About MBK Communities

A mayor, county executive or tribal leader officially accepts the Challenge by appointing a designated point of contact to lead the MBK effort and pledging to build and execute a plan to accomplish as many of the goals listed below as possible:

1. Ensuring all children enter school cognitively, physically, socially and emotionally ready
2. Ensuring all children read at grade level by 3rd grade
3. Ensuring all youth graduate from high school
4. Ensuring all youth complete post-secondary education or training
5. Ensuring all youth out of school are employed
6. Ensuring all youth remain safe from violent crime

Designated point of contact registers for onboarding with MBK Alliance that provides practical advice and guidance on how to generate public commitment from elected officials, convene a collective impact table, scan the local policy landscape, and develop an impactful, measurable and results- driven local action plan.

Once you complete the onboarding process, MBK Alliance will begin connecting you with other MBK Communities and sending you notifications to take part in technical assistance and convenings for MBK Communities working to address persistent opportunity gaps and ensuring all youth can achieve their full potential.

This effort will require a coalition of partners with an ownership stake in the strategy, and a sense of empowerment to help lead the effort. Within 180 days of accepting the challenge, host a Local Action Summit with key stakeholders to assess needs and assets, determine priorities, and set concrete goals.

Following your Local Action Summit, direct a working group of pertinent government stakeholders to scour existing local policies, programs, and practices in search of ways to introduce or expand on existing efforts to better serve the needs of the community’s youth. The working group should assess the impact of both existing and proposed programs. Within 180 days of hosting your Local Action Summit, this body should produce a report with recommendations for action on your selected areas of focus (from Step 1), standards for tracking and sharing data across public agencies and community partners, and structural recommendations for institutionalizing the effort until goals are reached.

Within 90 days of completing your policy review and report, convene key partners to publicly launch a plan of action for accomplishing selected goals based off the results of your policy review. It should include a protocol for tracking data, benchmarks and timelines for review to ensure the transparent assessment of progress towards goals, and the open examination and retooling of ineffective strategies. Include a blueprint for resourcing your efforts which outlines plans to use or redirect existing resources, new public or private sector commitments, and specific areas where additional commitments, investment, or partnership could help your community reach its MBK goals and help potential new partners target their involvement.