Community Schools

Launched in 2014, the New York City Department of Education's Community Schools represent a strategy to provide all students with a equitable educational opportunities. Two-hundred and sixty-six Community Schools serving 134,000 primarily low-income students and families are part of the initiative, aiming to address barriers to student achievement through intensive resources to select schools, most of which are located in high poverty neighborhoods. 

Community Schools recognize that students who are hungry, can't see the blackboard, or are missing school regularly face critical obstacles to learning  in the classroom. By providing an extra meal, connecting a parent to adult education, or enrolling a student in an after-school program, Community Schools can lower barriers to learning and help students succeed. Through a coordinated approach, Community Schools seek to increase opportunities for young people through partnerships among principals, parents, teachers, and community-based organizations (CBOs). Together, these partners offer a "whole child, whole community" approach, looking holistically at students, families, and communities to ascertain their most pressing needs and provide tailored supports and services.

Since the initiative launched, the Fund for Public Schools has worked collaboratively with the Office of Community Schools to facilitate public-private partnerships that support the social, emotional, physical, and academic needs of students. This has included facilitating private partnerships to support key interventions, such as increasing attendance rates, as well as individual school partnerships with private sector partners to provide direct supports and enrichment opportunities to schools and students.

The Fund is proud to facilitate support to Community Schools through philanthropic, pro bono, and in-kind partnerships that promote the holistic development and well-being of students. Ongoing examples of public-private partnerships include:

Supporting Students in Temporary Housing

Among many challenges, Community Schools serve a disproportionate number of homeless students. Community Schools focus on targeted programmatic interventions - such as stemming chronic absenteeism - because they can provide deep structural supports through wraparound service providers on site. 

To focus specifically on the chronic absenteeism of students in temporary housing (STH), grant funding from Deutsche Bank made it possible to hire a full-time team member to facilitate a comprehensive strategy including Success Mentors (which connect at-risk students to social services and supports, and provide coordinated case management). By focusing on the 20 schools with the highest rates of STH, Community Schools has learned valuable approaches that have been scaled across the wider Community Schools portfolio. Learn more. 

Exploring Careers through CareerCLUE

Launched in 2016, CareerCLUE (Community Learning, Understanding, and Experience) is an enrichment opportunity for younger high school students that enables them to receive academic credit, explore careers, and engage in paid work-based learning. With private support facilitated in partnership with the Mayor’s Fund, the Fund for Public Schools collaborates with the NYC Department of Education’s Offices of Community Schools and Career and Technical Education, the Center for Youth Employment, and the Department of Youth and Community Development, as part of a whole City effort to support and broaden students’ college and career aspirations. 

CareerCLUE combines STEM and Arts (STEAM)-based classroom experiences with hands-on work and explorations through field trips to businesses and service learning opportunities. Throughout, students develop essential college and career readiness skills like collaboration, critical thinking, presentation, as well as norms and expectations of the workplace. Learn more.

The Fund for Public Schools is in an ongoing collaboration with the NYC DOE to identify areas of need and opportunity, in order to facilitate public-private partnerships that can provide a wide-range of critical supports for Community Schools. If you are interested in joining our ever-growing list of supporters helping to ensure every student gets the excellent education they deserve, join us.