A Message from Our President & Executive Director – September 2020
In all my years leading businesses, volunteering on boards, and running a nonprofit, I’ve never experienced the kind of instantaneous shifts we’ve all been forced to navigate these past months.
In all my years leading businesses, volunteering on boards, and running a nonprofit, I’ve never experienced the kind of instantaneous shifts we’ve all been forced to navigate these past months. The COVID-19 virus has upended every aspect of our lives. Racial disparities have created national unrest. And now, six months later, we are still weathering the storm. Like you, we’ve had to pivot our work at E3 Alliance. And we’re excited to share that our efforts have involved deeper commitments to collaborating with partners, converting solutions made with urgency into solutions for the long haul, advocating for better statewide and nationwide policies, and leveraging our shared experiences.
A noteworthy byproduct we’ve seen is the crystal-clear, positive role that collective impact has on our mission to improve student achievement. From a full-on effort to engage students in online learning, to resolving the lack of connectivity for our highest need families, solving problems requires everyone to align. We know that one effort or one single organization alone can make worthwhile achievements. However, when we join together, under common objectives and commitment to continuous improvement, well, the sky’s the limit. We can reach students at scale. We can improve teaching practices in schools, districts, the region and the state. We can close equity gaps. Collective impact requires institutions across multiple sectors to act for the common good, and in doing so, boosts student performance by leaps and bounds. I encourage you to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin as we showcase specific examples on how we are keeping an intense focus on long-term systems change in Central Texas education so we simultaneously address the near-term urgent needs of our partners.