Become an Affiliate

North Hartford Ascend Overview

North Hartford Ascend (Ascend) is a prenatal-to-career initiative designed to provide children in the North Hartford Promise Zone with the support and resources they need to reach their full potential. It is funded by a U.S. Department of Education Promise Neighborhoods Grant. Under the Grant, Connecticut Children’s Office for Community Child Health is collaborating with the community and a range of organizations to design and implement Ascend; understand its impact; and connect children and families to the resources and services they need to reach their full potential.

Affiliation Framework Overview

The goal of the Affiliation Framework is to ensure a variety of programs, services, and resources (herein and after “programs”) that can meet the unique goals, needs, and priorities of children and families are accessible and utilized. The Affiliation Framework is designed to leverage existing community assets and be responsive to the capacity, goals, and priorities of organizations and individual programs. It is also intended to be bi-directional and mutually beneficial, meaning organizations and programs affiliated with Ascend gain value from the relationship, such as visibility and awareness, increased referrals, capacity building, and data. The levels of affiliation within the framework enable organizations and programs to opt in at a level that feels beneficial to them.

Affiliation Process

To request an organization and specific programs, services, and resources be affiliated with Ascend:

Email the following information to nhap@connecticutchildrens.org:
- Name of organization
- Name of programs, services, and resources seeking affiliation and the level of affiliation being sought.
- Primary and secondary points of contact, including name, job title, and email
- The number of children and/or families served by each program during the most recent full calendar year. Please note, Ascend focuses on three neighborhoods, Clay Arsenal, Northeast, and Upper Albany, and five schools, S.A.N.D. Elementary School, WISH Elementary School, Martin Luther King (MLK) Middle School, Milner Middle School, and Weaver High School.
- The U.S. Department of Education Promise Neighborhood Results and Performance Measure(s) each program aligns with.
- If funding is needed to support affiliation with Ascend and/or programmatic activities, including estimated costs.
Once Connecticut Children’s receives the request, the Ascend Program Manager will schedule a meeting to provide a more detailed overview of Ascend and clarify outstanding questions the Connecticut Children’s team has about the request.
Connecticut Children’s will then gather feedback on the affiliation request from the Ascend Leadership Team and Resident and Community Advisory Group.
Connecticut Children’s will review the feedback and make a final decision about the affiliation request. The final decision will be communicated to the identified primary points of contact by the Ascend Program Manager.

Levels of Affiliation

Levels	Affiliate Responsibilities	Value Gain	Target Audience
Friend	Make information about Ascend available	Invitation to participate in Ascend activities	All organizations
Ally	Friend Share information about program(s) to relevant stakeholder groups Program information is included in the resource directory and updated quarterly	Friend Visibility and awareness Referrals Access to Ascend Partner Capacity Building	Organizations providing and/or connecting children and families to programs, services, and resources
Contributor	Ally and Friend Enterprise memorandum of understanding and data sharing agreement Provide aggregate and individual-level data on a predetermined basis Participate in community events Participate in shared practices	Ally and Friend Data Financial support, optional	Organizations providing and/or connecting children and families to programs, services, and resources
Partner	Ally, Friend, and Contributor Participate in a collaborative governance framework Contribute to key decisions, deliverables, and other activities to inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of Ascend	Ally, Friend, and Contributor Inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of North Hartford Ascend	Organizations providing and/or connecting children and families to programs, services, and resources

U.S. Department of Education Promise Neighborhood Results and Performance Measures

Results	Performance Measure(s)
1) Children enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school	1.1) # and % of children in kindergarten who demonstrate at the beginning of the program or school year age-appropriate functioning across multiple domains of early learning as determined using developmentally appropriate early learning measures
2) Students are proficient in core academic subjects	2.1) # and % of students at or above grade level according to State mathematics assessments in at least the grades required by the ESEA (3rd through 8th grades and once in high school) 2.2) # and % of students at or above grade level according to State English language arts assessments in at least the grades required by the ESEA
3) Students successfully transition from middle school grades to high school	3.1) Attendance rates of students in 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th grade as defined by average daily attendance 3.2) Chronic absenteeism rate of students in 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th grades
4) Youth graduate from high school	4.1) Four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate
5) High school graduates obtain a post-secondary degree, certification, or credential	5.1) # and % of Promise Neighborhood Students who enroll in a two- or four-year college or university after graduation 5.2) # and % of Promise Neighborhood Students who graduate from a two- or four- year college or university or vocational certification completion 5.3) # and % of Promise Neighborhood Students who enroll in a vocational program after graduation
6) Students are healthy	6.1) # and % of children who consume five or more services of fruits and vegetables daily
7) Students feel safe at school and in their community	7.1) # and % of children who feel safe at school and traveling to and from school as measured by a school climate survey
8) Students live in stable communities	8.1) Student mobility rate
9) Families and community members support learning in Promise Neighborhood schools	9.1) # and % of parents or family members that read to or encourage their children to read three or more times a week or reported their children read to themselves three or more times a week (birth-8th grade) 9.2) # and % of parents and family members who report talking about the importance of college and career (9th-12th grade)
10) Students have access to 21st century learning tools	10) Students have access to 21st century learning tools

FAQ

Are there set options for the levels of affiliation, or is "multiyear" an appropriate answer?

Multiyear is acceptable.

Is preference given to programs that align with multiple DOE measures, or will one suffice if strong?

Preference is not given to organizations and/or programs that align with multiple results and performance measures.

What is the difference between the Affiliation Framework vs. subcontract?

The Affiliation Framework outlines how organizations and/or programs can engage with Ascend, including the affiliate responsibilities and value gain. A subcontract reiterates affiliate responsibilities and value gain and allocates financial resources to the organization, the appropriate use of funds, invoicing, etc.

How frequently are subcontracts?

Subcontracts align with the U.S. Department of Education award periods, which are based on the calendar year. Subcontracts are no more than one year. Subcontracts have the potential to be renewed annually.

North Hartford Ascend is described as a system change/system building grant. What does that mean?

North Hartford Ascend seeks to build an integrated, coordinated, and comprehensive system of programs, services, and resources in partnership with the community so that children and families reach their full potential. This will be done by improving accessibility to and utilization of existing programs and creating a cohesive family navigation system instead of launching new programs to compete with existing assets.