 meeting, participants heard updates about the work of the Housing Solutions Teams; about the Northfield School District’s plans to implement a new math curriculum; and about recent efforts to support career exploration and pathways for Northfield area youth through a collaboration between Workforce Development Inc., the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism, and Northfield Public Schools.

Malecha also asked for help in sharing the job posting for HCI Network Impact Coordinator. For more information or to apply, click here.