United Way of Erie County's COMMUNITY SCHOOL MODEL has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a national best practice. It continues to break down barriers that low-income students face daily thus leading to and the numbers show we're winning.
United Way Community Schools advance student success by meeting students' and families’ basic needs and building trusting relationships. Over the past year, Community Schools reported:
Most United Way community schools improved academic growth over the previous year, compared to statewide standards.
There are 16 United Way community schools serving 8,000+ kids in four Erie County School Districts: Erie’s Public Schools, Girard School District, Iroquois School District and Union City School District.
Community Schools rely on many partners, including school districts, social service organizations, businesses, the public sector, universities and more. Below are the key features that must exist for a successful Community School to be established.
Backbone Organization
United Way serves as the backbone organization for each Community School located in Erie County by employing all Community School Directors, providing technical assistance, maintaining partnership alignment, driving impact, measuring results, ensuring clear communication and assuring the work is implemented with fidelity by all partners. Collaboration among multiple organizations is simple in theory but can be complex in practice.
Corporate Partner
The Corporate Partner commits to financial support for a minimum three-year cycle. They may designate a champion to serve as liaison to the Community School, including engaging with the Community School Director to identify and oversee other employees as volunteers.
Partner Coalition
Partners provide guidance and high need resources identified for their school. They also work with the Community School Director and United Way to secure additional resources to support school strategies. Community Schools have many partners in addition to a Lead Partner.
Community School Leadership Team
Leadership Teams are led by the school principal and Community School Director. They include a diverse group of members like teachers, parents, partners and other key stakeholders. This team collectively sets a direction for the Community School by reviewing gathered custom data and helps identify strategies to support student success during the action planning process. They then assist with the implementation of strategic problem-solving solutions to identified challenges.
Community School Director
Directors are employed by United Way. They work closely with the school principal and Community School Leadership Team, to guide ongoing needs, assess resources and develop an action plan that drives all nonacademic activities in the school. The Director also ensures that all initiatives are implemented according to the partnership agreement.
Data-Driven Accountability
The Community Schools initiative is effective because it is a data-driven model with a set of built-in systems of checks and balances. All resources and initiatives brought into a Community School must align with the action plan developed by the Community School Director and United Way with input from partners. Detailed strategies, action steps, outputs, outcomes, indicators, data sources and measurements are included and evaluated regularly.
