Excerpted from the
March 8, 2010
Dropout prevention, bringing local resources into schools for students, and helping young people stay healthy are among Communities in Schools鈥� goals. The national nonprofit was drawn to Spokane because of its dropout rate 鈥� one in three students. The local branch was established here in December 2007. Since then, executive director Ben Stuckart has helped bring dental services into several schools, provide food to more hungry children on weekends, and joined the steering committee for an effort to establish a fund that could improve the graduation聽rate.
Q: How does Communities in Schools connect local resources with聽schools?
A: We do that by putting a site coordinator in specific schools. So, in Spokane, we have coordinators at Cheney, Glover and Chase middle schools. There鈥檚 a volunteer coordinator at Sheridan Elementary School. Their job is to bring outside resources into the schools. For example, the dental-sealant service, Tooth Savers, is one we brought聽in.
Q: What are a few of the activities Communities in Schools is involved聽in?
A: We have a pretty robust afterschool program 鈥� where we have more than 50 students participating each night at each of the three locations. They bring in outside resources like Red Cross, which teaches baby-sitting courses. And Girl Scouts teaches 鈥渦niquely Me鈥� 鈥� a program that addresses the critical nationwide problem of low self-esteem among adolescent and pre-adolescent聽girls.
It鈥檚 all community partners offering those programs. And we鈥檙e brokering them in and connecting them with聽children.
Another need that we came up with was nutrition. Schools offer free and reduced lunch programs, but then kids at night and over the weekend are hungry. We have a partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank to do food backpacks that we send home over the weekend. I think we鈥檙e up to over 60聽children.
There鈥檚 a growing low-income area in Airway Heights, so we talked to Second Harvest Food Bank and the organization opened a Kids Caf茅 at Cheney Middle School. It serves free and abundant food every day that鈥檚 nutritious: granola bars, sunbutter (a spread made from sunflower seeds) and jelly sandwiches, fruit and vegetables. We probably feed 75 to 100 kids at Cheney Middle聽School.
Q: Why did the nonprofit get involved in the Children鈥檚 Investment Fund聽initiative?
A: I鈥檝e seen the need directly. Our job is to connect community resources to schools, and I鈥檝e seen the number of services available to our kids in schools through nonprofits has聽shrunk.
I understand the dropout rate, and I think it鈥檚 a huge social and economic issue that we need to address. Our organization can鈥檛 address it alone. I think there鈥檚 a need for something larger here in our聽community.