{"id":48,"date":"2017-04-27T09:59:13","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T13:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2017-thall\/?page_id=48"},"modified":"2017-05-14T11:58:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-14T15:58:58","slug":"grassroots-organizations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2017-thall\/grassroots-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"Grassroots Organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview of Grassroots Organizing around Community Schools:<\/p>\n

It was difficult to find 10 truly grassroot organizations advocating for Community Schools, so mixed in are some organizations that are addressing a specific health service instead of providing full health and wellness services. I found also that there are some bigger organizations like The Children’s Aid Society, The Center for Popular Democracy, and the National Center for Community Schools that use there political pull and strength to help local communities launch their own Community Schools. The support from these bigger organizations is centered around the needs of specific need of local communities, which maintain the grassroots foundation of change. People seem excited about the promise of Community Schools and the services they provide because they capture and combat the multifaceted issues that underserved, urban communities face.<\/p>\n

\"\"Community Schools For Philadelphia<\/strong> is a project launched by\u00a0Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS)<\/a>. Community Schools, as defined by this group, call for transparency in governance, promotion of community culturally relevant curriculum, access to needed heath and wellness services services, a new way to measure success of students that takes in more than just test scores and graduation statistics, and mutual respect between every student, teacher, administrator and professional offering services.<\/p>\n

CHECK THIS<\/a> OUT! In July of 2016, Community Schools of Philadelphia announced where the first 9 Community schools will be.<\/p>\n

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SAVE<\/strong>, or School Advocates for Vision and Education has partnered with the Southern College of Optometry to provide comprehensive eye checks to underserved communities, schools, and children. SCO has a mobile eye van (MobilEYES Clinic)<\/a> with state of the art technology to bring the optometrist to the people, either schools or other venues.<\/p>\n

Check out SCO MobilEYES twitter<\/a> for up to date info on SAVE’s work.<\/p>\n

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\"\"While this is not a grassroots organization itself, its fight for Community schools embodies the core beliefs of grassroots organizing by engaging the community in a meaningful way. The National Center for Community School<\/a>s<\/strong> advocates for and offers aid to communities to help them establish Community schools in their district. Children’s Aid created NCCS as a response to increased need for information on how to implement local Community schools. They are also one of three founders of the Coalition for Community schools (click here<\/a> to see how they have worked on the local level of communities), which works in a similar way to unite schools, communities, and families to give a well-rounded approach to education (including health services and community support).<\/p>\n

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Health Connected<\/a> <\/strong>started as a grassroots organization called\u00a0The South County Teen Pregnancy Task Force, which was assembled by local teachers and administrators of the\u00a0Redwood City School District and Sequoia Union High School District. It grew into a program that helps teachers and parents talk to kids about sexuality and sex safety. This organization includes a Youth Advisory Board that meets twice a month “to organize outreach events, produce educational videos and other social media content, and provide feedback on Health Connected\u2019s Youth Services activities.”<\/p>\n

\"\"The Children’s Aid Society<\/a> <\/strong>is based in New York City. Their\u00a0collaboration with community groups is integral to \u00a0the work that they do. Their philosophy is very grassroots and they take input from\u00a0local communities to see what they need to help them most. They do a lot regarding\u00a0public health resources<\/a> in schools. They try to make heath and wellness care accessible to school children and their families and their surrounding communities with School Based Health Centers<\/a>.<\/p>\n