Community Schools: Lessons from 25 Years of Movement Building

At the Community Schools/Family Engagement conference recently, I discussed lessons from the past 25 years of coalition building around the community schools vision and strategy. Here are the key thoughts I shared.

 When we launched the Coalition for Community Schools in 1997, we built on a history of efforts to deepen ties between schools and communities, and more recent efforts by founding Coalition partners.

 In the early 1900s, social worker Jane Addams worked to bring the settlement house with its array of services into public schools. John Dewey then adapted that idea into the concept of the school as a social center a place where education physical social and human development of children and families would happen.

 In the 1930’s the Mott Foundation's gave life to community education, an effort to open school houses in the summer and bring the community into the school. That effort evolved over decades, gradually shifting away from the school as the core of its work toward the broader community. in the 1960s Bill Milliken created what is now Communities In Schools to bring the resources of the community into the school to help students succeed.

In the 1990s local innovators saw decided to work in partnership with schools to help young people thrive. Two of these efforts were most significant in the emergence of the community schools movement. In 1991 the Children’s Aid Society opened its first Community School in Washington Heights offering health and mental health services, after school programs, a bike repair shop and orchestra and other assets. CAS has been there ever since. On a similar trajectory the Center for Community partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania (now the Netter Center) began to collaborate with schools in West Philadelphia, tapping the assets of PENN students and facility and the capability of multiple university departments.

Neither Children's Aid nor the University of Pennsylvania had new money with which to start community schools. Rather they repurposed existing grants from public and philanthropic sources and human and institutional capital because they believed that they could do the their work more effectively inside a public.

Other local initiatives emerged similarly. The county was instrumental in the creation of the SUN Community Schools in Portland. United Ways, community foundations cities, counties and local school districts stepped up to retool the way in which existing resources were being used and to build and nurture the deep partnerships at the heart of community schools.

So perhaps we are now “back to the future,” as the community schools field grapples withstand the funding cutbacks and destructive policies coming from the Trump administration. Our field must use the power of our shared vision and strategy, the tools, and resources we have developed, and the influence of stakeholders we have gathered from the grassroots to the grass tops to keep the hope that community schools represent alive.

I know from my experience over more than a quarter century that the community schools movement has the capacity to sustain itself and position itself for future growth.

And I know too, to paraphrase the great community organizer, Ernesto Cortez, that the work of community schools is fundamentally about “relationships.”  It is small p, political work.

Here a three more specific lessons to draw on.

Deep sustainable partnerships: Partnerships are at the core of the Community School vision and strategy. Educators create an environment that welcomes the assets and expertise. Partners come because they have ready access to the population they want to serve and recognize that doing their work together with educators will improve their own effectiveness. As public money has become more available, however, some partnerships have become more transactional rather than relational and transformative. As public money dwindles it will be essential to revisit and revitalize   these relationships and help everyone see that working together is most likely to achieve everyone's goals for young people.

Coalition building: When the Coalition for Community Schools launched in 1998, we had education youth development, health and human services community development and other organizations at the table. In time national organizations brought an even deeper commitment to our work. Simultaneously, local leaders built coalitions that included brought together officials from an array of prospective partners to plan and implement community schools.

And in 2016 the Coalition, with no dedicated funds, what are now a growing group of state community schools networks. The energy and commitment of local and state leaders made this happen, with ongoing Coalition support, State networks are now central to sustaining and growing the movement as federal policy changes drive decision making to the state level.

Regardless of what level what level an individual may be operating coalition building must be core to their work. At the school site the coalition of educators, partners, and families, at the community level the coalition of educators and partners in different fields and at the state and federal levels. And it is the job of community school leaders to nurture these coalitions, continuously.

Student, Family and Community Voice:  The stories of community schools across the nation demonstrate the importance of listening and responding to the issues and concerned voiced by students, parents, and community residents, and encaging them authentically in the work of community schools. voices of students, families and other local stakeholders are vital to the our movement. Community organizing groups have been major allies in this effort and as have family engagement leaders. There is much that we still have to learn about this critical issue, and it must be central

Now of course money matters. We must think about money to support core community school functions (community school coordinators, site teams, planning, accountability measures and professional development) And we must support our allies in specific fields whose monies ae also at risk – after school, health and mental health, family engagement, and beyond, as well as monies for public schools. All are vital for effective community schools.

And it is the relationships that community schools advocate build with a range of people, organizations, and institutions, and with policymakers at all levels, that will determine the future of our movement. It is relationships that have brought us this far…and deep relationships that will enable us to secure the future for community schools – and for all students and families.