Workshop convened January 14-16, 2015 in Aurora. The workshop brought together 200+ Illinois community, national, and international leaders and their business, education, policy, and philanthropic thought partners to align policy efforts and leverage community resources at state and local levels.

This alignment of efforts will enable Advance Illinois and its network partners to achieve its ambitious goal to have 60% of adults in Illinois obtain a college degree or career credentials by 2025. The Dunham Fund grant funded a half-day training with internationally renowned consultants, FSC and Tamarack, to build the capacity of the conference participants to develop collective impact models that are proven to create large-scale change.

The conference called attention to recent collaborations in Aurora as successful models for other communities, including the John C. Dunham STEM Partnership School at Aurora University, the Fox Valley United Way sponsored SPARK (Strong, Prepared And Ready for Kindergarten) Aurora Early Childhood Learning Initiative, and the Pathways to Prosperity program that offers career training to high school students.  For more information about Advance Illinois and these innovative and collaborative Aurora initiatives and for a glance at the January 19th Aurora Beacon News article about the conference, visit the Dunham Fund website.  

Watch the video and learn about the Dunham Fund's partnership with Advance Illinois.  

Dunham Fund: Proud Partner of Advance Illinois & 60 x 25 Network