CityConnects

Award-winning schools are changing the odds in Minneapolis

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And the 2019 Changing-the-Odds Award goes to… 

… two City Connects schools in Minneapolis: the Ascension School and St. Helena Catholic School. 

Given by, the Minneapolis Schools Finder — which tracks school performance – the Changing-the-Odds Award recognizes schools where students from low-income backgrounds are “academically outperforming the Minneapolis Public Schools average,” and/or “growing academically at a faster rate than the average.” 

Students’ success is measured by their scores on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments. This year, 25 schools won the award. 

What made the difference at Ascension and St. Helena?  Continue reading →

Managing trauma so students can succeed

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City Connects has expanded. We’ve launched in the Success Academy, a trauma-informed school that’s part of the public school system in Jamestown, N.Y. 

“Success Academy serves students in grades five through ten who have experienced some school avoidant behavior due to either trauma or mental health needs that have manifested as difficulties doing well in school,” Maureen Diehl, the City Connects Program Manager, explains. 

“These students are invited – not required – to attend our unique program, which has smaller class sizes and staff who are there to focus on students’ social emotional and behavioral health.” 

“The goal is to get students on the right track and help them move back to their home schools.” 

The school, which opened last fall and serves 50 students, is part of School Superintendent Brett Apthorpe’s effort to “combat the losses district students were experiencing due to the 72 percent poverty rate and every day poor living standards,” the Jamestown Gazette reports, adding, “The District has an unacceptable absentee rate as well.”  Continue reading →

Ireland launches City Connects

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Often City Connects grows because of, well, connections. That’s what happened when Una Shannon came from Ireland to Boston College to be a postdoctoral fellow. Shannon learned about City Connects and shared our work with Eugene Wall, the president of Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, Ireland, as well as sharing it with ministers from the Irish National Government.

The result: Irish educators are planning to launch a City Connects pilot program this fall in 10 Dublin schools. 

“It strikes me that any ‘school person’ who hears about City Connects tends to have an ‘aha’ moment,” Shannon says. She’s a former teacher who earned her bachelor’s degree from Mary Immaculate College. “It just makes sense to support the whole child, to have a strengths-based perspective, and to have a systemic, systematic, and sustained approach to student support that’s in rhythm with school life.”  Continue reading →

COVID-19 exposes education’s flaws – and opportunities

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As schools struggle through the fallout of COVID-19, there is a lot to worry about — but there’s also a chance to innovate by implementing many of the strategies we use at City Connects. 

The immediate concern — as A. Brooks Bowden and Rebecca Davis write in “With fewer funds and greater needs, schools should pursue cost-effectiveness strategies,” an article published by Brookings – is that schools are in academic and financial jeopardy. 

“Projected economic impacts of COVID-19 on student outcomes is huge,” the article says. “Recent projections indicate that student learning loss may be one-third to two-thirds larger than what students normally lose during summer slump. In addition to learning loss, students are disconnected from the stability of school, peer networks, and access to school-based supports, such as mental health services, school nurses, and school food.” 

“Budget cuts make matters even worse, driving up the need to consider cost effectiveness in finding solutions.”  Continue reading →

A message from Mary Walsh

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We stand with our sisters and brothers across the country who are seeking justice and meaningful change. The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and many others are the result of racial injustice that plagues our society. City Connects was developed to lift children over barriers to their success – especially in low-income urban school districts. This mission continues to guide our work and our conviction that with the right support, every child can thrive. We are deeply invested in promoting justice, supporting one another, and amplifying our voices against all instances of oppression.

— Mary Walsh, Executive Director of City Connects

A week in the life of a City Connects Coordinator – working through a pandemic

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Lexy Marsh

 

When COVID-19 shut down the Boston Public Schools, Lexy Marsh, the City Connects Coordinator at the Oliver Wendell Holmes Innovation School, felt a huge loss.

“I love going to school. I love the routine. So when our school closed, it was sad and stressful, but I quickly switched from how I was feeling to focusing on my students,” Marsh says. 

“All of our kids qualify for the free, reduced lunch program. About 30% of our kids are homeless or displaced, which is a huge percentage. And about 50% of our kids receive some kind of special needs services.” 

“And all my kids thrive on structure, even if they don’t want to admit it. They like coming to school because they know what to expect. They’re going to get breakfast, lunch and a snack. They know what teachers think they’re capable of doing, and they’re going to rise to that level. So, it was sad to know they wouldn’t have this structure.” 

 So when her school switched to online learning, Marsh created new structures, as a peek at her weekly schedule reveals:  Continue reading →

Coordinators make plans for a challenging summer

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Summer is usually when City Connects Coordinators make sure that students are enrolled in camp or summer school or other programs that will support their growth and development. 

But now, coordinators are planning around the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Summer is a moving target this year,” Lynne Sullivan, City Connects’ Director of Implementation, says. School districts are trying to figure out what programs they can safely offer. Some camps are closing. And parents, especially those who have to go to work, are facing uncertainty. 

“One of the things that coordinators are trying to balance this summer is an emphasis on trying to make up for academic learning loss and address students’ need for social-emotional support,” Sullivan adds.

In City Connect schools across the country, this means connecting students to a mix of creative opportunities.  Continue reading →

Steering through the COVID-19 crisis in Springfield

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Back in March, when the dangerous spread of the coronavirus forced schools to close, the Springfield Public School system focused on human needs.

“We know that our schools are much more than education centers for our families. They provide important support and we know that closure will impact on our families,” the Springfield, Mass., public school website explained. 

“Springfield’s first priority was the safety and well-being of all our students and families,” Julie Donovan, Springfield’s City Connects Program Manager says. That meant focusing on the essential basics of food and housing and on keeping kids virtually connected to school.

So Springfield’s 28 City Connects Coordinators got to work. They reached out to families who weren’t responding to teachers, and they helped children living in homeless shelters get laptops and Internet hotspots.  Continue reading →