As someone who has spent most of their time being a support person, I know that without people working together there would be no success. People are experts in some things, not all things. When these experts work together they have to check their egos and be a source of knowledge for what they know, and be willing to allow others to share their expertise. This is the most difficult part, because we are conditioned to strive for excellence in many different subjects. I think working in a collaboration such as Strive gives people an opportunity to work with others who excel in their fields and to make it a successful collaboration.

I think this is so important. I’ve read of nonprofit organizations working on the same problem, like homelessness, and ending up with different outcomes. One might focus on the immediate need for shelter and provide a place to sleep. Another might focus on the need for shelter and also helping the community find employment and housing to get them out of homelessness. What would they accomplish if they both combined their resources and efforts into one goal?

The “cradle to career” label reminds me of capitalism. I think there should be a name that would invoke trust and willingness from the communities to participate in the program. To remove both the stigma of the need to enter the workforce and following the capitalistic belief that we must all work to be successful. We are on the precipice of workers rebelling against their employers (capitalism), i.e. “quiet quitting”; drawing boundaries in the workplace. While others in society question the evangelical nationalism taught in public schools: saying the Pledge of Allegiance and playing/singing the national anthem, the Supreme Court recently ruled that prayer in school is acceptable. Since this article was written 11 years ago, I am curious to know if this program has adapted to these changes in society. Social Innovation addresses social problems such as education within marginalized and oppressed communities. To be inclusive of these groups there must be some accommodation to these revolutionary groups in society. I would suggest “cradle to calling” giving the children an opportunity for career choices and flexibility. I am not very knowledgeable about nonprofit organizations and cross-sector coordination like this program and maybe my thoughts have been addressed. If you had an opportunity to rename the program, what would you choose?