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As the CISNCAP Connected School Manager at Kramer Middle School in S.E., DC, I have observed that our students tend to be overlooked despite facing unique challenges outside of school daily. One of my caseload students, K.D., is in the 8th grade and is 13 years old. He loves football and aspires to be a high school and college student-athlete.

K.D. joined Communities In Schools of the Nation’s Capital (CISNCAP) as a self-referral and expressed interest in wanting a mentor. I was excited for him to be my mentee, and while building a relationship with him, he confided in me that he needed an adult he could trust to help him navigate challenges at school. I told him that I would be his mentor and that he could trust me to provide Social Emotional Learning (SEL) support.

I connected him with a tutor and counseling support service to address some of his barriers. Additionally, he is playing on the football team, which teaches him life skills. I conduct classroom push-ins and check-ins with him weekly to ensure he is part of my Life Skills group called “Man Time.” I also gave him advice on how to persevere despite adversity.

This school year has been going well for K.D. His attendance has been consistent, and his grades are good. K.D. feels he has access to resources such as Communities In Schools of the Nation’s Capital at his school. We are now working on identifying high schools that would fit him academically and athletically. I plan to connect him with some high school football coaches so that he can start visiting schools of interest.

Communities In Schools of the Nation’s Capital (CISNCAP) thanks Amazon and Communities In Schools of NVA for donating 3,000 school bags to our affiliate.  The bags are packed with a 12-piece pencil bag with 2 pencils, 2 pens, a pink eraser, a sharpener, a glue stick, crayons, soap, folder, notebook, ruler, and either tissues, wipes, or hand sanitizer.

CISNCAP serves 10 DCPS schools throughout the city in Wards 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8.  Our mission is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.

On August 12^th, CISNCAP is partnering with East River Family Strengthening Collaborative (ERFSC) to host a Back to School event. Students from CISNCAP partner schools are welcome.

Communities In Schools of the Nation’s Capital awarded 2023 Many Hands $100,000 Impact Grant

Many Hands leverages the power of collective giving to support nonprofits serving and empowering Washington, DC area women, children, and families in socioeconomic need. Since 2004, including the more than $300,000 in grants we announce today, Many Hands has granted more than $2.8 million to 46 nonprofit organizations.

The mission of Communities in Schools of the Nation’s Capital (CISNCAP) is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Incorporated in 2004, CISNCAP is the DC affiliate of the nation’s largest dropout prevention program, Communities in Schools, which has been successfully helping young people stay in school and transition to adulthood since 1977. During the 2022-23 school year, CISNCAP worked in ten DC public schools throughout Wards 5, 6, 7, and 8, reaching over 4,300 students and their families and providing intensive case management for more than 400 students.

Communities in Schools provides a unique model for putting students and families on a path to success. By placing dedicated staff members inside partner schools, CISNCAP is able to identify students at risk of dropping out. CISNCAP site coordinators work closely with school administrators to assess student needs, develop a support plan, and engage community partners and volunteers to address both academic and human service needs.

CISNCAP helps ensure that children feel safe and cared for and have secure access to shelter, food, clothing, and medical care. In addition, they support restorative justice programs, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) programs, after-school and lunchtime enrichment, family engagement, and resource clinics. The result is improved attendance, behavior, academic performance, retention rates, and graduation rates.

CISNCAP is excited to share the news that long-time Connected School Manager Monique Baker has been promoted to Program Director. Ms. Baker is a graduate of DC Public Schools and holds a master’s degree in social work from the Catholic University of America. Before becoming the Connected School Manager, she served as Site Coordinator for Communities in Schools for five years at the Cardozo Education Campus, located in Columbia Heights, the neighborhood in which she was raised and currently lives. Ms. Baker is a licensed practitioner with over a decade of experience in youth and family programs. She is dedicated to supporting the development of young people and the communities in which they live.

In her role as Program Director, Ms. Baker will oversee the successful implementation of the CIS Model across our partnering schools.  In addition, she will reestablish consistency, which was impacted by Covid-19 and the virtual enrollment across our school sites, and ensure the fidelity of our data collection and reporting. CISNCAP has a proven track record of effectiveness. Moving forward, we are pivoting toward leveraging existing resources to have a greater impact on the schools we serve and enhancing our feeder pattern structure. Executive Director Dr. Lewis said that Ms. Baker is the right person at the right time. We are coming out of a pandemic that has had devastating implications for our students and communities i.e. learning loss, isolation, and economic hardships.  Ms. Baker’s training as a Social Worker, experience, and passion for youth will position CISNCAP to have added impact and reach.

During the opening week of the smash hit movie, Wakanda Forever, Communities In Schools of the Nation’s Capital (CISNCAP) celebrated 55 elementary school students with tickets, snacks, and transportation to the movies.

Mr. Javon Johnson (left side), who is a CISNCAP Site Coordinator at Stanton Elementary School in Ward 8, identified, selected, and organized the field trip. The students who attended were chosen based on their making the Dean’s list and perfect attendance.

Too often we hear about students who are in trouble, but Mr. Johnson wanted to celebrate the students at Stanton Elementary School who are studying, making the grade, and showing up for school. Congratulations to these students. The future is bright!

The Greater Washington Community Foundation today announced $9.2 million in grants funded by the historic Health Equity Fund (HEF). Grants will support 32 DC nonprofit organizations  engaged in economic mobility to help close the glaring and intolerable racial health and wealth gap.

The $95 million Health Equity Fund has the potential to reshape the way DC addresses its long- standing health inequities. Given that 80 percent of DC’s health outcomes are driven by social, economic, and other factors, compared to just 20 percent by clinical care, the strategy for this fund is to use an economic mobility frame to address the root causes that are causing these challenges in the first place.

“Mindful that health and wealth are inextricably linked, the HEF’s first round of grants is boldly investing in economic mobility and wealth building in DC’s historically underinvested communities,” said Greater Washington Community Foundation President and CEO Tonia Wellons. “Achieving this vision puts our city on a trajectory to improve and achieve optimal health outcomes for all DC residents.”

Continue reading “CISNCAP Awarded Health Equity Grant by Greater Washington Community Foundation”

From Site Coordinator Dakari Taylor-Watson at Brookland Middle School:

This school year has been anything but normal. Due to the pandemic, DCPS has had to rethink how schools communicate with families and support them. In addition, many families have rethought the idea of returning to an in-person learning environment and school because of the perceived risk of COVID-19. As a school, we understand the importance of students being at school physically because of the social, emotional, and psychological development that is cultivated. We had a lot of work to do to support families, make them feel more comfortable about returning, and enrolling students for the upcoming year.

Continue reading “Brookland Middle School”

Elementary and middle school students in D.C. showed academic progress last school year despite remote learning — but growth rates were still far lower than before the pandemic, according to a study released Tuesday.

The analysis, which compared scores on math and reading assessments for students in spring 2021 with scores from spring 2019, found significant drops in performance among some of the city’s young learners. Black and Latino children and students from low-income families experienced the steepest drops, according to the research from EmpowerK12, a nonprofit that analyzes education data.

Continue reading “DCist: A New Report Shows How Drastically The Pandemic Affected Learning In D.C.”