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Our Strategies
Workforce Development: Career & System Navigation
Our full-time Career Navigator meets parents where they are to provide support, help identify skills and abilities, provide job coaching and make referrals to wraparound supports as needed.
1. Organize and support a cohort of single parents/ALICE individuals to receive training and wrap around supports through partner colleges.
2. Provide career & system navigation support, wrap-around services, and skill building services to Middletown residents, especially single mothers of color, to support career goals
3. Provide access to financial literacy workshops for residents
Community Engagement
1. Engage single parents of color and A.L.I.C.E. families, (Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed) in leadership roles and ensure their voice is reflected in plans and projects
2. Connect participants to existing leadership training for parents and other community members, such as the Middletown Parent Leadership Training Institute
3. Support parents to take on leadership roles by coaching, mentoring and helping people find meaningful roles in the community
4. Reinvigorate the H.O.P.E. Campaign, which includes street conversations, Community Cafes, H.O.P.E. awards and other community engagement strategies
H.O.P.E. = Health & Wellbeing | Economic Opportunities | Physical Environment | Empowering Neighbors & Building Leadership
Systems Change
1. Mentor single parents to serve in leadership roles and in public policy discussions, including testifying at public hearings, contacting their legislators, and participating in statewide advocacy days at the Capitol
2. Support residents, especially single mothers of color, to play a leadership role in public policy activities
3. Support organizations to implement lessons learned from Middletown Works Racial Equity Initiative
A huge shout out goes to Rosario & Associates and the Boston Fed for providing the resources for the Racial Equity initiative during which six local organizations participated!
Core Elements that Guide Our Work
Informed by research done by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
1. Collaborative Leadership - sharing responsibility for results among a core team of partners and community residents.
2. Collective Impact - working together across multiple sectors to solve complex problems.
3. Community Engagement - intentionally engaging and including community residents in decision-making and cultivating resident leadership.
4. Learning Orientation - reflecting on what is working and what is not, using data to inform our work, pivoting where necessary and sharing learning with partners and community residents.
5. Racial Equity - being aware of and addressing disparities in local organizations, talking about if and how systems are being transformed as a result of this knowledge and working towards creating a more equitable community.
6. Systems Change - understanding a system’s many stakeholders, how they interact, and what influences them. Systems thinking means understanding the web of interrelations that create complex problems and rethinking assumptions about how change happens.
Middlesex County Asset Map
Take a moment to check out the Middlesex County Assets Map by scanning the QR code below.
This interactive map was created with the help of former Asset Map Manager, Shanay Fulton and former MSW Intern at Middlesex United Way Kaitlin Binnington, and several of our community leaders.
