Ascend elevates promising practices and policy ideas to build political will for effective strategies that lead to improved outcomes for parents and children.  Ascend fully embraces the research and development phase of the emerging two-generation network.  To equip and empower the network, Ascend convenes national forums and roundtables that highlight promising programs and policies for leaders that can shift practice, policy, and resources.

To elevate two-generation solutions, Ascend brings together leaders in policy development, research, program design, evaluation, and community engagement to share knowledge, identify promising programs, and expand the conversation around new approaches to move families beyond poverty toward opportunity. 

Ascend fosters and amplifies innovative partnerships across programs, policies, and systems that have traditionally focused separately on children and parents, tapping cutting-edge research and the Ascend network of leaders from communities across the nation.

Promising Programs

Ascend is working to identify emerging and promising practices among two-generation programs: from early childhood education centers to postsecondary institutions and from community organizations to social capital-building programs.  To learn more about these on-the-ground innovations, check out the Promising Programs Profiles.

Aspen ThinkXChange

The theme of the 2012 ThinkXChange is the power and potential of two-generation approaches, which focus on creating opportunities for and addressing the needs of both vulnerable parents and children together.  The Aspen ThinkXChange will convene more than 100 dynamic leaders across sectors — from cutting-edge community-based programs, policy programs, academia, philanthropies, businesses, and the media — to discuss and debate opportunities, challenges, and solutions for moving parents, especially women, and their children toward educational success and economic security.  To learn more about the agenda, speakers, and tools from the Aspen ThinkXChange, click here.

Roundtables and Convenings

Ascend accelerates breakthrough and proven policies and community solutions that increase the economic security and educational achievement of vulnerable families, particularly those headed by women.  Building on the values-based convening approach of The Aspen Institute, Ascend hosts closed-door and open roundtables at our main offices in Washington, DC, as well as around the country.

To learn more about Ascend-hosted roundtables, click here.