Byron McCauley

How focused, accountable collaboration can tackle big problems

January 20, 2026

Ben Hecht, President & CEO of Living Cities recently published a Harvard Business Review blog that highlights concrete ways that organizations can work together to tackle big, societal problems. It’s collaboration, not competition that will help solve problems like poverty, unemployment, homelessness and failing schools. Collaboration isn’t a new concept, but it takes focus, accountability, [...]

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Why underserved students need support

December 23, 2025

Today’s New York Times features a front-page story about a South Texas trio that is academically able, but who face a litany of challenges as they seek to get a college education. It’s a story that is repeated way too often in the United States, where a college education can open the door to the [...]

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Cradle to Career approach as a competitive advantage

December 11, 2025

Sometime during the next few weeks, the U.S. Department of Education is expected to announce 15 to 25 winning applications for a federal Race to the Top-District. Winners will be awarded close to $400 million “to support locally developed plans to personalize and deepen student learning, directly improve student achievement and educator effectiveness, close achievement [...]

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Using data to help youth overcome tough obstacles

November 23, 2025

Earlier this month, Strive Network’s Jennifer Blatz discussed how President Obama was able to use big data to drill down deep into voter habits and tendencies. That strategy helped Obama win a second term in the White House. In the president’s hometown of Chicago, New York Times reporter Erica Goode writes a compelling piece about [...]

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Dayton’s Learn to Earn plays key role in work force development

November 23, 2025

Dr. Thomas Lasley, director of Dayton’s Learn to Earn cradle to career initiative, has long been a champion of early college high schools because he has seen the difference they have made in the lives of kids in Ohio. These schools report an average graduation rate of more than 91%. In addition, more than one [...]

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Collective Impact, Discipline and Reverse Engineering

October 26, 2025

Erin Zimmerman, education initiative manager at the United Way of Larimer County, Colorado, eloquently defined “collective impact” in a column in the Business Section of Wednesday’s Fort Collins Gazette: “Collective impact begins with setting an overall community goal and working backward to achieve it,” she wrote. This realistic approach mentioned by Zimmerman is a point [...]

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