Our mission is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.
Comprehensive Services
Many of the young people we serve are facing challenges both inside and outside the classroom. What sets Communities In Schools apart is the way we coordinate a comprehensive range of services to support all the needs of these students—academic and non-academic—so they come to school ready to learn.
Every child has tremendous potential. We help students unlock their abilities and talents, giving them a brighter future.
The model we use to provide these services places a Communities In Schools site coordinator in a school to assess needs, make a plan, and coordinate intensive interventions for the kids most at risk for dropping out, along with services geared to the entire school. The site coordinator works with local community service partners such as social service agencies, businesses, health care providers and volunteers to connect students with needed resources.
- One-to-one services such as academic help, basic needs like food and clothing, physical and mental health care, mentoring, or college and career preparation help individual students overcome barriers to success at school.
- School-wide offerings like bully prevention assemblies and after-school enrichment meet broad student needs.
Proven Effective
For every $1 invested in CIS, $11.60 comes back to the community
- Locally, we track outcomes against rigorous total quality standards. Nationally, independent studies confirm that Communities In Schools offers a cost-effective, evidence-based model for dropout prevention.
- An economic impact study found that for every $1 invested in our successful model, $11.60 is returned to the community. Read the EMSI study here (PDF)
- A five-year evaluation showed that of all organizations working toward student achievement, only Communities In Schools is proven to decrease dropout rates AND boost on-time graduation rates. Read the CIS evaluation here (PDF)
- Child Trends, a national research organization, affirmed the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of integrated student supports programs like Communities In Schools in improving education outcomes. Read the Child Trends report here (PDF)