Education-assist partnership off to sluggish start
FutureReady Columbus does have a future.
The public-private partnership, which was formed a few years ago to give a boost to Columbus-area children, had been very quiet in the months since its first chief executive officer resigned to take another job. But on June 20, the FutureReady board met for the first time since before Lillian Lowery left in mid-April.
Co-Chairman George Barrett said the members had a “robust conversation” and there’s “still energy” around the FutureReady concept: Public agencies and private businesses coming together with nonprofit organizations to meet families’ needs and reinforce the work of the school system with social services.
A search for a new leader has begun, although Barrett declined to offer details, and the board narrowed the group’s focus to two areas: early childhood education and readiness for workforce and college.
“We’re still in the launch phase,” said Barrett, who is also chairman and CEO of Cardinal Health. “We knew we had sort of a broad mission.” The work over the past year has helped to define it better, he said.
He said education from birth to age 5 might be considered the primary goal because of the emerging research that shows exactly how important that time is to brain development. It also aligns with the education priorities set by Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, who is the other FutureReady cochairman. But help for older students getting ready to leave school is critical, too.
Calls and emails to the FutureReady Columbus office have not been returned for the past month. No interim leader has been in place, Barrett said, but board members have been working directly with the nonprofit’s small staff to keep them informed.
Robin Davis, Ginther’s spokeswoman, confirmed that this month by email. “Mayor Ginther, as co-chair of the board, is providing support from his office as needed,” Davis wrote.
Lowery, a former Maryland state superintendent of schools, was lured to central Ohio in September 2015 by community and business leaders who had conducted a nationwide search to lead their new nonprofit group.
She resigned to become a vice president for the Education Trust, a national nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C., that aims to boost student achievement.
Barrett said that the board was “sad to see Lillian go,” but they were happy that she got the chance to go to a national advocacy organization.
“It’s nice to have a friend of Columbus as a thought leader on the national stage,” he said.
FutureReady Columbus was formed by business leaders and community leaders a couple of years ago to replace three other education groups in town. The most visible of them, KidsOhio, an education research and advocacy group that focused on Columbus City Schools, was established by philanthropist Abigail Wexner in 2000.
On the board with Barrett and Ginther are former Mayor Michael B. Coleman; Franklin County Administrator Kenneth Wilson; Columbus schools Superintendent Dan Good; David Harrison, president of Columbus State Community College; Tanny Crane, president and CEO of Crane Group; and Bishop Timothy J. Clarke of Columbus’ First Church of God.
In its 2015 IRS filing, the most recent available, FutureReady describes its mission as creating “a new birth-to-degree-tocareer educational support framework that will provide Columbus’ young with a pathway to success.”
FutureReady listed its net assets as $2.7 million for that tax year.
Back in late January, the nonprofit’s staff said it had just under $2 million in assets, about 60 percent from private donors and 40 percent public funding, mostly from the city’s education department.