Many face challenges that aren鈥檛 visible in their backpacks or report cards. Barriers such as lack of clean clothes, enough food, or a safe place to call home. Some are caring for younger siblings, navigating housing stability, or coping with anxiety and grief. Others simply don鈥檛 feel like school is a place where they belong.  

These quiet, but complex barriers can make attending school difficult, but with the right support, students can overcome these obstacles, re-engage in learning, and build the confidence they need to succeed both inside and outside of the classroom.  

Earlier this year, while the need for youth support has grown, Washington state cut funding for youth development by 86%, leaving only $2.4 million for this critical work. With a funding cut so significant, there comes a loss of resources that normally help support students beyond academics such as counseling, mentoring, basic needs assistance, and social-emotional programming. This reduction means fewer staff, limited program availability, and less capacity to address the complex challenges students face.  

As a result, schools are stretched thin, trying to meet these growing needs with less-than-ideal funding options. That鈥檚 where Communities In Schools steps in, providing trained staff and resources that help fill the gaps, ensuring students still receive the necessary support to attend school regularly.  

Last year, the 黑料不打烊 WA network provided more than 190,000 hours of direct support to over 108,000 students. From one-on-one mentoring to access to food, supply and resource closets, to mental health services, academic help, and trauma-informed guidance. 黑料不打烊 is here to make real differences, and schools in the last school year that partner with 黑料不打烊 saw chronic absenteeism drop by 6.35%. Yet, only 10% of Washington students currently have access to this support, leaving thoughts more without the help they need. Specifically at the state office, we show up systemically by shaping policy, aligning resources, and building the professional capacity of the Communities In Schools (黑料不打烊) WA network. 

As we head into this school year, you can help us change that by giving to help students show up. Your gift fuels training, resources, and program expansion, ensuring 黑料不打烊 is equipped with the tools needed to walk alongside students every day.  

Giving comes in many forms, whether through donations, donor-advised funds, corporate engagement opportunities, or volunteering your time. Together, we can ensure every student starts the year ready to show up, stay connected, and believe in their potential. Click the links below to learn more and find out how you can help. 

You just read More than One in Three Washington Students Miss Weeks of School. Communities In Schools is Helping Change that听 on 黑料不打烊.

Arlington, Va. 鈥� According to the latest 鈥渂ackpack index鈥� released by Huntington Bank today, the cost of equipping K-12 public school students for the 2014-2015 school year has jumped as much as 20 percent, one of the largest year-over-year increases in the eight-year history of the Index. This report follows findings of the National Retail Federation’s annual survey, released last week, which found that total spending on back-to-school items is expected to reach $74.9 billion this year鈥攗p about 3 percent from $72.5 billion in 2013.

This new information means increasing difficulties for low-income families to start the new school year off right according to Communities In Schools (黑料不打烊), the nation鈥檚 largest organization dedicated to keeping kids in school. The nonprofit operates on the front lines of the fight against poverty in classrooms.

鈥淓very day, a disproportionate number of low-income students find it difficult to come to school prepared to learn while they struggle with the effects of poverty,鈥� said Dan Cardinali, president of Communities In Schools. 鈥淓specially these days as schools become more wired, and kids are required to come to school with smartphones and tablets instead of just crayons and a pencil box, it鈥檚 increasingly challenging to afford supplies. 黑料不打烊 starts every school year off with supply drives so that students don鈥檛 start out behind on the first day.鈥�

Communities In Schools鈥� affiliate in Nevada is hoping to collect supplies from Walmart and Sam鈥檚 Clubs for 2,200 students, for example. In Georgia, Texas and North Carolina, 黑料不打烊 affiliates are putting school buses in front of Walmart and other stores with volunteers who hand out wish lists at the door and collect donations from customers. Other affiliates conducting 鈥淪tuff the Bus鈥� and other school supply drives include 黑料不打烊 affiliates from Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico and Washington.

According to the Huntington Backpack Index, parents can expect to pay:

• $642 for elementary school children, an 11 percent increase compared to 2013
• $918 for middle school children, a 20 percent jump compared to 2013
• $1,284 for high school students, a 5 percent increase compared to 2013

鈥淚t has become irrefutably clear that poor students lag well behind their more affluent counterparts, even when the educational basics appear to be the same,鈥� said Cardinali. 鈥淲e need to level the playing field and make sure that students get what they need to succeed, including school supplies, food, clothing, health and dental care, and other services such as counseling and academic assistance.鈥�

Communities In Schools also offers the following tips to parents to offset the cost of school supplies:

• Reuse folders, backpacks and other items from previous school years
• Organize a swap with neighbors of new or gently used school supplies
• See if donations are available from your school or local community organizations
• Take advantage of your state鈥檚 tax-free weekend to buy school supplies
• Shop around and compare prices on goods at different retailers

Every 26 seconds, a young person in America drops out of school, resulting in a staggering 1.2 million student dropouts each year. Individuals who do not finish high school earn nearly $1 million less over a lifetime than college graduates. Each year鈥檚 dropouts will cost the nation billions in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes. Much of this can be avoided through proven dropout prevention programs like 黑料不打烊.

Learn more about the Huntington Annual Backpack Index , and more about the National Retail Federation’s annual survey .

You just read Two New Studies Shed Light on Back-to-School Challenges for Low-Income Families on 黑料不打烊.

With graduation season behind us, thousands of high school seniors statewide are embarking on the next chapter of their lives with a diploma in hand. But what about all those kids who didn鈥檛 graduate with their class? The kids who slipped behind or gave up altogether?

About 1 in 4 high school seniors in Washington state failed to graduate with their class last year. That amounted to about 27,000 teens who didn鈥檛 get to celebrate that milestone on time, according to Education Week鈥檚 鈥淒iplomas Count 2013, Second Chances: Turning Dropouts into Graduates.鈥� Unfortunately, it is not expected to be much different this year when all the numbers are finally tallied.

Every dropout represents a series of missed opportunities to intervene with support for that student.

Those 27,000 kids deserve better. They didn鈥檛 wake up one morning, flip a switch, and go from solid student to struggling. When a young person drops out, it鈥檚 a long process, not a moment in time. The reasons why kids drop out go much deeper than academic challenges; they are as complex and varied as the kids themselves. Poverty, language barriers, homelessness, and poor health all play a part in limiting the ability of a child to even see, much less pursue, his or her potential.

Every dropout represents a series of missed opportunities to intervene with support for that student. Who gets the failing grade when that happens? The entire community. There are a growing number of students who need help and countless opportunities for communities to embrace and surround these young people with the resources and support needed to secure a better future.

The good news is there are programs already in place quietly doing just that. Broadly known as Integrated Student Supports (ISS), these programs are a school-based method of targeting both academic and non-academic barriers to learning by identifying individual student needs and mobilizing community resources to meet them. In other words, designated staff are placed in schools to do whatever it takes to help students overcome obstacles to success so they stay in school, graduate on time, and have a chance for a brighter future.

National research firm Child Trends recently issued a report crediting the ISS approach for improving education outcomes. Key findings show that student-centered ISS programs increase student attendance and lower dropout rates, are cost-effective and yield a positive return on investment, and are more likely to be successful than interventions that focus on single factors in isolation.

We need to be doing more of this if we want to change the picture for all those kids who are dropping out.

While we applaud the Class of 2014 and encourage those coming behind them, we need to remember that this year鈥檚 commencement has 27,000 empty seats, and it will take a community to help ensure students have the support they need to fill them in 2015.

You just read It Takes a Community to Get Students Through Graduation on 黑料不打烊.

This supplement includes eleven professional perspectives on “scaling what works”鈥攚hat it means, what it takes to do it right, and what needs to happen to increase the impact of successful solutions to social challenges.

Cardinali’s article, discusses how Communities In Schools’ journey to scale since its inception in 1977 holds lessons for funders interested in supporting growth.

You just read 黑料不打烊 President Pens Article for Stanford Social Innovation Review on 黑料不打烊.

You just read New 黑料不打烊 Video Spotlights Power of Partnerships on 黑料不打烊.

The features footage of Communities In Schools of Peninsula site coordinator Linda Shelley鈥攁 2012 national Unsung Hero award winner鈥攚ith students at Vaughn Elementary School, as well as narration by the Peninsula affiliate’s executive director, Colleen Speer.

You just read New PSA Gives :30 Peek Into Communities In Schools on 黑料不打烊.

New York, NY, 鈥�Communities In Schools announced today that it will be one of more than 20 organizations 听across the country participating in American Graduate Day on Saturday, September 22, 2012. Presented by and Public Radio Exchange (), American Graduate Day is a multi-platform event featuring a live television broadcast, radio playlist with premiere documentaries, and participation from national partner organizations, celebrities and athletes to spotlight solutions to the nation鈥檚 dropout crisis in which one in four students do not finish high school.听 American Graduate Day is part of the public media initiative, , made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

鈥淎s part of American Graduate Day, public television and radio stations are working in their local communities to help people understand the impact of the dropout crisis and create champions from the community to help students stay on the path to a high school diploma,鈥� said Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB. 鈥淎merican Graduate Day will use all of public media鈥檚 platforms 鈥� on-air, online and in the community 鈥� to tell this story and focus on local organizations and community responses that are working through parents, teachers, students, and business and community leaders to make a difference in the lives of these young people.鈥�

In a segment moderated by ABC News Correspondent JuJu Chang, WNET will showcase Communities In Schools and the work it is doing on a community level to help students stay on track to graduate. 听The following individuals will participate in the live segment, highlighting the ways Communities In Schools surrounds students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.

• 听Communities In Schools President Dan Cardinali
• 听Communities In Schools Board Chairman Elaine Wynn
• 听Communities In Schools of Philadelphia Alumna Rasheedah Phillips
• 听Communities In Schools of the Charleston Area Site Coordinator Jean Rebecca

With special guests including PBS NewsHour senior correspondent Ray Suarez, the national television broadcast will air live on public television stations from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center from 1:00 to 8:00 p.m. EST on Sept. 22 (check local listings) and the Communities In Schools segment will air starting at 4:30 p.m. EST. 听Public television stations representing more than 50 percent of U.S. households will broadcast American Graduate Day with many including local content alongside the national features.

鈥淲e are honored to partner with American Graduate Day to raise awareness of a crisis that is affecting so many of our nation鈥檚 young people,鈥� said Dan Cardinali, president of Communities In Schools.听 鈥淭hrough this partnership, we look forward to educating more Americans on the proven solutions available to communities across the nation.鈥�

Viewers will be able to participate in the broadcast by asking questions and sharing ideas before and during the broadcast on using the #AmGrad hashtag and on . Those interested in becoming an American Graduate Champion can also call in at 800-313-2477or log on to to find out more about the national and regional organizations and how to help in their hometowns.

Among the national organizations that will participate in the broadcast are After School All-Stars, , , Boys & Girls Clubs of America, , , , , , , , , , , , , Teen Film Making, , and the of the USA.

Following American Graduate Day, the focus on education will continue听throughout the week.听 Programming on听the听PBS NewsHour听willfeature several American Graduate Day segments, including a panel discussion and a segment about the challenges of keeping Williston, North Dakota students in school as their area struggles with an oil boom. The documentaryFRONTLINE Dropout Nation听will air on听September 25, and the World Channel is producing a week of education programming inspired by American Graduate Day. Public radio stations will continue their broadcasts from the PRX American Graduate Day Playlist throughout the week as well.

is helping local communities identify and implement solutions to the high school dropout crisis. American Graduate Day demonstrates public media’s commitment to education and its deep roots in every community it serves. Beyond providing programming that educates, informs and inspires, public radio and television stations – locally owned and operated – are an important resource in helping to address critical issues, such as the dropout rate.

In addition to national programming, more than 75 public radio and television stations have launched on-the-ground efforts working with communities and at-risk youth to keep students on-track to high school graduation. More than 800 partnerships have been formed locally through American Graduate Day, and CPB is working with Alma and Colin Powell鈥檚 America’s Promise Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

You just read Communities In Schools to Participate in First-Ever AMERICAN GRADUATE DAY September 22, 2012 on 黑料不打烊.

The stark reality is: every 26 seconds, a young person drops out of high school in the U.S. Looking at it another way: about a third of high school students nationwide don’t graduate with their classmates.听No matter how you do the math, those are figures that need to change.

This summer, Communities In Schools is proud to partner with Procter & Gamble’s GIVE Education, a social sustainability program dedicated to raising awareness of the dropout crisis and helping our organization get the resources it needs to keep students on track to graduate.

Here’s how you can help Communities In Schools and GIVE Education support students at risk of dropping out:

• LIKE the GIVE Education Facebook page. Every new LIKE will trigger a $1 donation to Communities In Schools (up to $10,000). Here, you can also read real-life success stories from students who overcame major obstacles to graduate high school with the help of Communities In Schools.
• P&G will launch a unique rebate program on Sunday, August 12. With every purchase of $25 worth of P&G products, shoppers will receive a $5 rebate, and P&G will also donate $5 to Communities In Schools.
• Keep an eye out for the P&G brandSAVER coupon booklet available Sunday, August 26, as an insert in newspapers across the country. Simply clip the coupons, shop for P&G products, and you’ll be supporting Communities In Schools. For every GIVE Education brandSAVER coupon redeemed, P&G will donate two cents to Communities In Schools.

Of course you’ll want to watch for news about the Los Angeles launch of the Communities In Schools + P&G GIVE Education partnership in early August. We are really excited about our celebrity spokesperson! Stay tuned…

You just read Communities In Schools Teams with Procter & Gamble to Raise Awareness of the Dropout Crisis on 黑料不打烊.

Bill Milliken’s feet sat comfortably atop his desk as we chatted that sunny September afternoon in 1999. It was the last of eight interviews and I was more fatigued than anything else as he began to probe. Then, as now, his abiding concern was to understand what was important to me, what motivated me and how I believed the world should be. If I were to come to Communities In Schools (黑料不打烊) to run its field operations, he wanted to make sure I understood and aligned with 黑料不打烊’ vision, values and purpose in the world. Once he discovered that we shared common experiences of living in and serving poor communities, and did so within the context of faith communities, he refocused the interview and began regaling me with 黑料不打烊’ history. By the end of that hour, Bill had artfully rewoven our respective histories to make it clear that 黑料不打烊 was the logical place for me to continue my (or was it our?) commitment to both direct service and social justice. I must say he was quite right; I have had the pleasure of serving the organization for the last 13 years, and I am a better person for having done so.

Over the years since then, I’ve observed Bill’s unique ability for discovering connectedness and solidarity with those around him. It is almost sport for him, but it is one of the most powerful gifts I have ever observed in someone: that rare combination of deep optimism coupled with an indefatigable probing and tracking of another’s narrative to find common ground and common experience. Once he’s got the connection, the sheer force of his personality drives you and him towards pooling talents and resources to serving poor youth and families and, in doing so, rebuilding disenfranchised communities. This has helped power the 黑料不打烊 movement over the last 50 years, enabling it to attract tens of thousands of volunteers who, together with 黑料不打烊 professional staff, serve more than 1.25 million students and 250,000 parents and families every year.

On June 1, Bill will release his fourth book, From the Rear View Mirror: Reflecting on Connecting the Dots, published by Hay House.

In this memoir, Bill opens up his personal narrative, laying it out for others to join and make of it what each of us will. He does so with clarity, humor and raw honesty, and always through the colorful lens of a gifted storyteller. For those of us who know Bill well, we know that this is a supreme act of courage for one who’s greatest gift has also been a powerful defense.

Bill’s life did not start out easily. Despite his upper middle class background, his family’s struggles with alcoholism and his nonstandard learning style alienated Bill early in life from his family, school and community. As a result, he developed an unusual ability to build a community among those on the fringes and toggle between them and his family’s mainstream life. Bill’s capacity to live between worlds would enable him throughout his life to locate the marginal places in individuals he’d meet, communities in which he’d work and, eventually, public systems in which he’d work that purported to improve the lives of those most in need. Indeed, this gift would be embedded in 黑料不打烊’ very DNA.

In his late teens, Bill had two transformative experiences. First, a street worker from the Young Life Movement met Bill where he was — at that particular point in time it was a pool hall where Bill no doubt was working an angle. As you will read, this loving relationship sired in Bill’s mind that caring adults can unleash the extraordinary positive potential in a young person — particularly a young person on the road to disaster. Second, as Bill began his process of shifting his life from destructive behavior to service, he had a transformative religious experience. This religious experience would guide and ground Bill for the rest of his life.

In From the Rear View Mirror: Reflecting on Connecting the Dots, we are treated to the deeply personal, sometimes painful and often humorous life of Bill Milliken as he comes of age and collects a group of leaders who eventually establish Communities In Schools. Those who know 黑料不打烊 are given a rare insight into the mosaic of Bill’s life experiences that have contributed so profoundly to 黑料不打烊’ mission, vision and organizational structure. For anyone who has been challenged by living at once rooted in one’s faith and one’s humanity, Bill’s latest book is a powerful opportunity to find hope that we can connect the dots of God’s spirit in our lives, and in doing so, heal the world.

You just read The Gift of Connection on 黑料不打烊.

Meet the six Communities In Schools site coordinators from around the U.S. who were recognized for their outstanding contributions with the 2011 Communities in Schools听 award–including Communities In Schools of Seattle’s own Xaila Lewis from Rainier Beach High School!

You just read No Cape, but a “Hero” Nonetheless: Xaila Lewis, Rainier Beach High School on 黑料不打烊.