State-Local and School Community Partnerships

Evelyn R. FrankfordSenior Project Director

Making Health AcademicEducation Development Center, Inc.

55 Chapel StreetNewton, MA 02458Tel: 617 618-2421

E-mail: efrankford@edc.org

State Commitment Requires Support for Results

State, local and community partners need to identify results they seek to achieve, e.g., improved child health, and how they will measure these

There can be other, related results that partners seek to achieve, eg., greater family involvement, community forums on difficult subjects

Such Partnerships Can Build on Community Schools Philosophy

SHPPS data tell us that the interventions whose use increased were those that involved multiple partners and settings, combining instruction, community action and programs, and policy change: violence prevention tobacco prevention

Public schools as hub, bringing together many partners to achieve five key results: Children are ready to learn All students learn and achieve to high standards Young people are prepared for adult roles in the workplace, as parents, as

citizens Families and neighborhoods are safe, supportive and engaged Parents and community members are involved with the school

Such Partnerships Can Build on Community Schools Philosophy

Public schools serve as a hub for these kinds of initiatives. They partner to achieve five key results: Children are ready to learn All students learn and achieve to high

standards Young people are prepared for adult roles

in the workplace, as parents, as citizens

Such Partnerships Can Build on Community Schools Philosophy

Families and neighborhoods are safe, supportive and engaged

Parents and community members are involved with the school

Key Principles of Community Schools

Foster strong partnershipsShare accountability for resultsSet high expectations for all

How to Apply This to the State’s Role in Promoting Local CSHPs

1. Provide leadership to create a team of multiple stakeholders at state and local levels

2. Foster a climate in which CBOs and family support organizations can assert themselves and have funding to act

3. Review regulations to identify possibilities for innovation

Where is this happening?

Tennessee State Coalition 1999 legislation with $1 million in

funding TA to local CSHP pilots

Minnesota Minneapolis Healthy Learners Board

Providing Leadership To All Stakeholders

School reform seeks to strengthen schools so each child succeeds academically

Community based organizations seek to build community improvements and maximize cooperation to benefit children and families

Health advocates and providers seek to ensure optimal health for children

adapted from IEL, Education and Community Building: Connecting Two Worlds

Bridging Gaps, Addressing Differences:

Organizational structures and cultures

Criteria for leadershipPerspectives on role of schoolsDifferent levels of accountabilityPowerCollaboration and conflict

Fostering an Action Climate

Recognize the inside-outside dynamic Many effective partnerships are not

explicit; some of the most useful are “unspoken”

Take care not to damage other partners and to respect each partner’s role, position, possibilities and limitations

Advocacy

Fostering an Action Climate (CONT)

CBOs need flexible resources - money, staff, meeting facilities

CBOs need forums where they can participate - could mean evening meetings, meetings in the community rather than a school building

CBOs may need time to reach out to their constituencies

Revising Regulations to Foster Local Partnerships

Examine Special Ed formulas to see how to expand mental health services

Get involved with Tobacco Settlement projects that may have flexible funds

Work closely with Title I and Title IV programs to identify ways to pursue common education reform, health promotion, and prevention goals and objectives

Look at Medicaid to improve health servicesFind miscellaneous pots of money in the

Education Dept budget to apply to coordination activities

Family and Community Involvement Overarches Local Action

CSHP component Family and Community Involvement is ripe for development and re-framing

According to the SHPPS data, this component is defined in extremely limited ways, mostly as providing the most elementary information, eg.

sending lunch menus home about the school health services and education

programs offering tours of the school facility

State Support for Local Action is an Opportunity

School health is ripe for all partners to better coordinate and provide leadership for all CSHP components

School partnerships with communities and families are about engaging everyone in improving outcomes for children and youth and may require overcoming barriers of poverty, language, culture, alienation from the school

There is an endless list of concrete things state government can do to help.