The Mobile Area Education Foundation (MAEF) and the City of Mobile held a press conference today, to announce its national partnership with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to implement an evidence-based approach to promote healthy child development and academic success in Mobile’s Maysville, Martin Luther King, Jr. corridor and lower Dauphin Island Parkway neighborhoods.
“We’re very excited by the collaborative spirit and energy that Mobile brings to Alabama’s efforts to strengthen the well-being of young people with evidence-based approaches,” said Suzanne Barnard, director of the Foundation’s Evidence-Based Practice Group.
“MAEF is committed to improving education outcomes for all students in Mobile,” said MAEF CEO Carolyn Akers. “The partnership with the Annie E. Casey Foundation will allow us to continue our ‘Yes We Can’ work that has helped focus and unite our community around providing a quality education for all kids.”
Mobile is the second city in Alabama to implement the Evidence2Success framework that will help public system leaders and community residents work together to gather local data on the needs and strengths of youth; use the data to agree on youth well-being outcomes for improvement; and realign public funding to address those needs with proven prevention programs.
“I am excited to have Mobile partner with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Alabama Department of Youth Services on the Evidence2Success framework,” said Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson. “Our community must care for its most precious resource, our children. We must make sure that what we do in support of our youth has a track record of success. Evidence2Success will help our community do just that.”
All of Mobile’s systems serving young people and families, including the Mobile County Public School System, the Mobile County Health Department, the Mobile County Juvenile Court and the Mobile Housing Authority, will be key partners in Evidence2Success work.
Joining Stipmson, Akers, and Barnard in the press conference were Mobile City Councilmen Levon Manzie and CJ Small, Mobile County Public School System School Board President Don Stringfellow, Mobile Health Department Chief Health Officer Dr. Bert Eichold, Mobile Housing Authority Executive Director Dwyane Vaughn, Strickland Youth Center Circuit Judge Edmond Naman , and Alabama Department of Youth Services Director Steve LaFreniere.
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