R&D Engine

Project Areas

At any given time, Bonds of Union will be overseeing multiple ongoing projects. These projects fall within three main categories: “Active” Interventions, Early-Stage Intervention Areas, and Long-Term R&D Partnerships. We will pursue select, high-impact interventions from these project areas, in priority order, as our organization builds capacity and secures funding.

Active Interventions

Significant institutional and investment support to develop and implement interventions.

Example: One-to-one, personalized learning intervention for highly disadvantaged student populations in public schools and juvenile correctional facilities.

Early-Stage Intervention Areas

Strategic, disciplined funding for small, expert team(s) to determine future intervention areas.

Example: Food insecurity in rural and urban communities.

Long-Term R&D Partnerships

Partnerships with industry leaders and research institutions to pursue highly specialized basic research and/or technical, expert driven R&D.

Example: Partnerships with industry leaders and research institutions to develop affordable medicines for diseases that disproportionately afflict low-income communities (e.g. diabetes).

Active Interventions

K-12 Education

Need:

Over the past three decades, the achievement gap between children from low-income and high-income families has increased by approximately 40%. In recent years, we have witnessed significant academic gains in both high school graduation rates and other key indicators of student progress across Ohio, and specifically within Cincinnati. However, these improvements in outcomes have largely excluded those high-need, low-income students and “difficult to reach” youth who may be multiple grade levels behind their peers in one or more core subject areas. Too often, this group of students is treated merely as a liability to be managed, rather than as children with individual hopes and dreams who — like all other kids — merely want the opportunity to succeed and live up to their full potential.

Regional Focus: Ohio River Valley

Ascend Initiative: Impact and Outcomes

Our Vision:

Reimagining the Modern Paradigm of Teaching and LearningWe have developed an initiative that harnesses the promise of education technology to overcome barriers to academic proficiency among low-performing students. 1:1 Accelerated Learning takes the first step in reimagining the modern paradigm of teaching and learning. We believe that, sometimes, all it takes to re-engage a child in the classroom is compassionate, long-term, 1:1 instruction from a caring adult. Our vision, however, is not one of a traditional after-school tutoring program. Instead, it is an effort characterized by systematic, personalized, and outcome-driven 1:1 instruction, carried out over multiple years by a well-trained core of dedicated individuals. In our view, this approach has the potential to yield meaningful, accelerated academic growth for participating children — propelling them on an upward educational trajectory and renewing their faith in what the future holds.

Early-Stage Intervention Areas

Civic Life Social Cohesion

Need:

Approximately three out of every four African-American children under the age of six live in poverty in Cincinnati. Nearly half of all children citywide live in families whose household incomes are below the federal poverty line. Cincinnati, like many cities and towns throughout the region, has long struggled to lift its children and families out of these difficult social and economic conditions. Too often, efforts designed to improve outcomes in low-income communities fail to appreciate the complex, wide-ranging circumstances that contribute to and exacerbate family hardship. To be successful, we must develop and implement an approach to service delivery that is narrowly tailored to specific child and family needs.

Regional Focus: Ohio River Valley

The Family Advocate Model

Our Vision:

Engineering a New and Enduring Social Support System for Children and Families

The Family Advocate Model is based on the fundamental idea that meaningful relationships with caring, committed families can transform a young child’s life. Our efforts supplement this relationship-centred approach with the use of outcome-driven, coordinated services for children and families. These services are embedded within the key pillars of school, home, and community. In our view, the Family Advocate Model is not just another new program. It is a movement, inspired by our collective, civic purpose. Our hope is to engineer a new and enduring social support system in Cincinnati that can create nurturing, interpersonal relationships and allow young people to flourish. Through our efforts, we aspire to uplift our community, cultivate shared empathy and understanding, and create opportunity for those most in need – one child and family at a time.