Archive for June, 2012


What We’re Reading

Filed Under: What We're Reading by Tracey Savell Reavis — Leave a comment
June 28, 2012

Secretary of Education Duncan talks about the importance of Title IX at the beginning of the 40th Anniversary celebration game at the Department of the Interior. Photo courtesy Tami A. Heilemann

Slate: A math teacher in Falls Church, Va., is concerned that technology may be impeding the progress students are having in the subject and not helping to give them the math skills they need to succeed in college. And according to a 2011 report by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, 89 percent of high school math teachers think their students are ready for college-level mathematics. But only 26 percent of post-secondary teachers think the students are ready once they get there.

Throughout the Communities In Schools network, there are many programs dedicated to helping students raise their math scores. The Great Leaps Math Program at Mars Hill Elementary, a Communities In Schools of Madison County, N.C. initiative, puts young students in line with early comprehension of the fundamentals. A site coordinator at Communities In Schools of Peninsula, Wash., recruits volunteer mentors to help kids achieve math success. Math labs and proficient tutors sprinkled throughout middle and high schools across the country aim to deepen students’ knowledge and help them prepare for college-level math.

USA Today: Last week our country marked the 40th anniversary of the landmark legislation Title XI, with conferences and celebrations and references to how far women have come since its passing. The legislation called for prohibiting discrimination in any education program that received federal funding. A lot of the talk last week was around women in sports – participation in college athletics has increased from 30,000 to 190,000, and the number of girls participating in high school sports has increased a whopping 1,000 percent. But the advances aren’t so great when the discussion turns to women and participation in science and technology.

The U.S. Education Department’s data for 2009-10 shows that only 17 percent of engineering and 18 percent of computer science-related bachelor’s degrees were earned by women, and that women make up only 25 percent of the STEM workforce.

At Hamilton High School, a Communities In Schools of Los Angeles partner school, the Ladies First club was created with the goal of empowering young women and preparing them to succeed in college and the workplace. Similar initiatives exist in other schools where Communities In Schools continues to play a role in boosting interest and involvement so all young women are better prepared to take on STEM subjects.

The Journal.com: At Communities In Schools, collaboration is woven into our DNA. That’s why the announcement this week made by U.S. Secretary of State Arne Duncan, about designating this coming August as “Connected Educator Month, is in alignment with our model of integrated student services.

More than 50 organizations will participate  in the month-long online event that will include forums and webinars, all with the intention of engaging and providing resources to educators across the country.
Said Duncan, “Every educator needs to be connected with the best digital content, tools and resources in order to enliven the learning environment for students, and to fully connect with peers and experts.”

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Building the Pipeline

Filed Under: Meet Our Leadership by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
June 28, 2012

Today’s blog post is by Communities In Schools Director of Individual Giving Tim Plant. You can read the full article about Communities In Schools Board Member Ava Youngblood in the June edition of our newsletter Inside CIS.

Ava Youngblood“Always Expect Great Things” is the line that appears at the end of Ava Youngblood’s emails. It is quickly evident this phrase not only captures her optimism, but is her guiding philosophy and driving force as an executive recruiter and nonprofit champion. It’s also clear that while Youngblood expects great things, it’s in large part because she is willing to put in the work needed to make them happen.

A Chicago native, Youngblood’s involvement with Communities In Schools spans a decade, as a board member of Communities In Schools of Chicago, and, since January, a member of the Communities In Schools national board of directors. When introduced to Communities In Schools of Chicago, Youngblood found that the mission spoke to her passion for education. “I attended Chicago Public Schools and went on to earn my degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University and my MBA from University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. I know that Chicago Public Schools can prepare you for life. It’s why my children went to Chicago Public Schools as well.”

Keep reading…

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Never Giving Up – 40 Years and Counting

Filed Under: General by Briana Kerensky — 4 Comments
June 26, 2012

Communities In Schools of Atlanta students at a Board of Education Meeting. Photo courtesy Chris Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Today’s blog post is by Patty Pflum, executive director of Communities In Schools of Atlanta.

Visit Change.org to sign Communities In Schools of Atlanta’s petition.

Forty years. From a few dedicated volunteers working from the dirt floor of a basement office in Atlanta to a national network that impacts more than one million students each year. Forty years. From offering a few “street academy” programs to serving more than 45,000 Atlanta-area children in multiple school districts annually. Forty years. From a dream to change lives and build communities by helping more kids graduate to earning recognition as the most effective dropout prevention organization in the country.

The year 2012 marks 40 years of service for Communities In  Schools of Atlanta and the evolution of a national network. While this milestone anniversary should be a time for celebration, budget shortfalls have led to the proposed elimination of our largest school system partnership and we are in the difficult position of having to lay off more than 75 percent of our dedicated, highly-trained staff members.

Communities In Schools employees stand by the belief that we should never give up. We tell our students they are never to give up on their education or themselves. No matter the challenges–teen parenting, academic credit deficiencies, homelessness, having an incarcerated parent or contending with extreme poverty—we  do not give up on kids, and we push them through and beyond challenges to success. We tell our students that if they can get over the obstacles they face now, then nothing will be able to stop them. More than 4,000 kids are provided with ongoing support as a part of Communities In Schools of Atlanta’s caseloads each year. Over the past six years, we have given more than $89,000 in emergency assistance to families and 96,000 new books to children in our partner schools. We have recruited volunteers who have given more than 100,000 hours of their time. Each year, our staff members mobilize more than 600 community partners to get involved—to the tune of $2 million in in-kind donations, donated services and countless hours of service. In 2011, 26 percent of Atlanta Public Schools’ students who earned diplomas received services from Communities In Schools of Atlanta.

To put it simply, we are not giving up. We will take the lessons learned during this milestone 40th anniversary year and use them to make certain we are around until there are no more dropouts.

We are prepared to march forward, but we cannot do so alone. We will need our students, parents, donors, business and civic leaders and the Communities In Schools family with us. Will you join us? Sign our petition, get involved or donate. Forty years strong and counting.

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What We’re Reading

Filed Under: Dropout Epidemic, What We're Reading by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
June 22, 2012
empty desks at national mall

Nonprofit organization College Board placed 857 desks on the National Mall to bring attention to the dropout crisis. Photo courtesy Alex Wong/Getty Images.

New York Times: While it’s a huge, positive milestone when a family is able to leave a homeless shelter and move into a house of their own, it’s rarely the end of the journey. The next big step is making the house a home, which means being able to afford furniture and appliances. While there are many organizations dedicated to helping families transition out of shelters, one new nonprofit in Detroit, Humble Design, is dedicated to helping families find everything they need for the next step, from beds and dressers, to silverware and wall art. Since 2009, Humble Design has used donated and discarded furniture to outfit more than 100 homes for transitioning families.

Many Communities In Schools students are homeless, moving between different shelters and other temporary residences over the course of their childhood. One of the most important things a student needs to succeed in school is a safe, stable place to call “home.” Organizations like Humble Design are helping to meet that need by transforming houses into comfortable and welcoming spaces.

9 News Now: Even though Washington, D.C. is in the midst of a heat wave this week, it certainly isn’t deterring thousands of tourists from visiting the National Mall. Anyone who braved the heat and took a walk to the Washington Monument on Thursday was greeted with 857 empty school desks, representing the students who drop out every hour of every school day.

The display was organized by the nonprofit organization College Board, and is intended to call upon leaders—including this year’s presidential candidates—to make education reform a prominent issue in their campaigns.

Students who drop out are more likely to live in poverty, earn thousands less over a working lifetime, suffer poor health, be dependent on public assistance or enter the criminal justice system. Read our fact sheet on the dropout crisis to learn more about the social and economic impact of dropping out of school.

CBS: On Wednesday, the nation’s largest physician’s group announced that they support having as a requirement yearly instruction aimed at educating students about obesity. The American Medical Association (AMA) agreed to back legislation that would require students at all levels of public schools be taught about the causes, consequences and prevention of obesity.

For students living in poverty, eating healthy food is not always an option. Many urban neighborhoods across the United States lack proper grocery stores, leaving parents unable to purchase fresh produce for their families. In addition, healthier foods tend to be more expensive. Families trying to feed themselves with food stamps are unable to afford healthy food without making financial sacrifices elsewhere.

Communities In Schools knows that every child needs healthy food in order to focus in class and learn. Across our network, our site coordinators make sure that every child gets the meals they need. They also organize numerous activities that students can participate in to exercise, stay in shape and have fun.

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Site Coordinator Snapshots: Fighting the Statistics

Filed Under: Site Coordinator Snapshots by Erica Rafferty — Leave a comment
June 20, 2012

Communities In Schools of Miami Site Coordinator Donovan Pierre.

“I always give them my life story because I was one of them at one time,” says Donovan Pierre about the students he serves as a Communities In Schools site coordinator.

Pierre is 28, and since he started working at Communities In Schools of Miami, Fla. in his early 20s, he has quickly become someone who students look to as a role model.

In the students, Pierre says he sees himself – a young person who grew up in a low-income neighborhood, fighting the statistics that pointed to him dropping out of school. When he graduated from high school, he decided to take a year off. Pierre’s grandmother, a former AmeriCorps member, encouraged him to explore his post-secondary options by joining AmeriCorps. As an AmeriCorps member, Donovan was connected to Communities In Schools of Miami in 2004, where he served for one year. Many Communities In Schools affiliates utilize AmeriCorps members as mentors and program managers.

After his year of volunteering, Pierre pursued full-time employment and found a position working in a warehouse. He didn’t feel as fulfilled as he had as an AmeriCorps member for Communities In Schools of Miami, so he quit his job and returned to the affiliate as a full-time volunteer. After two months, Communities In Schools of Miami insisted he join the team as a staff member.

“If it wasn’t for Communities In Schools of Miami, only God knows what I could have been into or where I would be now. I am really grateful to Communities In Schools for saving my life and helping me save the lives of others,” said Pierre.

The young man started working as a part-time data entry specialist, but over the years his position evolved into a site coordinator for an after-school program. In this role, Pierre recruits tutors to help serve hundreds of students each year. Most recently, he recruited 34 tutors to work with the 130 students who attend the after-school program and another 300 students in reading intervention at six at-risk elementary schools.

Pierre found that he could connect with his program’s older students through one of his favorite subjects – history. When students arrived at the after-school program, Donovan says he would help them finish their homework, and then introduce them to geography or historical events that he never learned as a teenager. Mixed with discussions about the celebrities and music his students liked, Donovan quickly became a positive figure in his students’ lives.

“I would tell these stories, and they would be amazed at how young I was but how much I knew. At that time, they decided to try to become like me,” said the site coordinator.

To this day, Pierre says that students he worked with when they were in middle school visit him during their college spring break, telling him that if it wasn’t for him, they wouldn’t have graduated. It is those students who fuel his work each day.

“I am just doing what needs to be done. I am not the best, but I do the best that I can, and ensure that if a child has a need, then that need is met.”

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