Goal
The Oregon Commission on Children and Families collaborates with public and private organizations to make every public school in Oregon a "community school."
What Is a Community School?
A community school is a public school that combines the best quality educational practices with a wide range of important health and social services to ensure that children are physically, emotionally and socially prepared to learn.
Based on the principle that learning occurs in many places – in school, after school, at home, in neighborhoods and communities – community schools are open early in the morning and late into the evenings, on weekends and during summers and school breaks. They offer services for children and adults, like:
- Youth development programs, including academic enrichment, sports, arts and community service
- Summer camps
- Medical, dental and mental health services and child health insurance enrollment
- Social services
- Adult education
- Immigration assistance
- Early childhood programs
- Community development, including employment of neighborhood residents and sponsorship of community events
This comprehensive approach to education and related supports has been shown to prevent crime, increase community safety, develop youth leadership and provide improved access to social service resources.
By working together, community members can create local community schools that serve as safe and welcoming community centers, where people can learn, teach, volunteer and contribute to students' educational excellence and overall development.
The Role of OCCF in Community Schools
The Oregon Commission on Children and Families has joined the Governor’s Office, Oregon Department of Education, Oregon Department of Human Services, and Oregon Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development to share leadership, through the Partners for Children and Families collaboration, in the development of community schools across the state. These lead agencies are working together to:
- Create a statewide policy framework
- Develop guiding principles
- Provide incentives
- Access pooled funds
To find out about model community schools programs in Oregon, click here.
Oregon Commission on Children and Families is a proud partner and supporter of The Community Agenda for America’s Public Schools. The Community Agenda represents an action plan to ensure that all children enter school healthy, ready to learn and succeed. It prepares students to pursue post secondary education and become productive family and community members. The Community Agenda will help struggling youth, families and communities improve their lives by fostering school and community partnerships that support student outcomes. Key national leaders from education, youth development, community engagement, health and social services, and higher education organizations will sign on to a set of strategies and solutions enabling communities to support public education.
Quality education is critical and schools cannot do the job in isolation. For all students to achieve academic success the community must become active partners in addressing the challenges in the lives of youth, their families and neighborhoods, enabling schools to remain focused on their core mission of education.
For further information visit:
Contact person:
Shital C. Shah, Research Associate
shahs(at)iel.org
For OCCF information contact:
Iris Bell
(503) 378-6250
Iris.Bell(at)state.or.us
All E-mail addresses are spam protected, convert (at) to @ in e-mail address
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