At its most basic level, the Community School Model brings resources into the school building to remove non-academic barriers that local low-income children attending public schools face every day.
Non-academic barriers range from basic needs, such as clothing, food and school supplies, to mental and behavioral health challenges, to unmet vision and dental needs, to lack of family engagement, to name a few.
Expecting children who struggle with non-academic barriers daily to come to school, be attentive, and focus on academic curriculum is simply unrealistic. Students are facing barriers preventing them from attending school regularly and causing them to fall behind.
In the 2016-17 school year, we launched the first five United Way community schools in partnership with Erie’s Public Schools (EPS). Since then, we have expanded to 17 schools, including all EPS elementary and middle schools as well as Erie High, creating a premier continuum of the full-service community school model from K – 12th grade in the country, ensuring resources and support services for students and families.
In addition, the elementary schools in Girard, Iroquois and Union City are also United Way community schools. We could not have expanded and accelerated our work without the ongoing full support of the four respective superintendents as well as our many corporate and funding partners.
United Way is committed to the role as the backbone organization for community schools. We believe, without any doubt or a moment’s hesitation, that to break the cycle of poverty in this community we must focus upstream on our future – the successful graduates of public education. These are the community members and the workforce of tomorrow that will shape what our community looks like.
United Way made the decision to buckle down and to be a bold leader, to make challenging decisions, and to move forward in a strategic manner to address the root causes preventing students from being successful in school. To truly break the cycle of poverty, the focus needs to be on prevention which requires systems change.
That’s exactly what our community school model does – in partnership with public schools, it works collectively towards academic success by breaking down non-academic barriers to learning that simply are beyond the scope of the public education system and have multiplied unchecked for decades.
We believe focusing on student success is not only worth the investment, but also vital for Erie’s future – for its citizens, businesses, economic well-being and future generations. United Way is setting the gold standard of public education in the Commonwealth, and leveraging the attraction that it will garner for Erie County – which is far too often overlooked by Harrisburg and beyond.
