AS JUNE NATOLA WAS SAYING. . .

THE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS MOVEMENT GROWS WITH 12 NEW FEDERAL GRANTS

Washington, D.C. - September 1, 2015

The Coalition for Community Schools celebrates a new round of Full Service Community School grants awarded this summer.  The grants will expand community schools work in some places and begin to grow it in others.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded 12 new Full-Service Community School grants to a mix of school districts, community-based organizations and an institution of higher education.  These grantees join 30 others that have been awarded since 2008, and that are among the nearly 100 places across the country implementing networks of community schools.

“We are very pleased that for the second fiscal year in a row, Congress has allocated new funding for Full Service Community Schools in a tough budget climate” said Martin Blank, President of the Institute for Educational Leadership and Director of the Coalition for Community Schools. “This investment reflects the strong, bipartisan support for community schools as a strategy to harness the assets and resources of our communities to help our young people thrive.”

Illustrating the diversity of partners that lead community schools, grantees include: the YMCA of Long Beach, CA; Columbia College Chicago; Paterson, NJ Public School District; and United Way of Buffalo and Erie County, among others. The Coalition is looking forward to welcoming these grantees into our national network of community school leaders, and to hosting an enriching learning experience at our 2016 National Forum next April in Albuquerque.