The To&Through Project’s events are intended for a diverse cross-section of education leaders and partners from the K-12, higher education, nonprofit, and civic communities. Presenters and panelists come together to share new research findings as well as share ideas and strategies for helping Chicago’s under-resourced students succeed in high school and college. The To&Through Project also hosts monthly Data Collaboratives designed to elevate and promote dialogue around new and emerging work focused on applying data to youth development efforts. You can watch recordings of our previous events on YouTube.
Events
Featured Events
To&Through Milestones Tool Superuser Workshop
Calling all To&Through Milestones Tool fans! We want to delve deeper into the hidden features of the Tool that only superusers know about, and collaborate around use cases for the Tool and the CPS student outcomes data found there. Join us in this virtual workshop to practice finding and communicating insights from the Milestones Tool and share potential actions we want to take with that data.
Who should attend?
November Data Collaborative | HEAR Scholarship Foundation
Vera Pollina, Executive Director, and Laury Wolf, Program Manager, of the HEAR Scholarship Foundation will present on gathering scholar data to drive programming opportunities. They will share about the early stages of surveying their college freshman cohort to determine the unique needs for support in a changing college landscape.
December Data Collaborative | CPS and Civic Consulting Alliance
From May 2025 to June 2026, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), in partnership with Civic Consulting Alliance, convened a diverse working group of school leaders, teachers, counselors, partners, and central office staff to develop a middle school strategy and plan that builds upon current initiatives as a key postsecondary success commitment.
Upcoming Events
November Data Collaborative | HEAR Scholarship Foundation
Vera Pollina, Executive Director, and Laury Wolf, Program Manager, of the HEAR Scholarship Foundation will present on gathering scholar data to drive programming opportunities. They will share about the early stages of surveying their college freshman cohort to determine the unique needs for support in a changing college landscape.
To&Through Milestones Tool Superuser Workshop
Calling all To&Through Milestones Tool fans! Want to delve deeper into the hidden features of the Tool that only superusers know about, and collaborate around use cases for the Tool and the CPS student outcomes data found there? Join us for this virtual workshop to practice finding and communicating insights from the Milestones Tool and share potential actions to take with that data.
December Data Collaborative | CPS and Civic Consulting Alliance
From May 2025 to June 2026, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), in partnership with Civic Consulting Alliance, convened a diverse working group of school leaders, teachers, counselors, partners, and central office staff to develop a middle school strategy and plan that builds upon current initiatives as a key postsecondary success commitment.
Past Events
To&Through Data Collaborative: Hope Chicago
Dr. Janice K. Jackson and Michele Howard will present and seek feedback on Hope Chicago's two-generation, debt-free college scholarship and support program for Chicago Public Schools students. Dr. Jackson is the CEO of Hope Chicago and Michele Howard is the Chief Program Officer.
To&Through Data Collaborative: Project OneTen
On August 23 at 2 PM (CST), Dirrick Butler will present on how Project OneTen is working to measure relationship development and student growth for ninth-grade young men in their program. Dirrick Butler is the founder and executive director of Project OneTen, a mentorship and academic coaching program for Black and Brown boys in Chicago.
To&Through Data Collaborative: Teach Plus
Josh Kaufmann, Kristen Ciciora, and Teach Plus teacher leaders will present on their work to codify best practices for improving teacher diversity at all parts of the teacher pipeline, from what it takes for students of color to consider education as a career to how schools need to change in order to better support their educators of color. Josh is the Executive Director and Kristen is the Senior Director of Instructional Programs at Teach Plus Illinois.
To&Through Data Collaborative: The Network for College Success
The Postsecondary Team at Network for College Success will present on the Developmental Relationships Survey tool as a first step in identifying what support and guidance young people receive from all adults at the high school level as young people discover who they are, develop abilities to shape their own lives, and learn how to engage with and contribute to the world around them on their postsecondary journey.
Research Spotlight: Chicago's Enrollment Crisis
How are equity issues in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) exacerbated by the reality of declining student enrollment? Join us on Thursday, June 9 at 2 PM (CST) to learn about Kids First Chicago's latest report exploring the root causes of CPS's enrollment decline. Kids First Chicago's (K1C) Chief of Policy Hal Woods will review the key drivers behind the decline and share how K1C is engaging parents and communities in identifying potential solutions to keep more families in Chicago and enrolled in CPS.
To&Through Data Collaborative: University of Illinois at Chicago
Sue Farruggia and Jeremiah Abiade will present on the support of Black enrollees at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the development of the DuSable Scholars program.
Research Spotlight: Helping Homeless Students “Beat the Odds”
What strategies or practices can schools implement to better support homeless students? Join us on Tuesday, May 10 at 12 PM (CST) when researchers Dr. Shantá Robinson and Dr. Kelly Hallberg will share findings from a recent qualitative and quantitative study that highlights service gaps and suggests potential interventions for students and their families who are experiencing homelessness.
Research Spotlight: Using Incentives to Boost Attendance
Do awards motivate student attendance? Do different types of awards have different impacts? Join us on Tuesday, May 3 at 2 PM (CST) to learn about recent research on attendance incentives and the implications for practice. Study author Dr. Carly Robinson, who is now a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brown University, will present astonishing findings that were featured in NPR, The Hechinger Report, and more.
To&Through Data Collaborative: The MAAFA Redemption Project
Marshall Hatch, Jr. will present the MAAFA Redemption Project's efforts to reimagine the language used to describe BIPOC youth and young adults (e.g., “at-risk”, “high-risk” and “highest risk” ) and evaluate violence prevention efforts on the West Side of Chicago. Marshall Hatch, Jr. is the Executive Director of the MAAFA Redemption Project.
To&Through Data Collaborative: A Better Chicago, Thrive Chicago, & the Chicago Public Education Fund
Presenters on behalf of A Better Chicago, Thrive Chicago, and the Chicago Public Education Fund will share an in-progress Youth Opportunity Index that aims to track and report a set of cradle-to-careers and resource-access metrics. The metrics map across the city of Chicago and are disaggregated by demographic and socioeconomic factors.