Communities In Schools of Houston

Communities In Schools of Houston will be featured as a special guest along with Alief ISD  and Spring Branch ISD on PBS Saturday, September 22^nd. The featured spotlights are to kick off the American Graduate Day Outreach efforts.  American Graduate: Let’s Make it Happen is a public media initiative supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – to help students stay on the path to high school graduation and future success.

The interview with Alief ISD’s Susan Castro, Director of Public Relations will air 12:20 pm,   while the interview with Linda Buchman from the Spring Branch SpringBoard Mentoring program is slated for 12:50 pm. 

American Graduate Day will be broadcast from Lincoln Center in NYC, and will kick off a week of American Graduate related programming airing on public television stations nationally. Houston’s local Channel 8 will feature seven minute segments each spotlighting a community partner, selected based on strong track-records of engaging at-risk youth and supporting drop-out prevention in the community. CIS is one of the featured seven minute segments, with interviews by Channel 8’s Ernie Manouse.  A phone bank will receive calls all day from anyone interested in mentoring who calls the national mentoring database hotline.  Subsequently, a  report will be sent to CIS reporting the interested mentors and they will be redirected to the appropriate district.

In addition, two CIS Alums, Tristan Love and Izzy G. Anderson have been interviewed along with their mentors to share their mentoring experience. Both interviews highlight CIS’ involvement with each alum and how the mentoring relationship came to fruition because of CIS’ presence in their lives.

Tristan and CIS Board member/mentor Pat Rosenberg’s interview’s will also air on Saturday as well as Izzy’s interview, which includes her mentors Kathy Patrick and Barrett Reasoner, partners of Gibbs & Bruns LLP. 

courtesy of AT&T.com

Communities In Schools is one of two Houston programs chosen to be among 47 recipients nationwide that will share in nearly $10 million from AT&T, through their ASPIRE program .  The other recipient is Project GRAD. The AT&T Aspire program is one of the largest corporate commitments focused on helping more students graduate from high school and prepare for college and careers.  AT&T announced an additional quarter-billion-dollar expansion to the program earlier this year, bringing the total commitment to $350 million.

The ASPIRE program decision-makers know that Educators in schools and non-profits across the country have a unique understanding of the challenges students face in their communities. The program chose the 47 schools and non-profits nationally through a rigorous and competitive selection process, CIS-Houston and Project GRAD were selected from thousands of applicants nationwide.

Applicants were evaluated based on their accomplishments in serving students at risk of dropping out of high-school and their ability to use data to demonstrate the effectiveness of their work. CIS-Houston and Project GRAD were identified as making a real difference in their communities by supporting and motivating traditionally under-served students to stay in school and to graduate from high school and college.

Today’s donation brings the total amount awarded to these two Houston area organizations to $1.1 million through the AT&T Aspire program.

“We know programs like Project GRAD and CIS are making a real difference in the lives of Houston area students,” said Dave Nichols, President of AT&T Texas. “These two initiatives capture the essence of what our AT&T Aspire program is all about, supporting proven and socially innovative programs that keep students in school, on the road to graduation and on the path toward higher education and the 21st century workforce.”

CIS- Houston will use new AT&T Aspire funds to support its Dropout Prevention services designed to meet the needs of at-risk students including providing mental health professionals on high school campuses. Project Grad intends to use the new Aspire funding for its Freshman Success Initiative, a partnership with Houston ISD campuses focused on low-income, at-risk freshmen.

“The overwhelming majority of our students stay in school because we’re on school campuses working with them every day,” said Cynthia Clay Briggs, Executive Director, CIS Houston.  “AT&T’s investment in our community’s youth will enable CIS to reach even more students on these campuses in our mission to eradicate the dropout crisis in our city.”

“CIS has given me support through the good, the bad and the ugly,” said Tyresa Morgan, Jefferson Davis High School senior.  “Not only have they become my advocates, but also my family.”

Charity Navigator, the premier charity rating website, is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this month.  As part of their celebration, they’ve just published a new list of top ten American Charities . We at Communities in Schools Houston are honored to have made that national Top 10 list.

This is what Charity Navigator has to say about why these ten honorees made their 10^th Anniversary List:

Over the years, they’ve had at least 3 and as much as 11 consecutive 4-star ratings. And, as of Charity Navigator’s 10th Anniversary, they have an all around excellent rating of 4-stars in Financial Health, 4-stars in Accountability & Transparency and 4-stars Overall. Given their favorable track record and the fact that they were among the first charities we rated, we thought it would be fitting to include them in this Top 10 list celebrating our 10 years of rating charities.

Communities In Schools Houston is proud to be among these stellar organizations. As Charity Navigator has grown in its influence over the years, the site has become an important tool for letting donors know who we are and the important work we do. Especially now that  the current economic climate makes givers extra cautious and protectively prudent, our organization is appreciative that Charity Navigator informs the public about the priority CIS Houston places on financial responsibility, accountability and transparency. We know these factors are the foundation upon which we  so effectively serve our students and schools, and a big part of why  we are considered one of the top 3 dropout prevention programs  in the state and  the only program to make a meaningful impact on both increasing graduation rates and decreasing dropout rates.

Go HERE to see the complete Charity Navigator’s Tenth Anniversary List of  Top 10 Charities.

The Happy Board Member

CIS Houston Board Members and the National TQS Review Committee

On December 8^th CIS Houston achieved National Accreditation by demonstrating compliance with all Communities In Schools new Total Quality System (TQS) standards.  CIS Houston, has for the more than 30 years of its operations been a part of a national affiliation of CIS organizations throughout the country. The Houston-based non-profit is one of the oldest and largest of the over 200 CIS affiliates located in 25 states and the District of Columbia.

CIS National developed the Total Quality System recently (the process began in 2006) to establish clear operational guidelines that ensure uniform quality and improved outcomes for all students being served by Communities In Schools affiliates.  The TQS system is part of an organization-wide commitment to evidence-based practice and the highest standards of accountability.

The TQS standards define expectations for effective non-profit business practices and for implementing the Communities In Schools model of integrated student support services at school sites.  The site standards are based on a five-year, longitudinal national evaluation conducted by an independent, outside evaluator that documented the impact of the Communities In Schools model.  The evaluation revealed that schools implementing the Communities In Schools model with high fidelity had higher graduation rates, lower dropout rates, and performed better than comparison schools in increasing the percentage of students meeting or exceeding math and reading proficiency in 4^th and 8^th grades, a crucial predictor of high school graduation.

CIS Houston has been pleased to participate in the TQS process with the recognition that uniformity in the quality of our practices helps raise and maintain the effectiveness of our services across the country.

 For more information about our National organization and other state and city affiliates go HERE.

Kids gathering the Assets for Themselves!

What if every youth in Houston knew the building blocks of a successful future?   Perhaps we could give them a list and say, “Here is what you need to succeed.” Most young people do want to be academically and socially successful, they just haven’t had parents or people in their lives that have been able to share those building blocks.

There are 40 building blocks that have research behind them.  They are the 40 Developmental Assets © from Search Institute.   The more of these building blocks a youth has the greater their chance for success and staying away from risky behavior.  Many of these “assets”(blocks) are things that can be added by the youth, such as joining organizations, participating in sports, reading.  Other assets come from other adults in their life, this might be a teacher, youth worker, Sunday School teacher, aunt or uncle.

These may seem like common sense but if you have not been raised with them, it is good to have a list.  The 40 are broken down in to 8 categories:  Support, Empowerment, Boundaries and Expectations, Constructive Use of time, Commitment to Learning, Positive Values, Social Competencies, and Positive Identity.

That is what Link Up Greater Houston is all about.

What we want Link Up Greater Houston to accomplish is:

1.  To inform more young people and adults about the 40 Developmental Assets;

2.  To inspire young people to add the assets that they don’t have;

3.  For every adult who works with youth to know the importance of building positive, caring relationships with all youth; and

4.  To inspire relationships with young people by adults and also to let young people know that they can help their peers.

Tristan Love Tells His Story

Link Up Greater Houston 2011 was on October 1 at the University of Houston.  The 2011 Keynote Speaker was Tristan Love, a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School in Houston.  As a freshman in high school he was kicked out of one school for participating in a gang fight.   He was introduced to the 40 Developmental Assets as a sophomore, and it became his road map for determining what he should do in high school.  Seven years later he is the Student Government President at Wiley College after 3 years of successful debate experience with the new “Great Debaters Team”.

LinkUp Houston Drew a Large Crowd Seeking the 40 Developmental Assets

Following the motivational keynote, students and youth workers attended 2 workshops.  More than 20 youth-serving agencies and non-profits came together to plan the day and provide the workshops.  These included Communities in Schools Houston, as well as Children at Risk, the City of Houston Health and Human Services, City Parks Department, Girls Scouts of San Jacinto Council, Harris County Dept. of Education (CASE), Harris County Triad, Mission Houston, Neighborhood Centers, Project Grad, University of Texas Health Science Prevention Research Center, the YMCA of Houston and the YWCA.

By Pat Rosenberg, another CIS Happy Board Member!