November 7, 2007
Austin, TX — Over seventy delegates from six communities around the Central Texas region composed of students, teachers, administrators, higher education, community and business leaders are convening next week to create a historic plan for closing achievement gaps that will feed into a  21st century blueprint to bring about educational change in Central Texas.
The representatives, which come from Austin, Bastrop, Eanes, Manor, Round Rock, and San Marcos areas will gather on Nov. 15, 2007 at 8 a.m. at the LBJ Library to write the first action plan for the “Blueprint for Change in Education for Central Texas.” This forum is the culmination of meetings that have been held over the last two months across the region with over 500 participants taking part in multi-session, structured dialogues about the impacts of education achievement gaps.  The dialogues were held by the E3 Alliance, in partnership with Texas Forums (a project of the LBJ Library) and Austin Voices for Education and Youth.
Never before have this many communities come together, empowered to author this kind of action plan to bring about educational change in the region.  These dialogues, based on the Kettering Foundation guide, Too Many Children Left Behind, are the first regional forums to take place around the country, and many look forward seeing how a deliberative dialogues process can drive real change.

The event takes place as follows:

8:00 – 8:30am       Delegates convene. Special Presentation.

8:30 – 9:30am     8 groups comprising of delegates from each of the six areas will roundtable to review, compare and contrast their proposed solutions

10:00 – 10:30am – With input from political, business, and community leaders, create a regional picture to move toward the Blueprint for Change

10:30 – 11:15am – Local community planning and action steps

11:15 – 11:30am – Students from Round Rock and Bastrop communities present to the   delegates actions already taken in their communities to drive student- led change

About the E3 Alliance
The E3 Alliance was formed as a collaborative effort of Austin Community College (ACC), the Austin Area Research Organization (AARO), the University of Texas and others to initiate a regional effort to increase global competitiveness, economic vitality and overall quality of life for Central Texas by aligning our education systems to better fulfill the potential of every citizen.
Guided by an objective data map and a clear community vision, the E3 Alliance proposes to better align the practices of our regional education system and allocate investments and services more efficiently to dramatically and sustainably increase educational outcomes. The E3Alliance acts as the Central Texas P-16 Council.
About Austin Voices
Austin Voices for Education and Youth mobilizes young people, parents, and community members to strengthen public schools and expand opportunities for youth.  Over the past four years Austin Voices has convened hundreds of people to weigh in on the education issues that affect them—from the neighborhood level with public housing “community conferences” to the national level with hearings on No Child Left Behind.  Austin Voices’ youth and community engagement work was recognized with an Austin Chronicle 2005 “Best of Austin” award for their “Out-of-the-Box Public School Philosophy.”
About Texas Forums
Through deliberation, Texas Forums, an initiative of the LBJ Presidential Library helps people in communities broaden their understanding of complex public issues, find common ground for action, and imagine new and creative ways to solve public problems. Texas Forums maintains a network of over 400 people in Central Texas and around the country who are trained deliberative democracy moderators, skilled issue framers, innovative community organizers, and respected scholars and researchers of public deliberation.