School-Community Partnerships

The third case study from the Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development discusses the role community partners can play in supporting children’s learning in collaboration with schools. “School-Community Partnerships” cites key examples of school-community partnerships, highlighting the Tacoma Whole Child Initiative in particular which (as many of you may remember from our visit there last November) takes a city-wide approach to this work, joining everyone from the mayor’s office to the local Boys and Girls Club in support of children’s learning.

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US2020 STEM Collaboratory Hosts 15 Finalists in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

On January 31, 2018, US2020 hosted the STEM Collaboratory event in Pittsburgh. This unique gathering, sponsored by Arconic Foundation, brought together the 15 finalist communities of the US2020 STEM Coalition Challenge The initial intent behind the STEM Collaboratory was to provide competing teams a chance to connect with experts and refine their ideas — it turned out to be so much more.

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Namaste! Sandia National Laboratories Citizen Teacher Kayla Norris teaches afterschool yoga in East Oakland

While many at Sandia know Kayla Norris (8100) as a financial analyst, a class of students in Oakland knows her as “Ms. Kayla,” their afterschool yoga instructor. For ten weeks in the fall of 2017, Kayla taught a yoga and mindfulness class at Roots International Academy, a small middle school in East Oakland.

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TD a top finalist for STEM grant

The Dalles is a top-15 finalist nationwide for a grant that could potentially hire two full-time employees to help bring hands-on STEM mentoring and projects to local students. US2020 announced the finalists in its STEM Coalition Challenge in January, and the top eight applicants will share around $1 million in grant awards. The finalists were selected based on their potential for impact, approach to partnership building, creative engagement strategies and sustainability planning, according to US2020. The goal of the challenge is to bring STEM mentorship and hands-on experiences to underrepresented students. The challenge received proposals from 92 communities, representing nearly 2,000 partners.

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Iridescent Announces 2018 Technovation Alliance with Salesforce.org, Google's Made with Code, Adobe Foundation and Uber to Bring Tech and Mentorship to Thousands of Girls Worldwide

Iridescent, a global STEM education nonprofit, is launching its 2018 season with Technovation Alliance partners: Salesforce.org, Google's Made with Code, Adobe Foundation, and Uber. This alliance is working to marshal the resources of multiple tech and innovation partners to make a deeper and more sustainable impact in inspiring and supporting female tech leaders across the globe. 

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Scholar Athletes appoints two nonprofit leaders to managing director roles

Scholar Athletes today announced the appointment of two nonprofit leaders to managing director roles within the Boston-based nonprofit. Scholar Athletes provides academic and college preparation support to more than 5,000 student “Zone members” in more than 20 schools in Boston, Everett and Springfield.

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6 Degrees Of The Bay Area

On February 8, 2018, over 40 Volunteers from more than 20 Businesses in the Bay Area gathered at Greenleaf Elementary School in Oakland, California to take part in our annual 6 Degrees of the Bay Area networking event! Students had the chance to network with professionals from fields ranging from Architecture, Computer Science, and Human Resources to name a few.

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Mock Interview Days at the Eddy and Trotter in Boston

During the week of January 22 - January 26 Citizen Schools welcomed over 80 volunteers to the Trotter Innovation School and Edwards Middle School in Boston, and the Browne Middle School in Chelsea to participate in Mock Interview Days.

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Education and Service Journey After AmeriCorps

Gina Amico and David Urieta, are AmeriCorps Alums and currently completing a Masters of Science through the IPSL International Development and Service (MS-IDS) program. Gina is nearing her graduation and studied / served abroad in Siena, Italy and Guayaquil, Ecuador. David is preparing for his first semester abroad in Medellin, Colombia.

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Pratt Institute Named a Finalist in US2020 STEM Coalition Challenge

Pratt Institute has been selected as one of 15 finalists for the US2020 STEM Coalition Challenge, a competition for communities across the United States to develop cross-sector partnerships and bridge the opportunity gap by bringing hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) mentoring and maker-centered learning to underrepresented youth. Eight winners, to be selected in spring 2018, will receive two years of financial, consulting, and staff support in order to implement the initiative.

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Columbia Gorge STEM Hub announced as finalist in award challenge

US2020 announces 15 finalists, including the Columbia Gorge STEM Hub in The Dalles, for the STEM Coalition Challenge, a competition for communities across the country to develop cross-sector partnerships to bring quality hands-on STEM mentoring and maker-centered learning to underrepresented students. These finalists will now move forward to compete for $1 million in resources to implement their bold strategies, representing some of the most innovative approaches to tackling the opportunity gap through STEM, stated a press release.

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A New Approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Citizen Schools

The development of a more diverse, equitable and inclusive organization has long been a priority at Citizen Schools, given our mission and the communities we serve. We strongly believe that as an organization it is our moral imperative to breakdown the systems of oppression that have long prevented us from copiously serving our young people and supporting their visions of success.  

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Michigan Science Center Makes It To Top 15 In The US2020 STEM Coalition Challenge

The Michigan Science Center has been named on of the finalists in the US2020 STEM Coalition Challenge. Judges for the competition looked at how each organization incorporated science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to underrepresented students. They were also evaluated on their potential impact, approach to partnership building, creative engagement strategies, and sustainability planning.

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Tufts Career Center holds first-ever sophomore career conference

The first-ever sophomore career conference, organized by the Tufts Career Center, was held on Jan. 16 and 17 at the Medford/Somerville campus. Lasting a day and a half in total, the conference consisted of a welcome dinner, breakout sessions, an internship networking fair and a closing reception. The event was held at 51 Winthrop Street as well as Anderson and the Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) building, according to the event webpage.

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Front Porch: Idaho STEM Action Center heading to STEM Coalition Challenge

US2020, part of the national nonprofit Citizen Schools that focuses on building up America’s STEM programs, has announced that the Idaho STEM Action Center is one of the 15 finalists for its STEM Coalition Challenge. The STEM Action Center was chosen through an application process, where it was evaluated based on its “potential for impact, approach to partnership building, creative engagement strategies and sustainability planning,” according to a press release.

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U.S. Department of Education awards $3.9M to expand BoSTEM, a citywide initiative to increase STEM programming

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Boston Public Schools (BPS) Superintendent Tommy Chang today joined leaders of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, Boston After School & Beyond and community-based organizations to announce a significant expansion of BoSTEM, a city-wide initiative aimed at increasing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) after-school programming for up to 10,000 students in grades 6-8 who are typically underrepresented in STEM learning and careers.

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Tools For Peace: Volunteer Spotlight

This semester, Pasadena-based non profit Tools for Peace partnered with Citizen Schools California to teach an apprenticeship at Roots Academy in Oakland. Founded in 2000, Tools for Peace is an organization whose purpose is to strengthen and support emotional intelligence, as well as increase academic success. Their mission is to inspire people of all ages to develop kindness and compassion in everyday life, and that is exactly what this semester allowed them to build with our students in Oakland.

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