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LOCALLLY FOCUSED EVENTS FOR SCALE-UP
Leaders from Lincoln, Nebraska, directly experienced the benefits of learning from other community schools. Early in Lincoln’s community schools planning process, a group of about 60 leaders—including the superintendent, mayor, and others—visited Kansas City to learn about its community schools initiative. "Trips are a great way to get people to buy in to an idea. Also, when you travel together you bond around a shared experience. When you get back home you know your team better and you talk about how you can make the work we’re doing better," said Cathie Petsch, co-coordinator of the Lincoln Community Learning Centers. She sees tremendous value in meeting people involved in similar work in different communities. "You learn so much from each other and use each other as resources and sounding boards."
AVOIDING DUPLICATIVE LEADERSHIP COALITIONS
When Tom Brady, superintendent of the Providence Public Schools, decided to scale up community schools, he recognized that he needed someone inside the system who would embody the system’s commitment to engaging with the community. It was then that he hired Rebecca Boxx. Building on related initiatives in Providence, including the highly regarded Providence After School Alliance and Promise Neighborhood, Boxx decided to work through an emerging interagency cabinet organized by then–Mayor David Cicciline. Current Mayor Angel Taveras has retained the cabinet, which, among other benefits, provides the community schools strategy with direct connections to major institutions. As a leadership group, the cabinet helps guide the strategy and mobilize the resources and political will of a variety of organizations.