Bellwether is 15 this year. We’re using this moment to look back on some of the work we’re most proud of — work that we plan on scaling as new trends and challenges emerge. 

Young people’s futures aren’t shaped just by their families or schools; their communities matter a lot, too. A recent 26-year longitudinal study found that cumulative access to community-based opportunities in the U.S. correlates with opportunities for upward mobility. Place-based partnerships are collaborative, community-driven initiatives that expand opportunities for young people by bringing together local stakeholders — such as residents, schools, nonprofits, and government agencies — to guide decisions that strengthen their lives.

Since 2017, Bellwether has partnered with funders, organizations, and on-the-ground practitioners across the country leading place-based work. We’ve seen firsthand that meaningful progress comes from building trust with members of a community — trust that stems from listening to what people need. Despite a constantly shifting landscape, we remain committed to supporting the people demanding access to high-quality education and workforce options — from students and their families to local business owners, educators, and community organizers.

The successful place-based organizations we’ve worked with center the needs of young people and remain sustainable over the long term. Here are five other traits effective place-based organizations share.

1. They’re Relentlessly Community-Driven

Federal priorities may shift, but communities know what they need. In places where we’ve seen progress, place-based leaders remain committed to residents’ priorities by working with them to bring youth-centered plans and initiatives to life.

Since 2024, Bellwether has supported the Mobile Area Education Foundation (MAEF) in bringing together a diverse group of local leaders — including young people across Mobile, Alabama — to define a shared vision and propose initiatives to improve citywide outcomes for youth success. Throughout the partnership, MAEF has taken on the role of a “backbone organization,” coordinating communication among local partners and helping them align on shared goals around pre-K through Grade 12 access to education, health care, and postsecondary workforce opportunities. By relentlessly centering the needs of community members, MAEF has cultivated an aligned vision for youth success in the city.

2. They Collaborate With Other Community Organizations

In an era of tightening federal dollars amid increasing need, no single organization can drive transformative change alone. The most effective place-based work we’ve seen is co-led by trusted community institutions — such as school districts, businesses, universities, and faith-based organizations — that serve as strategic anchors in the work instead of peripheral partners. When local leaders help shape the strategy from the beginning, the work gains legitimacy, staying power, and broader reach into the lives of young people and their families.

In 2021, we supported UP Partnership in San Antonio as it launched the Equitable Enrollment Collaborative (EEC), a cross-sector effort to increase postsecondary enrollment in Bexar County, Texas. The EEC brings together school districts, colleges, and youth-serving organizations to set shared enrollment goals, analyze disaggregated data, and design strategies to support students’ transitions beyond high school. In their role as a backbone organization, UP Partnership created a structure where partners learn from one another and hold themselves accountable to a set of community-defined outcomes. By building this kind of authentic, coordinated collaboration, the EEC is helping more young people in Texas access the opportunities they deserve.

3. They Use Community-Defined Metrics To Make Decisions

When money and resources are limited, it’s important for leaders to make data-informed decisions. But standard ways of measuring success — like test scores — don’t always reflect everything that communities value. In our work, we’ve seen how powerful it can be when community members decide what success means to them, whether that’s making students feel safer at school or helping more students get jobs after high school graduation.

Partners for Rural Impact (PRI) helps communities increase opportunity for upward mobility for rural young people by grounding its work in a clear set of proven indicators — from kindergarten readiness to high school graduation and career success. Through collaboration and deep engagement, PRI supports local leaders to identify the outcomes that matter most in their contexts. By bringing together voices across the community — including youth, families, educators, business leaders, and local government — PRI ensures that the definition of success is locally driven and focuses on what the community cares about the most. PRI’s place-based approach aligns educational resources and action around shared priorities, accelerating progress from early childhood through adulthood.

4. They Tap Into State Resources

Local work can’t go it alone when so many decisions about funding, accountability, and resources happen at the state level. As the latest edition of Bellwether’s Leading Indicator: State Education Finance newsletter outlines, strong, student-centered state funding systems are the best buffer against instability at the federal level — and a critical way to sustain local efforts. Many state education leaders are in the midst of rethinking how funds are distributed to schools, which creates an opportunity for place-based organizations to advocate for their needs at the state level.

PRI recently secured $500,000 per year for two years through a Kentucky state appropriation process to advance the goals of its Appalachian Cradle to Career Partnership (APPC2C). The funding, which became part of the state budget, expands APPC2C’s work to support youth, families, and the local economy across the Appalachian Kentucky region.

5. They Create Infrastructure That Lasts

Strong partners know that place-based work is a long game. Place-based philanthropies don’t just fund programs — they invest in the conditions that enable good work to take root and grow. That means investing in the foundational aspects of a community: the tools, people, and systems that help them drive upward mobility for young people, even as needs shift over time.

Earlier this year, we helped the Chamberlin Education Foundation reflect on its decade of work to improve educational opportunity and excellence in West Contra Costa, California. Our evaluation found that the foundation’s investments — in areas such as instructional materials, educator pipelines, and family advocacy — have strengthened the underlying infrastructure that supports teaching, learning, and community voice. These efforts haven’t just supported individual programs; they’ve made it easier for the entire West Contra Costa community ecosystem to better serve more young people and their families.

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Most successful place-based partnerships don’t define success on behalf of communities. Instead, they listen to what communities say they need — and then work to create changes in response to those needs. Along the way, effective place-based organizations build sustainable, collaborative relationships, create programs that improve the lives of local residents, measure success according to local values, and drive policy change.

That’s been the hallmark of Bellwether’s work with place-based organizations. We’re committed to continuing our work with these and other organizations by creating tailored strategic plans, providing in-depth data analyses, supporting implementation efforts, and more to ensure that all young people live lives filled with opportunity.

To learn more about Bellwether’s support for place-based partnerships, contact Lauren Miller at lauren.miller@bellwether.org.