Building Capacity to Implement
Community Schools
Darlene Kamine
Community Learning Center Institute
Jane Quinn
National Center for Community Schools
Coalition for Community Schools National Forum
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
April 8, 2010
Objectives of Today’s Session
• Understand that there are many starting
points for capacity-building efforts
• Learn about successful capacity-building
systems in two community school sites
• Share best practices from other sites
• Identify both content and processes of
capacity-building in community schools
• Assess state of your own capacity-building
Building capacity a ton of bricks at a time
Building capacity one brick at a time
What foundation is already in place?
• Is there a Board of Education policy supporting
district-wide community schools?
• Are the community schools intended to be
remedial or transformative?
• Who will be the point person coordinating
the community schools for the school district?
What foundation is already in place?
• Will the district support schools being open
beyond the school day and to the community?
• Will dedicated partnership space be provided
without rent or overhead cost?
• Will there be funding from the school district for
partnerships?
What foundation is already in place?
• What is the plan for building and sustaining the
infrastructure district-wide and at each site
level?
• Will selection of partnerships be responsive to
community engagement at the site level or
driven by central office?
Building capacity through community
engagement
Strategies for community
engagement at the site level
1. Facilitated process for creating a shared vision
with school and neighborhood
2. Create shared ownership, not buy-in.
3. Identify the existing assets in the school and
community
4. Develop consensus around needs and priorities
5. Create community schools as a set of colocated and linked partnerships with focus on
reallocating existing resources.
School
Site
After
School
Parent
Center
Site Resource
Coordinator
Health
Art
Community
Meetings
Recreation
Adult ed
Tutoring
Social
Services
Strategies for engaging partners to
develop district-wide capacity
1.Identify all potential partners in each program
area in the community.
2. Demonstrate customer demand and benefit of
partnerships with school.
3. Facilitate development of partnership networks
with single point of contact leadership.
Strategies for engaging partners to
develop district-wide capacity
Role of partnership network
• to build capacity to ensure equitable access for all sites
• broker selection of partnerships at site level
• develop viable business plan and sustainable funding on
behalf of the partner members
• support implementation of partnerships
• provide ongoing quality control, professional development
and support
• work with other partnership networks to create districtwide cross boundary leadership team / macro community
school
Community
Learning
Center Institute
Early
Childhood
Leave No
Child Inside
College
Access
Cincy After
School
Adopt a Class
Green&
Healthy
Growing Well
School
Site
After
School
Site Resource
Coordinator
Health
MindPeace
Parent
Center
Art
Community
Meetings
Recreation
Adult ed
T utoring
Social
Services
Arts
Education
Tutoring
Mentoring
Parent
Network
Innovations
Cross Boundary Leadership Team
Strive Partnership
A Second Approach...
Central team at The Children’s Aid Society provides
direction, guidance and support to our 22
community schools:
• “Getting them what they need when they need it”
• Regular, high quality supervision and on-site
coaching
• Budgeting and fiscal management
• Funding and fundraising
• Program quality supports
Professional
Development/Networking
We build capacity through regular infrastructure
that includes:
• Monthly work group meetings/affinity groups
--CS Directors
--Program Directors
--Parent Coordinators
• Annual summer institute for CS Directors
• CS Orientation for all new full-time CS staff
• Semi-annual mandatory PD for afterschool staff
Lessons about Capacity Building
From our national TA work, Children’s Aid has
learned:
• Think of CB as an investment, rather than a cost
• Build it into your budget
• Consider both the content (topics) and
processes (methodologies) of CB
• Effective CB is co-constructed
• Everything is developmental and relational
How to Contact Us:
Darlene Kamine
Director, Community Learning Center Institute
513/325-9708
Darlene.kamine@clcinstitute.org
Jane Quinn
Director, National Center for Community Schools
646/867-6670
janeq@childrensaidsociety.org