Community Members: Partnerships

Resources are organized according to the order in which they are received.

Use the magnifying glass in the top right corner to search for specific tools using key words. 

Summer Matters - Summer Matters is a statewide network of school districts, educators, school boards, education leaders, mayors, legislators, nonprofits, funders, civic leaders and parents working collaboratively to create and expand access to high quality summer learning opportunities for all California students." The website offers tools, stories, videos, and reports to support these goals. http://www.summermatters.net/ 

The 6 Shifts Needed for Better Family Engagement - "Don't Forget the Families," the infographic depicts "shifts that successful schools, organizations, & coalitions are making to develop key character strengths in youth by engaging families as partners.” https://www.search-institute.org/sites/default/files/b/6%20shifts%20in%20emphasis%20of%20(5)%20(2).pdf 

Developing Life Skills: Parent Perspectives Workshop Facilitator’s Guide – This report details a step by step plan on how to engage with parents and families and designed to help foster local conversations and acknowledge the important role of local context, community, and culture. https://r50gh2ss1ic2mww8s3uvjvq1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/DLS-Facilitators_Guide_final.pdf 

Nine Elements of Effective School Community Partnerships to Address Student Mental Health, Physical Health, and Overall Wellness- In order to have the most positive impact on the academic and wellness outcomes of students, it is imperative that schools and communities work together through a collaborative and comprehensive approach.  https://www.nasponline.org/community-schools-white-paper

How to Solve the Parent Engagement Problem - This EdWeek article provides ten  vetted practices to implement in your program to improve parent engagement. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/01/10/how-to-solve-the-parent-engagement-problem.html 

Federal Resources for Rural Communities to Help Address Substance Use Disorder and Opioid Misuse - A Rural Resource Guide to help rural communities address the opioid epidemic. The guide is “a listing of Federal programs that can be used to build resilient communities and address opioid misuse in rural communities.

https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/RuralResourceGuide.pdf 

Community Collaborations-  Wynne School District uses a number of community collaborations as strategies to engage parents and students in activities such as having the police department  come in to present Safety on Social Media Night. Student assemblies are set up and night assemblies for parents only where they are free to discuss mature information, or a collaboration with AR Children's Hospital where we provide a dental clinic to students in grades K-3. The Pre-K Collaboration Committee helps transition preschool children to kindergarten by hosting parent workshops at all area preschools three times a year. 

School Boards Driving Turnaround - This toolkit focuses on building board capacity to oversee improvement and turnaround processes. It includes board self-assessments and a facilitator's guide. https://centeronschoolturnaround.org/resource/school-boards-driving-turnaround/ 

The Engagement Playbook: A Toolkit for Engaging Stakeholders Around the Four Domains of Rapid School Improvement - The toolkit's design provides a blueprint for authentic engagement for all stakeholders- especially Domain 4 which focuses on Culture Change. In Domain 4-readers can get information on stakeholder input as well as engaging students and families in pursuing education goals. https://centeronschoolturnaround.org/resource/the-engagement-playbook-a-toolkit-for-engaging-stakeholders-around-the-four-domains-of-rapid-school-improvement/ 

Partnering for Success: How Health Departments Work and How to Work with Health Departments - Offers a both a workshop script and informational materials highlighting how schools and health departments can better collaborate. https://www.chronicdisease.org/page/SHhowhealthdepts 

Team Nutrition - an initiative of the United States Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service that supports Child Nutrition Programs through training, technical assistance (support), nutrition education, and school and community support for healthy children. https://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/team-nutrition 

U of A Cooperative Extension Service (UAEX) Arkansas Food & Nutrition Resources- Offers resources to schools and communities on fitness and wellness in the scope of nutrition. Individual county extension offices are staffed with County Extension Agents who work one on one with schools and individuals. https://www.uaex.edu/health-living/food-nutrition/ 

The National Farm to School Network - An information, advocacy and networking center for communities working to bring local food sourcing, school gardens and food and agriculture education into schools. http://www.farmtoschool.org/  and Arkansas Farm to School Network    http://www.farmtoschool.org/our-network/Arkansas 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Healthy Schools - Works with states, school districts, communities and national partners to prevent chronic disease and promote the health and well-being of children and adolescents in schools. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/index.htm 

U.S. Dept of Education Full-Service Community Schools Program- This program provides support for the planning, implementation, and operation of full-service community schools that improve the coordination, integration, accessibility, and effectiveness of services for children and families, particularly for children attending high-poverty schools, including high-poverty rural schools.  https://oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-discretionary-grants-support-services/school-choice-improvement-programs/full-service-community-schools-program-fscs/ 

School-based Coordinators Link Students to Community Resources- Learn firsthand to manage support and services that go beyond the classroom from Ms. Ingrid Thomas’s experiences as a school-based support coordinator for Communities. https://www.kappanonline.org/walter-school-based-coordinators-community-resources/ 

It Takes a Community:  Community Schools Provide Opportunities for All- A community school provides both the familiar K-12 curriculum and a much broader range of supports to students and families — high-quality academic instruction, and mentoring, health care, college and career counseling, financial advising, and much more. In many cases, the community school serves as a neighborhood hub, bringing together educators, families, business leaders, elected officials, and many other local partners to ensure that students have real opportunities to succeed in school and in life .https://www.kappanonline.org/reuben-jacobson-it-takes-community-schools/ 

New Mexico Health Equity Partnership - NMHEP uses a unique, multi-stakeholder statewide approach tailored to grassroots community assets and needs. This approach draws on the collective strengths of diverse partners and allies. Cross-sector relationships foster the leveraging of expertise and resources. Decisions are made collectively and transparently. The Partnership highly values cultural knowledge and engages communities by building on their assets to advocate for policy change. http://nmhep.org/ 

Community Schools as an Effective School Improvement Strategy: A Review of the Evidence - The U.S. Dept of Education cites this study in the release of its funding for full-service community schools. The study establishes the ESSA evidence-base for community school as an effective school improvement strategy. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/community-schools-effective-school-improvement-brief 

Schools Communicate Needs with Chamber of Commerce- Local schools can communicate with their local chamber on needs from the business community and any potential partnerships that may exist. This will encourage participation when done locally and can enhance  personal/community connections. 

The Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) - A growing movement that considers local assets as the primary building blocks of sustainable community development. Building on the skills of local residents, the power of local associations, and the supportive functions of local institutions, asset-based community development draws upon existing community strengths to build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future. https://resources.depaul.edu/abcd-institute/Pages/default.aspx 

ACH Center for Effective Parenting - The Center for Effective Parenting positively impacts children by helping parents and those who work with parents enhance their knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding parenting.  The Center focuses on training, service, and research in order to have a broad impact in facilitating the healthy growth and development of children. https://parenting-ed.org 

Joining Together to Create a Bold Vision for Next-Generation Family Engagement: Engaging Families to Transform Education - The document looks at what we have learned over the past 50 years of research and policy as well as the need for changes in mindsets. The paper identifies five promising, high-leverage areas that can serve as “building blocks” for the next generation of family engagement strategies. https://globalfrp.org/Articles/Joining-Together-to-Create-a-Bold-Vision-for-Next-Generation-Family-Engagement-Engaging-Families-to-Transform-Education 

Community Conversations About Mental Health - Community Conversations About Mental Health provides information on holding a community dialogue that builds awareness and support around mental health issues. https://www.samhsa.gov/community-conversations 

Be Mighty Little Rock is a campaign connecting kids and teens to after school and summer meal programs.  The Be Mighty METRO pass, which is good for June 1-July 31, is only available to participants age 18 and younger. Riders 11 and younger will be provided a pass for themselves and a guardian. Passes may be reserved starting May 13 and picked up at any Central Arkansas Library System branch. 

UA System Partners for Inclusive Communities - Partners achieves its mission by assessing the needs of individuals with disabilities, then addressing those needs through research, education, community service, training, technical assistance and collecting and sharing information. https://uofapartners.uark.edu/projects/ 

Rubric for Family Leadership and School Governance (pdf) – This rubric can help assess how a school community is doing on building community and family leadership, their school-site planning process, and school-site governance. The goal is to empower families as advocates and decision makers regarding their children's education. http://www.sfusd.edu/en/assets/sfusd-staff/SFUSD--family%20partnerships%20resources/Rubric%20for%20Family%20Leadership%20and%20School%20Governance-rev%20July%202018.pdf 

Developing Life Skills: Parent Perspectives Workshop Facilitator’s Guide – This report details a step by step plan on how to engage with parents and families and designed to help foster local conversations and acknowledge the important role of local context, community, and culture. https://r50gh2ss1ic2mww8s3uvjvq1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/DLS-Facilitators_Guide_final.pdf 

Federal Resources for Rural Communities to Help Address Substance Use Disorder and Opioid Misuse - A Rural Resource Guide to help rural communities address the opioid epidemic. The guide is “a listing of Federal programs that can be used to build resilient communities and address opioid misuse in rural communities. https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/RuralResourceGuide.pdf 

Community Collaborations-  Wynne School District uses a number of community collaborations as strategies to engage parents and students in activities such as having the police department  come in to present Safety on Social Media Night. Student assemblies are set up and night assemblies for parents only where they are free to discuss mature information, or a collaboration with AR Children's Hospital where we provide a dental clinic to students in grades K-3. The Pre-K Collaboration Committee helps transition preschool children to kindergarten by hosting parent workshops at all area preschools three times a year. 

School Boards Driving Turnaround - This toolkit focuses on building board capacity to oversee improvement and turnaround processes. It includes board self-assessments and a facilitator's guide. https://centeronschoolturnaround.org/resource/school-boards-driving-turnaround/ 

Nine Elements of Effective School Community Partnerships to Address Student Mental Health, Physical Health, and Overall Wellness- In order to have the most positive impact on the academic and wellness outcomes of students, it is imperative that schools and communities work together through a collaborative and comprehensive approach. https://www.nasponline.org/community-schools-white-paper

The Engagement Playbook: A Toolkit for Engaging Stakeholders Around the Four Domains of Rapid School Improvement - The toolkit's design provides a blueprint for authentic engagement for all stakeholders- especially Domain 4 which focuses on Culture Change. In Domain 4-readers can get information on stakeholder input as well as engaging students and families in pursuing education goals. https://centeronschoolturnaround.org/resource/the-engagement-playbook-a-toolkit-for-engaging-stakeholders-around-the-four-domains-of-rapid-school-improvement/ 

School-Based Health Centers (SBHC) - Preview the Powerpoint and/or webpage regarding school-based health clinics.  They provide basic physical, mental, dental or other services as needed located in the school or on school grounds. https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Files/20210103192057_SBHC_PPT_for_Equitable_Access_Group1.pdf and/or https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Offices/learning-services/school-health-services/school-based-health-center-sbhc

Bryant School District Hornet Health Center - Read about the services available at the Bryant School District Hornet Health Center. The Hornet Health Center was made possible by a grant from Arkansas Department of Education–Office of Coordinated School Health. https://www.bryantschools.org/page/school-based-health-center  

UCA Office of Outreach and Community Engagement- Offers classes for the community and youth programs. Explore a passion, learn something new or expand your knowledge without seeking a degree. These quality lifelong learning programs are designed with the diverse learner in mind. There are hundreds of noncredit classes to fit your lifestyle, whether you prefer online, face-to-face, evening or weekend classes. Additionally, Outreach provides turn-key conference and event planning services.

http://uca.edu/outreach/ 

The Main Stage EdUCAtion Series - A program created for school districts that serve students in Kindergarten – 12th grade. Each performance is carefully selected to be entertaining while educating the audience on an academic topic and integrating arts into the school curriculum. These performances are scheduled during the school day for student field trips and all shows will be performed by professional, national-touring artists that will provide high quality performances. http://uca.edu/publicappearances/mainstage/ 

Dr. Edmond E. Griffin Planetarium- Located on the University of Central Arkansas Campus in the Conway Corporation Center for the Sciences, the planetarium serves as an astronomy and science education resource center. It is part of the outreach component of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and as such, it supports astronomy teaching on campus, as well as, offers planetarium shows to school groups and the general public. http://uca.edu/physics/planetarium/ 

How to Solve the Parent Engagement Problem - This EdWeek article provides ten  vetted practices to implement in your program to improve parent engagement. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/01/10/how-to-solve-the-parent-engagement-problem.html 

UCA Camps- UCA's College of Education offers Day, Weekend, and Summer Camps for youth from kindergarten through 12th grade. http://uca.edu/education/cub-camps/ 

Foster Care Transition Toolkit - This toolkit was developed to help youth access the resources needed to successfully transition into adulthood, continue on to postsecondary education, and meaningful careers. https://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/foster-care/youth-transition-toolkit.pdf 

Partnering for Success: How Health Departments Work and How to Work with Health Departments - Offers a both a workshop script and informational materials highlighting how schools and health departments can better collaborate. https://www.chronicdisease.org/page/SHhowhealthdepts 

UCA Bears for CARE- A free respite care service program created by the University of Central Arkansas as part of the WE-CARE Network. With the help from screened and skilled students, faculty and community, the program strives to provide a time of leisure for special needs families and a time of excitement and fun for children with special healthcare needs and their siblings. http://uca.edu/outreach/bears-for-care/ 

Promise Neighborhoods -  The purpose of Promise Neighborhoods is to significantly improve the educational and developmental outcomes of children and youth in our most distressed communities, and to transform those communities. https://oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-discretionary-grants-support-services/school-choice-improvement-programs/promise-neighborhoods-pn/ 

Talking is Teaching Communities - “Talking is Teaching: Talk, Read, Sing” is a public awareness and action campaign that aims to motivate parents and caregivers to talk, read, and sing more with their young children from birth. https://talkingisteaching.org/resources/talk-read-sing-together-every-day-tips-families 

U.S. Dept of Education Full-Service Community Schools Program- This program provides support for the planning, implementation, and operation of full-service community schools that improve the coordination, integration, accessibility, and effectiveness of services for children and families, particularly for children attending high-poverty schools, including high-poverty rural schools.  https://oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-discretionary-grants-support-services/school-choice-improvement-programs/full-service-community-schools-program-fscs/ 

School-based Coordinators Link Students to Community Resources- Learn firsthand to manage support and services that go beyond the classroom from Ms. Ingrid Thomas’s experiences as a school-based support coordinator for Communities. https://www.kappanonline.org/walter-school-based-coordinators-community-resources/ 

It Takes a Community:  Community Schools Provide Opportunities for All- A community school provides both the familiar K-12 curriculum and a much broader range of supports to students and families — high-quality academic instruction, and mentoring, health care, college and career counseling, financial advising, and much more. In many cases, the community school serves as a neighborhood hub, bringing together educators, families, business leaders, elected officials, and many other local partners to ensure that students have real opportunities to succeed in school and in life .https://www.kappanonline.org/reuben-jacobson-it-takes-community-schools/ 

Community Schools as an Effective School Improvement Strategy: A Review of the Evidence - The U.S. Dept of Education cites this study in the release of its funding for full-service community schools. The study establishes the ESSA evidence-base for community school as an effective school improvement strategy. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/community-schools-effective-school-improvement-brief 

The Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) - A growing movement that considers local assets as the primary building blocks of sustainable community development. Building on the skills of local residents, the power of local associations, and the supportive functions of local institutions, asset-based community development draws upon existing community strengths to build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future. https://resources.depaul.edu/abcd-institute/Pages/default.aspx 

ACH Center for Effective Parenting - The Center for Effective Parenting positively impacts children by helping parents and those who work with parents enhance their knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding parenting.  The Center focuses on training, service, and research in order to have a broad impact in facilitating the healthy growth and development of children. https://parenting-ed.org 

2019 Prevention Resource Guide - The 2019 Prevention Resource Guide is designed to help individuals and organizations in every community strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect. The Resource Guide focuses on protective factors that build on family strengths to foster healthy child and youth development. https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/preventing/preventionmonth/resources/resource-guide/  

Community Conversations About Mental Health - Community Conversations About Mental Health provides information on holding a community dialogue that builds awareness and support around mental health issues. https://www.samhsa.gov/community-conversations 

Be Mighty Little Rock is a campaign connecting kids and teens to after school and summer meal programs.  The Be Mighty METRO pass, which is good for June 1-July 31, is only available to participants age 18 and younger. Riders 11 and younger will be provided a pass for themselves and a guardian. Passes may be reserved starting May 13 and picked up at any Central Arkansas Library System branch. 

Developing Life Skills: Parent Perspectives Workshop Facilitator’s Guide – This report details a step by step plan on how to engage with parents and families and designed to help foster local conversations and acknowledge the important role of local context, community, and culture. https://r50gh2ss1ic2mww8s3uvjvq1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/DLS-Facilitators_Guide_final.pdf 

Sheridan School District partners with local manufacturer - The district partnered with Kholer, to open a Kholer Academy where students will learn skills to prepare them to enter the workforce. Read the full article here https://www.sheridanschools.org/article/52296?org=district 

ACT Work Ready Communities - Provides Arkansas students with ACT workkeys National Career Readiness Certificates to use during the job application process. The certificate is an assessment-based credential that measures and certifies the essential work skills needed for success in jobs across industries and occupations. https://www.workreadycommunities.org/AR 

Independence County Workforce Partnerships - See how Independence County is using partnerships to transform workforce readiness. https://impact.batesvilleareaalliance.com/blog/page/13/the-new-career-and-technical-education 

Community Collaborations-  Wynne School District uses a number of community collaborations as strategies to engage parents and students in activities such as having the police department  come in to present Safety on Social Media Night. Student assemblies are set up and night assemblies for parents only where they are free to discuss mature information, or a collaboration with AR Children's Hospital where we provide a dental clinic to students in grades K-3. The Pre-K Collaboration Committee helps transition preschool children to kindergarten by hosting parent workshops at all area preschools three times a year. 

Elements of Effective Intervention (Infographic) – Provides parents with the necessary information and tools to support their role as parents and to promote their children's healthy development. https://www.nap.edu/visualizations/elements-of-effective-parenting/ 

The Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) - A growing movement that considers local assets as the primary building blocks of sustainable community development. Building on the skills of local residents, the power of local associations, and the supportive functions of local institutions, asset-based community development draws upon existing community strengths to build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future. https://resources.depaul.edu/abcd-institute/Pages/default.aspx