Our current model enhances our ability to fulfill our mission to help
the young people of Chicago learn, stay in school and succeed. The major
components of our model are:
Creating OPPORTUNITIES
Each Chicago public school community has its own special qualities and
assets that bind and strengthen that community. And each school community
is faced with challenges unique to its environment -- challenges that
often interfere with children learning. CCIS performs the critical role
of connecting schools with resources, services and programs from the
community so that children's needs are addressed and students can concentrate
on learning in a safe, supportive school environment. Our goal is to
continue creating opportunities by locating service providers and integrating
them into our partnering schools in order to help kids succeed in school
and in life.
BUILDING Capacity
Cooperation is at the heart of everything we do. Our capacity-building
model structures the first five years of our school partnership with
the objective of increasing the school's ability to develop and maintain
successful relationships with community partners.
The major tasks necessary for successful capacity building include:
- Assessment – Gathering faculty, local school council, parent
and administrative input regarding what services are needed
- Identification and Contact – Researching possible providers
of quality services in the community
- Coordination of Services – Planning, scheduling, and troubleshooting
for service delivery
- Nurturing of Partnership – Helping service providers become
part of the school community
- Communications – Keeping school stakeholders aware of developments
in partnership
- Evaluation – Identifying successes, need for improvement and
room for growth
In the first year of partnership, CCIS staff is largely responsible
for completion of these tasks with some assistance from a school-assigned
Site Coordinator (SC). During the second year, some of these responsibilities
are shifted from CCIS to the SC. Between the third and fourth years,
the school is capable of addressing more than half of the required tasks.
By the close of the fifth year, the school is able to conduct business
with minimal assistance from CCIS and is considered "graduated."
This approach allows CCIS to provide assistance to more schools each
year. The annual shifts in responsibility build each school's capacity
to address their own needs and provide room for even more Chicago public
schools to benefit from the CCIS model.
Leveraging PARTNERSHIPS
Chicago is a city rich in social and human service resources. CCIS works
to connect these resources and volunteers with our partnering schools.
We begin by researching and identifying community agencies, organizations,
businesses and individuals who not only provide services that match
the identified needs of our students and schools, but are willing to
go into our schools free of charge.
We help pave the way for our service providers by providing necessary
logistic and creative support. We are instrumental in helping our agency
partners garner easy access into schools where they provide their expertise
and help to more clients than they would normally reach without CCIS.
Working in CCIS partner schools is usually a better way for agencies
to do business. We leverage partnerships for our schools - partnerships
that will continue in schools year after year—and we work to expand
our agency partnerships to additional schools thus broadening and deepening
their impact. Students win, schools win, agencies win, and CCIS achieves
its mission and dreams.
DEVELOPING Community Networks
Developing community networks is necessary to help sustain partnerships
between parents, schools and communities that increase students' chances
for success and strengthen the ties that keep communities together.
CCIS supplies each school with resources and creates a network that
will strengthen performance. CCIS sets the stage for principals, administrators,
teachers, parents and community representatives to exchange ideas to
address obstacles to learning in a holistic fashion. By developing strong
school and service provider community networks, CCIS helps contribute
to a positive school climate where all children can overcome barriers
to learning
Creating SUSTAINABILIT Y
CCIS has learned through the years that it is not enough for us to help
bring in services on a yearly basis. We must push for systemic change
in how schools identify and address the health, social, and emotional
challenges facing their students. We also must push for systemic change
in how schools work with agencies and the community. And, we must be
dedicated to helping children learn and succeed long-term.
To achieve these goals, it is necessary to create sustainability at the
school level. After the fifth year as an active school, schools move into
the Technical Assistance phase of the CCIS process. By then, schools have
established long-term relationships with a number of service providers
and are prepared to broker new partners as additional needs arise. CCIS
provides these schools with access to a technical assistance coordinator
who identifies potential new services and troubleshoots with the school
personnel as they encounter challenges while working with service providers.
The technical assistance coordinator also facilitates forum meetings for
these veteran schools where they receive training, consultation, support
and the opportunity to network.
Through our model, CCIS can operate in a cost-effective manner with ninety
percent of our dollars dedicated to program services. In addition, CCIS
partners with more schools and helps more children every year, reaching
100 schools with 68,000 students in the 2001-2002 school year.
Chicago
Communities In Schools has come a long way from a fledgling organization
with an untested model that initiated its program in schools only a few
years back. We have strengthened and revised our practices and our processes
as we've endeavored to create a seamless delivery system that transforms
how schools and the community collaborate to benefit children.
