Tag Archive: resources


Site Coordinator Snapshot: Providing a New Path

Filed Under: Site Coordinator Snapshots by Tracey Savell Reavis — Leave a comment
January 24, 2013
Reggie Hester

Communities In Schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Site Coordinator Reggie Hester. Photo courtesy May Johnston.

Reggie Hester starts every workday the same –behind locked doors inside Jail North, the county jail in Charlotte, N.C.

From his office in the minimum security building, Hester, a site coordinator for Communities In Schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, works to provide critical resources for incarcerated high school students in order to ensure they graduate and are prepared for life. The nearly 200 16- and 17-year-old male students he works with are classified as youth offenders, identifiable by their color-coded outfits to distinguish them from the adult inmates that are in the same facility. The students are required to attend classes while at Jail North, and Hester does everything he can to make sure graduation is a goal within reach.

“Society may say one thing, but I don’t constantly beat these young men down,” said Hester, who has a master’s in educational behavior disorders. “Having a support system in place breeds resiliency and makes students want to continue their education. We do everything we can to meet their needs, and let them know they are supported here.”

Hester came to this position in 2009, when Communities In Schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the Mecklenburg County’s Sheriff’s Office and Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system officials all realized there was more that could be done to support students while in custody and after they were released from jail.

In the last four years, Hester has coordinated with as many as 13 high schools to not only make sure the course work they were receiving at Jail North matched the schools’ curricula, but that the students are also introduced to college access programs. He arranges for targeted services like counseling and provides programming that has included art therapy and presentations from local business leaders. And Hester also builds relationships with the students’ families and their schools, so that when students are released, they continue to receive resources and are supported as they integrate back into their community. He also provides the same support for female students at Jail Central, the maximum security facility in Charlotte.

Jamal Tate

“Mr. Hester was a great guidance. I definitely benefitted from having a positive male figure in my life." - Jamal Tate, Communities In Schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg alum.

“I know that on a day in and day out basis, I’ve given them everything I can,” said Hester. “We wear a lot of hats, but it is rewarding. Especially at graduation.”

One of the young men Hester supported is Jamal Tate, a Communities In Schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg alum, who went from spending three stints behind bars to graduating from high school on time and becoming a college student.

“I was lost and hopeless and did not know where I was going in life,” said Tate, now 20 and a sophomore at Central Piedmont Community College in N.C. “Mr. Hester was a great guidance. I definitely benefitted from having a positive male figure in my life. Even his bowties and funny socks made me laugh and having that in such a negative place was helpful.”

Hester was instrumental in Tate’s eventual success, arranging for counseling, making sure all of the required assignments were delivered to the student and making sure he took all his necessary tests for graduation.

Said Tate, “Communities In Schools gives students a system of support. I trusted Mr. Hester and I knew that he had my best interest. I think it [Communities In Schools] is an awesome program and students should take advantage of it.”

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It’s a Wonderful Life

Filed Under: Affiliates by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
December 24, 2012

Today’s blog post is by Jennifer Clark, Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo’s director of community relations. This post was recently featured on Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo’s blog, Ask Me About My 12,000 Kids.

The President of Communities In Schools, Dan Cardinali, was in Kalamazoo early last week to see our partnership with Kalamazoo Public Schools in action. We kept him busy during his two day visit. He, along with the State Director Jeff Brown, visited Edison Environmental Science Academy, El Sol Elementary, Loy Norrix High School, Arcadia Elementary School, and Woods Lake Center for the Arts. 

In between these school visits, a number of us gathered at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts to celebrate Mr. Cardinali’s visit and the work this community is doing through CIS. We titled the event “It’s A Wonderful Life.” I’m posting below the opening remarks made last Tuesday by Pam Kingery, executive director of Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo. Given recent events and the mourning that is taking place throughout our country, these words take on even more meaning. 

We titled this afternoon’s event after the 1946 Frank Capra movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Why? Because it’s December and it is cold outside. But, even more so, this classic movie which stars Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, celebrates the goodness of life. It reminds us of the impact one individual can have in transforming lives, how a person’s actions—both big and small—can have ripple effects which wash over an entire community, making it a better place to live.

Photo courtesy Flickr user wintersoul1.

Kalamazoo, like the cinematic town of Bedford Falls, is an amazing place. Here in our town, Dan, we want you to know that we dream big. We want all our children to live life wonderfully. This community has embraced the CIS mission and owns it–surrounding students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Here, we want every child to graduate and take advantage of the Kalamazoo Promise®. Life here IS wonderful.

But not all of us are fortunate enough to be living it wonderfully. Like any other place in America, our town is not immune to poverty, racism, all those things that creep into and eat away at the soul of a city. Here in Kalamazoo, way too many of our citizens are living below the poverty level. For many of the children, wonderful is just out of reach.

Remember in the movie, that bridge? The one upon which George Bailey finds himself all alone on that cold night, the one upon which he contemplates ending his life by falling into the icy waters below?

That bridge doesn’t just exist in some black and white movie. It stretches far beyond us, casting long shadows across our country. It is a bridge built on hopelessness and illiteracy, paved in unmet needs and bolted firmly in place by despair and poverty. Children who believe they have no other place to stand find themselves, just like George Bailey, on the edge of that bridge. Far too frequently a child is slipping away from us, dropping out of school. Wonderful is just too far out of reach.

Just like the movie, though, there is good news in the midst of troubled times. The good news is that the world is filled with caring people. Kalamazoo is steeped in resources of the heart. As CIS folks, we see this everyday, our Site Coordinators and partners who are on the front lines working with teachers and other school staff, reaching out to children who are about to plunge into the icy waters below, and in some cases, salvaging the children who have already slipped through the ice. The good news is that we have each other. Together, we are an army of opportunity, clothing our children in hope, feeding our children with love, and helping our children learn.

By the end of the movie, George Bailey is surrounded by family and members of his community. He had some help in getting to that point. George Bailey had Clarence the angel. The Kalamazoo Promise® is our Clarence the angel, for it is a gift, a miracle. But, just like the movie, even angels need help. You, me, all of us together are what gives wings to the Promise.

In the movie, every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings. Here in Kalamazoo we can imagine that every time a bell rings, a child is being lifted up–a child is staying in school and succeeding. A wonderful life is within reach because of all of you and hundreds of others in our community.

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Site Coordinator Snapshots: Success Central

Filed Under: Site Coordinator Snapshots, Site Coordinators by Erica Rafferty — Leave a comment
September 11, 2012

Communities In Schools of Philadelphia Site Coordinator Felix Carrasquillo.

The lunch bell just rang at Germantown High School in Philadelphia. As many of the more than 750 ninth- through twelfth-grade students make a beeline to the cafeteria, the school’s Student Success Center (SSC) readies itself for its busiest time of the day. Before you can say “Tater Tots,” 20 students enter the center, and then another 20 come in and ask to use the computer labs. By the end of the hour, it’s not unusual for the center to have had 60 students stop by.

“It’s like a monsoon is coming,” says Felix Carrasquillo, the SSC manager and a site coordinator for Communities In Schools of Philadelphia.

Carrasquillo has been running the SSC since it started in 2009 through a grant from the Philadelphia Youth Network. The goal of the SSC is to provide students with as many resources as possible in one space to maximize their time. The center offers a multitude of resources, including mentoring programs run by the Boys & Girls Club of Philadelphia; integrated service coordinators who provide students with opportunities such as trips to the nation’s capital; career coordinators who help students build strong resumes and connect them with internships; and post-secondary coordinators who foster a college-going culture by helping students register for the SATs and complete their college applications.

For Carrasquillo, the SSC is a literal representation of the Communities In Schools model – connecting students with critical resources so they can achieve their best. This past year, the SSC provided 14,000 services to students, serving more than 90 percent of Germantown High School’s population. Their goal is to serve 100 percent.

To make sure they are reaching as many students as possible, Carrasquillo and the SSC staff keep detailed spreadsheets of the services they have provided and the students who have taken advantage of them. If a senior has not accessed any of these services, SSC staff will track him or her down.

“At the end of the day, no one can tell us we didn’t do everything humanly possible to serve students and get them what they need,” said Carrasquillo.

With dozens of students coming and going, Carrasquillo said he makes sure the time he does get with students is as impactful as possible.

“When we have conversations with students, in a lot of cases we are convincing them of their potential,” he said. “We are convincing them they could go to college. But when they are outside of the center for the other 13 hours of the day, they may be hearing the opposite. It’s a constant hurdle.”

This school year, Germantown’s graduating class will be the first group of students to receive services from the SSC for their full four years at the school. Being able to see the results of four years of workshops, meetings and one-on-one conversations makes the long hours and hard work worth it for Carrasquillo.

“I have yet to reach the end of the school year and not have the privilege of seeing at least one student succeed because of the support of the SSC,” said Carrasquillo. “And that one student gives me the energy to come back the next school year and do it all over again.”

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Helping Parents on the First Day of School

Filed Under: Families by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
August 30, 2012

Today’s blog post is by Neil Shorthouse, President of Communities In Schools of Georgia and Co-Founder of Communities In Schools.

As students across the country head back to the classroom this fall, Communities In Schools of Georgia is excited to announce the launch of a new online Parent Resource Center designed to support parents, students and educators as they work together for a successful school year.

Since I helped found Communities In Schools more than three decades ago, one thing has remained constant: parents are a child’s first, and most influential, teachers and their involvement in their children’s education is needed and valued. In fact, we have heard repeatedly from teachers over the years that they both appreciate and welcome parental involvement and rely on parents to make education a priority even after the dismissal bell has rung.

Research demonstrates that children whose parents are involved in their education do better, on average, than children whose parents are not involved. We know that some of the benefits of parental engagement include increased motivation, higher grades and test scores, fewer discipline problems, and higher self-esteem.

We also realize that many barriers exist that continue to prevent parents from getting involved in their child’s education. Often, parents may not feel that they have the time to get involved. Or, they feel unqualified to help, or even that their child, particularly during the teen years, does not want them involved.

Communities In Schools of Georgia believes the free Parent Resource Center will help parents and educators overcome these barriers. Resources available on the website include:

* Advice for parents and families to ensure a smooth transition to kindergarten, as well as to middle school and high school
* Tips for preparing for standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT
* Ideas for making the most of parent/teacher conferences
* Tips on how to help students with homework
* Tips on how to identify and prevent bullying
* Template materials for educators to support parent engagement
* Links to other helpful educational websites for parents, students and educators
* A search function which allows parents and caregivers to locate Communities In Schools of Georgia’s traditional resource centers

The online Parent Resource Center also includes several inspirational video testimonials from Georgia parents highlighting the importance of parental involvement.

Working together, I know that parents, caregivers and educators can establish a lasting partnership to foster student success, increase graduation rates and help students succeed both in school and in life.

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Get. Give. Save.

Filed Under: Dropout Epidemic, Pop Culture by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
August 23, 2012

This summer, changing the world is as simple as buying a tube of toothpaste.

Communities In Schools and Procter & Gamble (P&G) kicked off the second annual GIVE Education campaign last week, a cause-marketing program dedicated to raising awareness of the dropout crisis and helping students graduate. GIVE Education’s cornerstone is the P&G brandSAVER®, a coupon booklet you can find as an insert in your Sunday newspaper. For every GIVE Education brandSAVER coupon redeemed from the August 26 booklet, P&G will donate two cents to Communities In Schools.

That’s right! Every time you use a coupon from the August 26 brandSAVER to buy Duracell batteries, Febreeze, CoverGirl cosmetics, or other P&G products, you’re making a donation to Communities In Schools and aiding our mission to give students the resources they need to stay in school and achieve in life.

Two cents can seem like a paltry amount. But consider this: during the 2010-2011 school year, it only cost Communities In Schools $189 per student to change his or her world for the better. For $189, we were able to provide a student with health care, food, clothing, academic support, a mentor and whatever else the student needed to succeed. This is a situation where every penny really counts.

Not sure if your local newspaper carries the brandSAVER? Check out P&G’s handy search engine to see which papers will contain the coupon booklet this Sunday.

Utilizing the brandSAVER isn’t the only way you can make a difference. P&G is also offering an amazing rebate program: by purchasing $25 worth of participating brands, you can get a $5 rebate by mail. For every $5 earned by rebate, P&G will donate $5 to Communities In Schools! Learn more about the rebate program and participating brands here.

The power to change the world is coming in your newspaper this Sunday. Keep an eye out for the brandSAVER coupon book and get ready to go shopping.

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