Why are Policymakers Supporting Community Schools?

1. Why are Policymakers Supporting Community Schools? A conversation with School and Local Government Leaders Monday May 18, 2009

2. Agenda • Welcome from the Coalition for Community Schools, Marty Blank, Director • Why Community Schools? Mayor Kathy Taylor, Tulsa, OK • Insight from the Inside – Superintendent Dr. Karen S. Angello, Allentown, PA • Local Government Leadership for Community Schools, Lolenzo Poe, Senior Policy Advisor, Portland, OR

3. Why Community Schools? Presented by: Mayor Kathy Taylor, Tulsa, OK

4. Tulsa’sNeed • Number of Tulsa Public School kids in poverty: 82.9% • Tulsa’s dropout rate: 29.8% • Number of students who did not graduate from Oklahoma’s high schools last year 14,700 • Lost lifetime earning for the 2007 class of drop-outs $3.8 b • Savings to Oklahoma in health care costs if they had earned their diplomas$137.6 mil

5. Tulsa Area Community Schools Initiative (TACSI) Successful Students Healthy Families Engaged Communities

7. Community Schools – Insight from the Inside Presented by: Karen S. Angello, Ph.D., Superintendent of Allentown School District

8. TheAllentown School District • Fourth largestdistrict in Pennsylvania, 22 schools,18,000 students • Lehigh Valley’schanging demographicsand impact on the city of Allentown • Snapshot of academic performance,forward motion and challenges • Barriers to progress:lack of coordinated supports for students & their families and inconsistent communication links

9. COMPASS Community Schools: Connecting Community, Creating Pathways • Purpose:linking schools/communities in effective ways to address student achievement and poverty • Key features:principal leading vision, full-time co-located staff from partner organization, parents at table of site-based leadership team, results-focused plan, web of partnerships, programs, services • Benefits:authentic parent/community engagement, process to organize/connect meaningful programs and services

10. Genuine Positive Results: Three ASD Community Schools • Contribution toacademic progress • Dozens ofexamples…improvedparentengagement • Community School Coordinators astrusted relationship managers • Authenticcommunity engagementand investment in student success and neighborhood improvement

11. Lehigh Valley’s Community School Initiative: In Forward Motion • Expansion and growthin the Allentown School District • Continued blending of community investors for success • Expanding services andincreased parent engagement/leadership development • United Way’s commitment toexpand Community Schools across the region

12. Local Government Leadership for Community Schools Presented by: Lolenzo T. Poe, Jr., Senior Policy Advisor to Chair of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners Multnomah County, Oregon

13. Multnomah County, Department of County Human Services • 53 SUN Community School sites across 6 school districts • This represents about 1/3 of the County’s schools • Our initiative is a partnership between Multnomah County, the City of Portland, School Districts, Non-Profit Organizations and business • SUN Community Schools are part of a larger coordinated system of comprehensive services delivered countywide called the SUN Service System

15. Why Community Schools in Multnomah County • Community Schools is one of the key priorities of the County Chair and is an important anti-poverty strategy • None of us can do it alone - SUN is about bringing together all important entities that need to work together to ensure success of all of our children and families; sharing this work makes it stronger

16. Expansion of Community Schools 3 elements of “expansion” over the past 3 years: • Partnership Development & Joint Ownership • Every School a Community School • Statewide Initiative

17. Challenges the SUN Initiative Has Faced • Funding • Politics • Ownership

18. Additional Resources • Tulsa, OK, Tulsa Area Community Schools Initiativewww.csctulsa.org/community_schools.htm • Lehigh Valley, COMPASS Initiativewww.unitedwayglv.org/pages/get/130/COMPASS • Portland, OR, Schools Uniting Neighborhoodswww.sunschools.org/Public/EntryPoint?ch=d569b24c434b1110VgnVCM1000003bc614acRCRD • Coalition for Community Schoolswww.communityschools.org

19. Contact Information for Local Initiatives Lehigh Valley, PA - Marci Ronald,marcir@unitedwayglv.org Tulsa, OK - Jan Creveling, jancreveling@aol.com Portland, OR - Peggy Samolinski, peggy.l.samolinski@co.multnomah.or.us

20. Thank You for Participating! www.communityschools.org For more information: ccs@iel.org