What is C3?
Cradle – College – Career (C³) is a collaboration of education, business, government, labor and non-profit sectors, working together using Collective Impact to increase the number of Ottumwa students and citizens alike who are ready for, have access to and persist in reaching their goals to obtain a college degree or credential (from accredited college, university, community college, career/technical program or beauty school). C3 was launched in 2014 with support from the Iowa College Student Aid Commission as part of their College Change s Everything network of communities. C3 is a long-term commitment for Ottumwa.
What is Collective Impact?
Collective Impact is a framework for ongoing collaboration across sectors to solve a complex social problem. Collective Impact is based on the premise that no single organization or program can solve a complex problem on its own; rather, if organizations in a community come together around a common agenda for change, agree to work together intentionally as a system, and measure success in the same way, we can actually make meaningful change.
Community Success Through a College-Going Culture
On October 20th C3 held a conference to educate the community about C3 and the benefits to creating a college-going culture in our community. Jerrod Murr, with Paradigm Shift spoke to the audience about “Creating an Environment Where People Thrive” in the keynote, breakout sessions were then held around topics such as: family engagement, college preparedness and workforce readiness. Iowa Workforce Development State Director Beth Townsend was on hand to speak about Iowa’s Future Ready Alliance and David Ford provided statistical information about post-secondary participation in Ottumwa. At the end of the day Ottumwa Mayor Tom Lazio read a mayoral proclamation outlining Ottumwa’s commitment to creating a college-going culture and a banner was signed by all participants affirming their commitment to the culture change. The video, available for viewing below which was created by the C3 team in partnership with Isaac Campbell Productions, was also shown to make the case as to why this work is so important and why college truly does change everything!
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C3 Film from Isaac Campbell on Vimeo.
Who is involved with C3?
C3 Steering Committee
Erick Danielson, Supervisor – Iowa College Access Network
Keyonna Douglas, VISTA – Indian Hills Community College
Brian Dunn, Executive Director – Sieda Community Action
Kelly Genners, Vice-President of Programs & Initiatives – Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation
Mark Hanson, Principal – Ottumwa High School
Wendy Maas, Dean of Students – Ottumwa High School
Nancy Nelson, Director, Pre-college TRIO Programs – Indian Hills Community College
Blaire Siems, Executive Director & CEO – United Way of Wapello County
Sharon Stroh, Executive Director – Ottumwa Economic Development Corporation
C3 Stakeholder Council
David Bradford, Factory Manager – John Deere Ottumwa Works
Mark Douglas, Director – Ottumwa Job Corps
Brian Dunn, Executive Director – Sieda Community Action
Kelly Genners, Vice-President of Programs & Initiatives – Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation
Himar Hernandez, Assistant Director – Iowa State University Extension & Outreach
Nicole Kooiker, Superintendent – Ottumwa Community Schools
Tom Lazio, Mayor – City of Ottumwa
Brad Little, President & CEO – Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation
Nancy Nelson, Director, Pre-college TRIO Programs – Indian Hills Community College
Rochelle Rodd, Regional Director – Buena Vista University
Jon Sheldahl, Chief Administrator – Great Prairie Area Education Agency
Blaire Siems, Executive Director & CEO – United Way of Wapello County
Jennifer Snead, Operations Manager – Iowa Workforce Development
Marlene Sprouse, President – Indian Hills Community College
Sharon Stroh, Executive Director – Ottumwa Economic Development Corporation
