1. How the Coalition can assist you

   The Coalition for Community Schools is your Coalition. We exist to provide a united voice for the community schools movement, and our strength rests in our partners and other dedicated people who are working hard across the country to make community schools a reality. Whether you are a partner or not, we encourage you to use the Coalition's networks and resources to communicate the importance of community schools issues. Here are some ways to do so:

   • Use Coalition materials to promote our shared vision within your organization.Tell your colleagues about the Coalition Web site www.communityschools.org. Or, distribute copies of the Coalition brochure, Community Schools: Partnerships for Excellence or the Community Schools Assessment Guide. Contact Coalition staff at ccs@iel.org to request free copies of these publications.
   • Reprint information from the Coalition Web site. Everything on our Web site can be reprinted in your newsletters and journals. We only ask that you acknowledge the Coalition and send others our way.
   • Participate in Coalition planning activities. Planning activities make you a part of the Coalition network in a substantive way. You will learn even as you share your own experience. In addition to attending Coalition partners meetings, we encourage you to join a Work Group. Two possibilities are the Practice Work Group and Policy Work Group. Contact staff to learn more about these opportunities and how you can nominate yourself.
   • Request a speaker or technical assistance resource. Coalition staff can identify people to meet your needs. We can recommend a national leader, speakers from other states, principals or community-based organizations leaders and TA providers. Let us know what you are looking for.
   • Tap into the Community Schools for Excellence Ad Campaign. This three-year campaign designed to raise public awareness about community schools is doing extremely well! The Coalition is a co-sponsor of the campaign, along with the Children's Aid Society and the Ad Council. Signs of momentum are:
     1. An increasing number of calls to the hotline since the campaign launch in May 2000, with more than 1,000 calls in January 2001 alone.
     2. Spots have aired during such shows as The Today Show, NYPD Blue, Saturday Night Live, Good Morning America, Nightline, Entertainment Tonight, among several other popular shows.
     3. Most support is located in the following markets in order of spot activity: San Francisco, Boston, Orlando, Little Rock, Minneapolis, Houston, Tampa, Monterey, Denver and Seattle.

   It is not too late for you to take advantage of this valuable resource in your community. Call the media outlets in your local area and ask them to run the ad. And, place campaign banners on your Web site as a way to spread the word about the campaign. For information on how to do so, and other ways you can use the ad campaign in your local community see: http://www.communityschools.org/localawareness.html Call Hayin Kim at the Children's Aid Society at (212) 949-4377 or e-mail her at hayink@childrensaidsociety.org for information on how to most effectively use the campaign.

2. How you can help the Coalition
   • Arrange presentations on community schools as part of local, state, regional and national conferences with which you are affiliated. For an example of a way to structure sessions around this topic, contact the Coalition and ask for a copy of The ABC's (and P's) of Family-Supportive Schools. This is a summary of the Family Supportive Schools track at the April 2000 national conference of Family Support America (FSA). The Coalition for Community Schools, Communities in Schools, Inc., and Families and Schools Together created this track together with FSA. The Coalition can give you ideas on how to put together speakers workshops and plan tracks at your conferences.
   • Encourage other groups to become partners. We want to engage local community school networks and other state, regional and national organizations as partners in our work. Their participation helps to strengthen the credibility of our movement, and the Coalition can help to support their work. For information on how to become a partner, go to http://www.communityschools.org/partnerslist.html or call the Coalition for more information.
   • Prepare articles for this newsletter. This is a newsletter for Coalition partners and other interested people. You can write a story about the work of your initiative, and send it to us for publication. Call or email Melyssa Sheeran sheeranm@iel.org with your ideas beforehand.
   • Share relevant publications with the Coalition for dissemination. We are always on the lookout for information and resources to highlight on our Web site and in our newsletter. We are particularly interested in the working tools that help you implement community schools, e.g. an evaluation of your program, a list of agreed upon results, a training program, a memorandum of understanding.
   • Inform the Coalition about any innovative actions happening in your community school. Through the Coalition, you can share information on successes and challenges with your colleagues across the country.

Please go to: http://www.communityschools.org/survey.html and let us know what you think of this idea.

Conferences

Youth Service America (YSA) has announced a new national conference that is expected to convene more than 200 young decision makers in April 2001. The Youth As Decision Maker Forum will take place on April 3-4, 2001 in Denver, Colorado as part of the 12th Annual National Service-Learning Conference. The Forum is sponsored by the National Youth Leadership Council and YSA, with funding from the Ewing Marion Kaufmann Foundation. The Forum will be completely designed and directed by a peer group of 18 young people from across the country who serve as the Youth Advisory Council for YSA.

For more information about YSA visit http://www.YSA.org or to learn how to volunteer, visit www.SERVEnet.org. The National Youth Leadership Council is a leader in service-learning and youth leadership based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Moving Young People from Participants to Decision Makers is a conference for those who want to increase and improve their work with young people. The conference is March 8-9, 2001 in San Diego, CA, and is sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation in partnership with the Volunteer Center of San Diego County. Participants will explore benefits and barriers to involving young people as leaders, concrete ways to support and encourage young people in their organization, and models for (including youth on boards, youth advisory councils and youth summits) engaging young people as leaders. The seminar is designed for volunteer centers, community-based organizations, government agencies, nonprofit organizations and schools with established youth programs seeking to engage youth in more meaningful roles. For more information: Contact Roxanne Hanson Andersen at 202-729-3236 or RAndersen@pointsoflight.org

Publications

Youth in Decision-Making: A Study on the Impacts of Youth on Adults and Organizations has been released by Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development, a Division of National 4-H Council and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The study is an in-depth examination of data collected from 19 youth and 29 adults from 15 organizations across the country. A key finding is that involving young people in organizational and community decision-making has powerful and positive effects on adults and organizations. Two publications report on the study - a 60-page full report of the findings, and a shorter version that summarizes the findings for practitioners and advocates. Both publications are available free of charge by contacting National 4-H Council at (301) 961-2837, or by finding them online at www.fourhcouncil.edu/cyd/yidm.

At the Table Resource Catalog - New Resources for Youth Engagement catalogs the premier resources for working with young people as partners and for engaging youth in decision-making. The Resource Catalog lists workshops, videos, books, curricula, and other resources from eight of the leading organizations involved in youth in governance today. It includes resources from Center for Youth as Resources; Co/Motion - a National Program of the Alliance for Justice; Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development, A Division of National 4-H Council; Points of Light Foundation, Promise Project, Youth Leadership Institute, and Youth on Board. The catalog was produced by the featured organizations and by the At the Table initiative at National 4-H Council. It is available online at http://www.fourhcouncil.edu/cyd/Products&Services/Resource%20Catalog.htm or free of charge from any of the partnering organizations or by calling (301) 961-2837 or by e-mailing innovation@fourhcouncil.edu.

What You Need to Know: A Manual on Developing Youth Leadership, is available from the Community Training and Assistance Center (CTAC). This manual is the product of a two-year project, "Youth Leadership in Public Education: A National Training Model," which linked youth leadership development with multicultural education and improved educational practices. CTAC worked with young people to develop a comprehensive model training series targeted to urban youth from Asian, African American, Creole, Haitian, Hispanic, Portuguese and white cultures.

CTAC is a national not-for-profit organization that helps communities develop the leadership, management, and planning skills needed to serve meet pressing community needs. It provides individualized capacity-building technical assistance to community-based organizations, schools systems, collaborative partnerships, state and municipal governments, and health and human service agencies. To receive a copy of the publication please e-mail tyancey@ctacusa.com or mail a request to CTAC, 30 Winter Street, 7th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02108.