Exploring the Crossroads of Community Development & Public Schools

1. Exploring the Crossroads of Community Development & Public Schools WHERE DO WE FIT IN? WELCOME! Workshop Leader: Susan Naimark Trainer/Consultant, susan@naimark.orgwww.naimark.org Guest Presenter: Manlio Mendez Community Organizer, NOAH, East Boston

2. INTRODUCTIONS • Name, organization, your role • Why you signed up for this workshop • Your familiarity with local public schools, on a scale of 0 to 10

3. Exploring the Crossroads of Community Development & Public Schools WHERE DO WE FIT IN? WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES Understand a range of program options appropriate for community development organizations to engage with local public schools; Engage in preliminary assessment of options most suitable for your organization and context; Identify next steps to further explore & create a strategy for action.

4. Exploring the Crossroads of Community Development & Public Schools WHERE DO WE FIT IN? AGENDA Introductions Laying the Groundwork: What’s in it for me? Assessing Options: Openings & opportunities Next Steps: Where do we go from here? Wrap Up

5. Collaborating with Public Schools: What’s in it for Your Organization? • Improve life prospects for children in your rental housing • Meet organizational mission of creating healthy, stable families and community • Bring new constituents in for your housing services • Increase your visibility in community • Groom pipeline of youth volunteers for your organization • Bring youth voice to your work • New opportunities for collaboration, coordination of services • _________________ (fill in the blank with your own answers)

6. A FEW MODELS: CDCs & Public Schools Working Together • Direct service to support student achievement Example: Coalition for a Better Acre, Lowell • Programmatic collaboration with local schools Example:NOAH, East Boston • Community organizing for school reform Example: Community Housing Works, San Diego • System-level transformation Example:Beyond Housing, St. Louis

7. Direct Service to Support Student Achievement • Coalition for a Better Acre, Lowell THE LEARNING ZONE AFTERSCHOOL HOMEWORK CLUB Institutional Partner: Lowell Housing Authority Serves: Lowell students in grades 5-8, with priority to residents of CBA’s target neighborhood Funding: City Community Development Block Grant For more info: www.cbacre.org/programs-events/the-learning-zone

8. Community Organizing for School Reform • Community Housing Works, San Diego County CIVIC ENGAGEMENT LEADERSHIP & ADVOCACY TRAINING Institutional Partners: Oceanside and Poway School Districts Serves: Parents in Oceanside, Poway Funding: Community Development Block Grants, other grants, leadership training fees For more info: www.chworks.org/chw-programs-services/learning-center-program/ NOTE: CHW also runs afterschool learning centers in a number of their multifamily properties.

9. System-Level Transformation • Beyond Housing, St. Louis 24:1 COMMUNITY BUILDNG INITIATIVE Institutional Partner: Normandy School District Serves: 24 communities in Beyond Housing service area, which corresponds with school district Funding: Local foundation, large multi-year grant For more info:www.beyondhousing.org/programs

10. Programmatic Collaboration With Local Schools NOAH, East Boston • SCHOOLYARD INITIATIVE • OUTDOOR CLASSROOM • SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAM • YOUTH ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZING • ADULT EDUCATION COALITION

11. OPENINGS & OPPORTUNITIES • Efforts already underway to improve schools in your community? • Special initiatives or funding for school-community partnerships? • Problems that schools are under pressure to address? • Individual school leaders, teachers, staff interested in connecting? • Existing university, other school partners you have relationship with? What does your organization bring to the table? • Skills, expertise, relationships, physical and material resources What would need to be in place to make something happen?

12. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? • START small • THINK long-term • LEVERAGE current openings and opportunities • INVITE the right people into the room: a track record of effectiveness • LEARN from the successes and failures of others • IDENTIFY actionable steps with a good chance of succeeding

13. Public School Resources for Community Developers • Afterschool Alliance provides start-up guidance and other resources to support the expansion of quality after-school programs for children across the U.S. www.afterschoolalliance.org • Annenberg Institute for School Reform, Center for Education Organizing, “Getting Started in Education Organizing” is an excellent report full of strategies, models, and other resources on community-based education organizing. www.annenberginstitute.org/project/center-education-organizing • Boston Parent Organizing Network mobilizes and supports parents to be advocates for improvement to the Boston Public Schools.www.bpon.org • Boston Public Schools Parent University offers a daylong Saturday conference 3 times/year, and additional sessions throughout the year at schools, libraries, community centers. Workshops available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean Creole. Topics include child development, advocacy, school expectations, parent leadership, parenting skills and more. Free to BPS parents. www.bpsfamilies.org/parentuniversity • “Communities and Schools: A New View of Urban Education Reform,” Harvard Educational Review, 75 (summer), 2005.http://www.hepg.org/her/abstract/31 • A Match on Dry Grass: Community Organizing as a Catalyst for School Reform, Book includes case studies, website has many other resources. www.matchondrygrass.org • Opportunity-Rich Schools and Sustainable Communities,Publication by Center for Cities and Schools at University of California, Berkeley examines ways in which public education relates to sustainable community planning, including findings and analysis of ways to link these two sectors.www.citiesandschools.berkeley.edu • SEDL National Center for Quality Afterschool assists local practitioners to develop high quality afterschool programs, www.sedl.org/afterschool