COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF KALAMAZOO
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Mission Statement
The mission of Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. CIS removes the barriers that derail kids from success, giving them the hope and belief that they can succeed in school, graduate, and be prepared for life. We do this by bring the community and all the ways it can help to where kids are - the school. This is how we surround kids with whatever it takes - from tutors and food assistance to health services and college visits - so they can start strong and keep moving forward.
About This Cause
Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo addresses the challenges of students and schools whose success is negatively impacted by significant poverty or other unique circumstances by working with schools and all sectors of the community to remove the barriers that stand between students and their success throughout their K-12 education. More and more of today’s good jobs are requiring some level of post-secondary education or training. According to a report from the Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the workforce, 65% of job openings will require workers with some post-secondary education/training by 2020. The majority of new good jobs growth from 1991 – 2015 went to workers with associate’s degrees or some post-secondary education, according to the same report. Kalamazoo Public Schools’ students have a tremendous opportunity through The Kalamazoo Promise scholarship to obtain that additional education. The scholarship pays for up to 100% of tuition at nearly 60 colleges and universities in Michigan for graduates of the Kalamazoo Public Schools. Unfortunately, not every student who enters high school, graduates four years later, or graduates prepared for college or a career. While graduation rates in the Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) have been on the rise for all socioeconomic groups of students, there is a disparity in four-year graduation rates between low-income students and their more well-off peers. The data also show that the percentage of male students of color who graduate on time is below that of their female and white counterparts. CIS of Kalamazoo uses the Integrated Student Services model to create a system of school-based support that addresses the needs of the whole child so children are ready to learn and they receive the additional support they need for their learning. The CIS Site Coordinator is key to the Integrated Student Services model. They work with school staff to identify at-risk students and lead the effort to connect and coordinate existing community resources to students at school with the goal of improving academic achievement so that all students graduate from high school on time, prepared for post-secondary education and career. The CIS Site Coordinator connects and coordinates services that are both school-wide and individual. School-wide services are accessible to any student in the school based on their needs, and specific students who have a moderate-level need in reading, math, attendance and/or behavior receive case management and targeted assistance to support their learning or improve their attendance or behavior. Community resources that CIS Site Coordinators help to support and organize at the school develop the “whole child” and address needs in the following areas: • Physical health (preventive care, dental care, vision care, health education) • Behavioral health and social-emotional learning (counseling, grief & loss support, peer mediation, skills development) • Basic Needs (weekend food packs, school-based food pantries, clothing, personal hygiene items, school supplies) • Academics (tutoring, homework help, after school and summer support) • College and Career Readiness More than 70 community partners and more than 800 volunteers are working with CIS to serve more than 11,000 students. CIS leverages existing community resources – for every hour of a Site Coordinator, many more hours of service are connected to kids. Site Coordinators and other CIS team members provide the logistics and infrastructure necessary to bring community resources to the school. This includes: • Matching volunteer and partner schedules with students’ schedules to minimize the impact on core instructional time for students; • Working with parents to help them understand their student’s needs and obtain consent for services, • Securing space within the school for partners and volunteers to work with students, • Coordinating with teachers, • Obtaining materials for tutors, • Promoting/publicizing services that are coming to the school, and • Solving routine problems. This allows educators to focus on teaching, rather than diverting their attention to securing the additional help their students need to be successful in the classroom. It also allows CIS’ service delivery partners to focus on sharing their expertise with students and not the logistics of setting up services. School-based services coordinated by CIS also help a partner avoid costly gaps in their schedule. If a student who is scheduled to be seen by a provider is absent from school that day, the CIS site team can quickly arrange for another student to be seen during the scheduled time. Since some of our providers are able to support the delivery of their services at school by billing insurance or Medicaid, it is important that their appointment slots are filled.