Giving Compass' Take:

• Community schools in NYC districts are providing extra services for students, such as food banks and mental health care, and according to research, the model is a success. 

• How can other districts replicate NYC's community school model? Is there a way that donors can help expand similar programs across regions that are in need?

• Understand more by reading this case study on community schools.

When Latoya Ramjit struggles to make ends meet, she turns to a food pantry that provides milk, juice, cereal, fresh fruit and vegetables, and even cleaning supplies and hygiene products. She doesn’t have to travel far, because it’s at her daughter’s elementary school, P.S. 67, just steps from their apartment in the Fort Greene community in Brooklyn, New York.

The food pantry at P.S. 67, also known as the Charles A. Dorsey Community School, is stocked by the Food Bank for New York City. This relationship, along with an alliance with Partnership with Children, which provides wraparound services including mental health care, has helped transform P.S. 67 from a failing school in danger of closing to a thriving community school that’s a hub of services for students, their families, and the neighborhood.

The idea behind community schools is that poverty, housing instability, trauma, and subpar health care impede students’ ability to learn, so schools must mindfully address these challenges. While about 5000 community schools exist nationwide, they’re most prevalent in New York City, where Mayor Bill de Blasio launched the $200 million Community Schools Initiative in 2014 with the goal of creating 100 community schools. Over time, they’ve grown to 267 schools serving 135,000 students in low-income areas. According to a three-year study by the Rand Corporation released in January, they’re working.

Community schools are improving graduation rates and math scores, while reducing chronic absenteeism and disciplinary incidents. And they’re expanding across the country.

Read the full article about community schools by Zenobia Jeffries Warfield at YES! Magazine.