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March for Children and Youth Month was launched in 2017 as an annual campaign to concentrate our advocacy efforts among our national, state and local partners. Our collective advocacy as a Coalition is important both to build champions among our policymakers for policies and funding that support children and youth and to strengthen our role as advocates for children and youth who are facing systemic inequities in their communities. Although we have seen a steady decline in child poverty rates over the last few years, the percentage of Black and Hispanic students living in poverty is almost four times that of their white peers. With racial disparities in school, we can no longer sit on the sidelines and hope others advocate for more equitable conditions-it must be us, it must be now, and we must speak with one voice.

This 3-pager lifts up 8 key talking points to help support Bipartisan Community Schools advocacy.

Building a Community Schools System is written for diverse audiences engaged in Community School efforts, from planning to integration of the Community Schools strategy in their community and/or district to existing systems of schools looking to further sustain, deepen, and expand this strategy.

The Stages of Development serve as a guide for states as they build or scale their state coalitions for Community Schools. The four stages are: EXPLORING There is talk of developing a coalition, but only informal communications or plans have been made. Someone convenes a group of people to move the plans forward. EMERGING Commitment to developing a coalition by actively convening partners and putting in place a governance structure with initial goals and benchmarks outlined. EVOLVING There is an official coalition in place, a wide range of partners are involved, regular communications to local practitioners, and a leadership team and professional learning convenings occurring. EXPANDING The coalition has added key committees, is regularly tracking impact and stories, and is widening sphere of influence through new partnerships, expanded public communications, and ongoing capacity building.

With strategic and financial support from the Ballmer Group, four national partners – the Center for Universal Education at Brookings Institution, the Coalition for Community Schools (CCS), the Learning Policy Institute (LPI), and the National Center for Community Schools at Children’s Aid (NCCS) – are collaborating with practitioners, researchers, and leaders across the country to elevate areas of alignment and consensus across various community school approaches to further align, build, and scale community schools.

This report looks at how community schools finance their work. It describes the resources, partnerships, and activities community schools generate with the dollars they have; where monies come from; and the mechanisms community schools use to leverage additional funding and build their capacity to achieve agreed upon results. The report draws on survey results and case studies from a purposeful sample of experienced community schools—both individual sites as well as district-sponsored initiatives.

Since 2017, every 3rd full week of September has been dedicated to celebrating the unsung heroes of Community Schools—the Coordinator. This year, September 20 to September 24, 2021, let's celebrate Coordinators and advance our Community Schools movement together.

Letter to Chairwoman DeLauro, Chairwoman Murray, Ranking Member Cole, and Ranking Member Blunt to encourage them to significantly increase funding for the Full-Service Community Schools Program (Title IV Part F of the Every Student Succeeds Act) to match President Biden’s 2022 budget request of $443 million. Community schools is a critical strategy to help schools and communities recover and stabilize from the ongoing effects of the pandemic, and an effective strategy of a whole-child approach to public education that is necessary now more than ever.