Education Pipeline

Cradle to Career

SUNY views education as a continuum, one that begins at birth and is carried on through school, college, career and even into retirement.

Cradle to Career Networks

A cradle to career network brings together leaders in Pre-K-12 schools, higher education, business and industry, community organizations, government leaders, parents and other stakeholders who are committed to helping children succeed from birth through careers.

SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher is the co-creator of Strive, one of the nation’s first such networks. Since 2006, Strive has generated real, large-scale improvement in the education pipeline in greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky at little to no cost. Its success has compelled many regions across the country to replicate or adapt Strive, including several communities in New York State. 

SUNY is establishing a series of systemic and sustainable regional education networks across the State and bringing together partners who have signed on to strengthen the education pipeline from cradle to career. The SUNY model will also be embedded within a state and national network of partners and constructed upon principles of mutual adaptation. For the prototype network being developed in and around Albany, SUNY is collaborating with the City School District, several regional SUNY campuses, local government and not-for-profit organizations such as the Albany Family Education Alliance and the United Way. Simultaneously, SUNY is working with partners to launch cradle to career networks in Buffalo and Brooklyn; and is a partner in the Harlem Promise Neighborhood, which is being led by the Abyssinian Development Corporation and is one of 20 Promise Neighborhoods nationwide funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

In February 2011, SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher was in Washington DC for the launch of the country’s first National Cradle to Career Network.

SUNY WORKS

SUNY will partner with business and industry leaders and economic development organizations to launch SUNY WORKS, a unique new cooperative education initiative. Students in SUNY WORKS will engage in salaried, credit-worthy 21st century career experiences while they complete their degrees, expanding job opportunities upon graduation. Learn more about the $800,000 grant SUNY received from the Lumina Foundation to launch SUNY WORKS here.