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The High School of the Future

Week six community engagement

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The High School of the Future

Carol’s Bio An entrepreneurial, strategic leader with over 16 years of experience

providing nimble and pragmatic vision to turn challenges and crises into opportunities:

Interim and permanent CEO, COO and Executive Director roles with community nonprofits focused on early childhood and youth development, mental health, and family violence, including New Community for Children, The Women’s Center, CrisisLink, and Women Empowered Against Violence.

Led efforts to raise over $27 Million for community-based charities, as well as garnered coverage by CNN, NPR, MSNBC, and the Washington Post.

Served as Secretary of the Alexandria Early Childhood Commission and Issue Leader for At-Risk Children for the Northern Virginia Interfaith Coalition for Social Justice.

Designed and developed a “Civics and Youth in Action” initiative to get 17 high school students appointed to 13 city boards and commissions, and 4 nonprofit boards. In just one year, this program has become the largest of its kind in the United States.

As Co-founder of Sustainability Nexus, she focuses on bringing her unique depth and breadth of experience in community organizations to building coalitions with schools, government, corporations and other nonprofits.

Community Engagement –

Why?

Why focus on community engagement?

“The 3 R’s”:

Resources

Reach

Relevance

Community Partners for

Schools

Who are community partners?

Families

Local Government

Churches

Businesses

Community Organizations

○ Nonprofits, Clubs, Civic Associations, etc

Who else?

What is community

engagement?

Schools & community partners can

collaborate to:

to engage students and

provide supports in a

community-based

holistic approach

to learning and education

for students

Developmental Assets

Model Developed by Search Institute in 1990 with

the release of The Troubled Journey: A Portrait of 6th to 12th Grade Youth

Introduced framework of Developmental Assets

Studies conducted with over 4 million youth across U.S. since then

Strengths-based approach

Developmental Assets – A

Strengths Based Approach Rather than “fixing broken kids” this is a

strengths-based approach

Identifies the traits and supports that help kids to be resilience, less likely to engage in risky behavior, and more likely to succeed academically

Through research, identified 40 building blocks for healthy development

2 Main Categories

External Assets Community

Family

School

Neighborhood

Faith

Internal Assets Habits

Values

Behaviors

External Assets – 4 Groups

Support

Family Love & Support, Parent Involvement

in Schooling, Positive Adult Relationships,

Caring Neighborhood, Caring School

Climate

Empowerment

Community Values Youth, Youth as

Resources, Service to Others, Safety

External Assets – Continued

Boundaries & Expectations

Family Boundaries, School Boundaries,

Neighborhood Boundaries, Adult Role

Models, Positive Peer Influence, High

Expectations

Constructive Use of Time

Creative Activities, Youth Programs,

Religious Community, Time at Home

Internal Assets – 4 Groups

Commitment to Learning

Achievement Motivation, School

Engagement, Homework Time, Bonding to

School, Reading for Pleasure

Positive Values

Caring, Equality & Social Justice, Integrity,

Honesty, Responsibility, Restraint

Internal Assets – Continued

Social Competencies

Planning and Decision-Making,

Interpersonal Competence, Cultural

Competence, Resistance to Peer Pressure

Skills, Peaceful Conflict Resolution

Positive Identity

Personal Power, Self-Esteem, Sense of

Purpose, Positive View of Personal Future

Resources

http://www.search-

institute.org/content/40-developmental-

assets-adolescents-ages-12-18

Example #1: Suicide Prevention

CrisisLink, a regional nonprofit providing crisis hotlines & education to prevent suicide

Partnered with Fairfax County H.S. guidance counselors & faith community

Collaborated on an annual conference to prevent teen suicide called “Bridging the Gap”

CrisisLink wallet cards funded by Fairfax County

Loss team outreach to families, schools and students who lost someone to suicide

http://crisislink.org/about-us/press-releases/may-is-national-mental-health-month/

Community & Asset Building

How did community engagement work in

this example?

Which of the 40 Developmental Assets

did this collaboration build?

What do you think some of the

challenges were for this collaboration?

Example #2: New Community

for Children NCFC is an after school & summer program for

kindergarten thru high school students in Shaw Neighborhood of Washington, DC

Developed hip hop multi-media curriculum to improve literacy for middle school & 9th grade students

Art program with pottery & printmaking to build identity and sense of community

https://www.facebook.com/NCFCDC

http://ncfc-dc.org/

Community Partners

What do you think NCFC brings to kids in strengthening Developmental Assets?

What does NCFC do that schools may not be able to do?

How could NCFC and schools work together to even more effectively build Developmental Assets?

Example #3: CBC Youth Reps

Initiative Collaboration between Citizens for a Better

City, a 50+ year old civic group, & schools, government, and other nonprofits/civic organizations

Only program of its kind in the U.S.

In 10 months became the largest program engaging students as Youth Reps to City Boards, Commissions & Civic Groups

http://www.youthrepsinitiative.org/

360 Community

Collaboration What’s unique in the CBC Youth Reps

model?

How does it address Developmental Assets?

What contributed to its success?

What would the challenges be of replicating this model in other communities?

Community Engagement,

Development Assets & Schools

Why is it important?

What makes it work?

What doesn’t work?

How does this relate to your educational

essay?

Carol’s Contact Info

Carol Loftur-Thun

Principal, Sustainability Nexus

Email: [email protected]

Cell: 703-346-5104