Our Mission

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The mission of Cambridge Agenda for Children Out-of-School Time (OST) is to convene, catalyze and support the youth serving community in Cambridge for the shared purpose of increasing equity, access and innovation and sustaining the highest quality OST opportunities and experiences for all children, youth and families.

Theory of Change

Beliefs

1.    All young people have the desire and capacity to succeed and contribute to their communities if provided with access to appropriate resources and supports.
2.    Young people and families are better served when the systems and institutions that support them are aligned and connected. 
3.    For all young people to succeed, barriers to equity and access need to be directly addressed. 
 and children.
4.    Opportunities and experiences for youth are enhanced when people across different levels of power and perspectives learn together, design together, and build mutually beneficial partnerships. 
5.    All people have the capacity for change and growth. When adults who work with youth are provided with opportunities for continuous learning, clear expectations and accountability, there is a positive impact on opportunities and experiences for youth.
6.    Cultural competence and respect for diversity are essential to our work and success.
7.    Our work is guided by data, research and best practices, all of which are necessary to raise awareness about how success is possible for all young people and to advance the growth of the OST field. 
8.    Lasting change requires attention to systems while grounding our work in the developmental needs and experiences of youth and children.

Our History

In the late 1990s, the Agenda for Children was launched in Cambridge, Massachusetts, under the auspices of the Kids' Council, a policy advisory committee comprised of city officials, human service providers, parents, academic advisors, and community foundations. To determine what residents believed were the most important issues facing Cambridge children, some 643 community members participated in over 50 meetings. What emerged from these meetings were four Universal Strategies and nine Priority Goals for improving the lives of the city's young citizens. 

 Universal Strategies

1. Continuous community engagement is essential throughout the process. 
2. City institutions need to be more supportive of cultural and linguistic diversity. 
3. City institutions need to be more supportive and responsive to families. 
4. Available services need to be coordinated and publicized in such a way that families can access them more easily.    

Priority Goals

1. Children and youth need access to out-of-school time activities in nurturing and safe environments at all times.
2. Children need comprehensive health care, which addresses physical and emotional well-being.
3. Families need to be informed and supported to advocate for their children.
4. Children and youth need adequate housing and an economically secure environment.
5. Young children need supports to be physically, mentally and socially ready when they first enter school.
6. Children and their families will be able to read.
7. Children need to be physically fit, physically active, and eating well.
8. Children and youth need to be free from alcohol, tobacco, and drug use.
9. Children need to be safe from violence in their homes, schools, and community. 

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The City of Cambridge, the Cambridge Health Alliance and the Cambridge Community Foundation decided to invest resources in two of these goals, #1 and #6, while acknowledging that work must continue on the remaining seven.

A Blue Ribbon Taskforce was formed for each goal and was charged with developing action plans to achieve these goals. A steering committee was formed to oversee the implementation of these plans, and in 2001 the City hired an Out-of-School Time Initiative Coordinator, anchored at the Department of Human Services, and a Literacy Initiative Coordinator, anchored at the Department of Public Health. In 2003, with significant funding from the Massachusetts Department of Education, the Out-of-School Time Initiative was able to hire another coordinator, anchored in the Public School Department. 

The level of sustained collaboration involved in carrying out the Agenda for Children is unprecedented in Cambridge. Leadership for the Agenda has been unwavering among the City's Health, Human Services, Police, Library, and School departments, together with non-profit providers and the Cambridge Community Foundation. Representatives from each entity comprise the Agenda for Children Steering Committee. With this commitment, the City is making a significant difference in the lives of Cambridge children and families.

Organizational Structure

The Agenda for Children is working across departments, sectors, programs and silos to develop a system that replaces a fragmented patchwork of hard working service providers and leaders, with a more efficient quilted, cohesive coalition.

The Cambridge Agenda for Children is a citywide intermediary and public-private partnership that is strategically set up to build connections between out-of-school time (OST) providers, schools, city leadership, elected officials, the community foundation, community-based non-profits and city departments to support the OST needs of Cambridge’s young people and families. 

The Agenda for Children’s Co-Directors are anchored in the two largest child and youth-serving departments in Cambridge as members of their leadership teams: Khari Milner, with Cambridge Public Schools (CPS), and Susan Richards, with Cambridge's Department of Human Service Programs.  Agenda for Children staff members and consultants can therefore be found working throughout the two departments as well as in community-based programs.  For example, the Agenda for Children has access to and coordinates analysis of CPS and OST-affiliated student data.  

Overall, this unique configuration enhances our ability and dexterity as an intermediary to work across and between departments, sectors and communities to pursue its goals to increase access, efficiency and positive student outcomes, while promoting a system of continuous improvement for a diverse range of OST providers. 

The Cambridge OST Coalition works across and supports other city initiatives that aim to improve outcomes for children and young people.

Agenda for Children Literacy Initiative
Center for Families
Community Engagement Team
Inclusion Initiative for Children
Family Policy Council
Reaching All Youth (RAY) Committee ​