OUR PORTFOLIO of projects INCLUDES THREE BROAD AREAS:  

• Reading Together gives high quality books to children along with tools for their parents and caregivers to support them as they learn to read.

• Recreation Worcester is a program developed by the Worcester Education Collaborative and City Manager’s Office to provide wholesome, interesting activities for children in the City’s parks.

• WEC has expanded its literacy work through the generosity of the DCU for Kids Foundation to provide schools with classroom libraries and introduce new books and support material for structured classroom and at-home read-aloud.

• With the support of the Daniels Foundation and the Health Foundation, WEC developed a training for WPS faculty and staff on the impact of trauma, social factors on learning, and implementing trauma sensitive practices.

• The Principal for Day program which offers business and civic leaders the opportunity to spend time with one of our principals to better understand the challenges and opportunities facing educational leaders. The morning school visits are followed by a speaker address a specific challenge or trend in education.

• Leadership Worcester is a distinctive program to cultivate the next generation of leaders in Worcester by engaging promising new professionals in Greater Worcester’s civic life. WEC develops and hosts the public education module of the program.

• WEC is a licensee and organizer for TED events including TEDxWorcester & TEDxWorcester Salon.

• Co-convenes the WorcesterReads group with a focus on encouraging 20 minutes of reading each day for children and getting books into the hands of children.

• Co-convenes with GWCF, the Education Roundtable and Campaign for Grade Level Reading with a focus on summer learning loss

• Organized the first ever Worcester Conference on the Education of Boys, Strength, Character, and Heart—Our Voices on the Journey to Manhood. Nearly 200 youth workers, educators, juvenile justice professionals, boys and parents attended the event.

• Host solely, or with partner organizations Community Briefings on important topics in education. The 2018-19 briefings covered school discipline with The Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights, trauma and learning with Citizens for Juvenile Justice, and school funding with the Education Association of Worcester.

• WorcesterHEARS is a pilot project that brings together advances in brain science, child development, and best practices to address childhood adversity in our complex society. It is also about working with children to develop the social and emotional skills—the habits of the heart and qualities of character that will enable them to thrive in our complex and ever changing world.

• WEC developed a Strategic Plan cooperatively with the Worcester Regional Research Bureau and the Worcester Public Schools. The plan sets strategic goals for the district by focusing on areas including culture of innovation, academic excellence, welcoming schools, investing in educators and technology & operations.

• Active member of the Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership and co-contributor of the “Number One For Some” report on educational inequities in Massachusetts.

• As a result of a project completed with Worcester State University in 2013, the “Not Present, Not Accounted For” report, focusing on the overuse of punitive, exclusionary discipline in the Worcester Public Schools, WEC became a leader in the area of trauma and learning and the Executive Director now serves as adjunct faculty at Lesley University with a focus in this work. 

• Serves as the lead partner in the development and implementation of the Worcester Principals Institute, a program to provide intensive professional development to principals through the third year of practice.

• The Executive Director serves as a Gateway Cities Fellow and community liaison with MassInc on the Gateway Cities education initiative.

• Publish periodic pieces in the Worcester Telegram on issues related in education in our city.