The CIS Effect Takes on Capitol Hill

For three days in early March, more than 20 leaders from the Communities In Schools® (CIS®) network converged on Washington, D.C., for the organization's annual Capitol Hill Days. From March 2–4, they walked the halls of Congress with a powerful message: integrated student supports work—and the evidence now proves it.

Communities In Schools, the nation's leading provider of K-12 school-based integrated student supports (ISS), sent representatives from CIS organizations spanning Delaware to Washington State, from the Gulf South to the Appalachian Highlands. Together, they met face-to-face with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to advocate for continued investment in the relationship-based approach that keeps students in school and on a path to economic opportunity.

A First-of-Its-Kind Research Briefing at the U.S. Capitol

On Tuesday, March 3, policymakers, press, and education leaders gathered at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center for a special briefing: "The CIS Effect: How Integrated Student Supports Create Economic Opportunity in America."

The centerpiece was the federal debut of groundbreaking new research conducted by Opportunity Insights in partnership with the EdRedesign Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Authored by Benjamin Goldman, Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Cornell University and Research Affiliate at EdRedesign; and Jamie Gracie, Postdoctoral Fellow at EdRedesign, the study is the first of its kind to track CIS students into adulthood and measure real, long-term economic outcomes.

Research findings reframe integrated student supports not as a social program, but as critical economic infrastructure with measurable, lasting returns for both students and taxpayers.

The briefing featured a powerful lineup of speakers:

Bill Milliken, Founder and Vice Chair of Communities In Schools, shared reflections on his advocacy efforts that have guided CIS for nearly five decades. Sharon Vigil, CEO of Communities In Schools of Central Texas, offered a practitioner's perspective on what the model looks like in action. And Dylan Amankwaah, a third-year Site Coordinator with Communities In Schools of the Nation's Capital, gave voice to the work on the ground and the students behind the data.

Meeting Members of Congress and Showing Up for Students 

True to CIS's 49-year bipartisan tradition, affiliate leaders held meetings with members of Congress from both parties. The delegation met with Representatives and Senators including Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R), Rep. Andrew Clyde (R), Rep. Sanford Bishop (D), Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D), Sen. Tim Scott (R), Rep. Ben Cline (R), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R), Rep. Julia Letlow (R), (Sen) Catherine Cortez Masto (D), Sen. Tim Kaine (D), Sen. Jon Ossoff (D), Rep. Tim Walberg (R), Rep. Erin Houchin (R), Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D), Sen. Christopher Coons (D), Rep. Frank Mrvan (D), and Rep. Mark Messmer (R).

The ask was concrete: FY27 appropriations that ensure all students in Title I schools have access to essential education funding and the integrated supports they need to thrive.

The breadth of the delegation itself told a story. Attendees came from CIS of Delaware, CIS of Atlanta, CIS of Georgia, CIS of Indiana, CIS of the Gulf South, the National Indian Education Association, CIS of Michigan, CIS of Nevada, CIS of New Mexico, CIS of North Carolina, CIS of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Growing Together, CIS of South Carolina, CIS of Tennessee, CIS of Memphis, CIS of Central Texas, CIS of Texas, CIS of North Texas, CIS of San Antonio, CIS of Greater Tarrant County, CIS of Virginia, CIS of Washington, and CIS of Appalachian Highlands.

That geographic range—red states and blue states, rural communities and major metros—reflects something fundamental about the CIS model. Students everywhere face barriers to learning, and communities everywhere benefit when those barriers are removed.

We are at an inflection point in American education and instead of retreating, we showed up at the U.S. Capitol with causal evidence, a clear ask, and a network ready to carry it. The resonance was real.

-Joaquin Tamayo, Acting VP of Policy and MarCom, CIS National Office

This was the second consecutive annual CIS Capitol Hill Days—an event that continues to deepen the organization's relationships with key policymakers across the education landscape. But this year carried particular weight. The new Harvard-Cornell research doesn't just validate what CIS practitioners have known for decades. It makes the economic case in terms that policymakers on all sides can act on.