Federation for Community Schools Board Presentation

1
Federation for Community SchoolsBoard
Presentation

• Work Strategies
• August 28, 2008

2
AdvocacyStrategies The Advocacy Subcommittee is
co-chaired by Sue Armato, Anita Banerji, and PAC
Member Patrick Brosnan
3
Advocacy Strategies

• Advocacy Strategy includes three distinct areas
  State, Federal and Administrative Advocacy.
• The following slides outline the key advocacy
  activities as defined through conversation with
  the Federations Program Advisory Committee (PAC)
  leadership team.

4
State Level Advocacy

• Identifying Champions
• Showcasing Schools
• The Federation for Community Schools is
  scheduling legislative site visits for State
  elected officials to visit with community schools
  in their district late fall. We are aiming for 10
  site visits and have reached out to 15 schools,
  as of now, that have previously expressed an
  interest in hosting site visits.

5
State Level Advocacy

• Creating Statewide Awareness
• Raising Visibility with Policymakers
• The Federation will to get our Task Force
  legislation (SR0727) passed in the State House
  during this next session. The Senate sponsor for
  this resolution is Sen. Mattie Hunter. On the
  House side, Representative Cynthia Soto is the
  sponsor of the companion bill.
• This resolution resolves that the State
  Superintendent of Education shall appoint a task
  force on community partnerships to recommend
  strategic steps to establish effective community
  partnerships with local schools.

6
State Level Advocacy

• Establishing an Advocate
• Funding Mechanism in ISBE
• The Federation plans to introduce a School Code
  bill in the Illinois Legislature, modeled after
  the increased funding strategy used by gifted
  education advocates. This bill would create an
  advisory council for community schools in ISBE
  that is charged with promoting the community
  school model within ISBE and the state including
  advocating for required funds

7
Federal Level Advocacy

• Identifying Champions
• Spreading the Word
• First step is to fully educate and engage the
  Illinois delegation. The Federation has
  scheduled a Congressional briefing in the Rayburn
  Building on Capitol Hill at noon on Friday,
  October 3rd. We are working with Rep.
  Schakowskys office to coordinate logistics. We
  have invited all the IL Delegation Members
  education legislative assistants to this briefing
  to introduce ourselves and share with them what
  we do. We also plan to meet with staffers from
  the Department of Education that day.

8
Federal Level Advocacy

• Continuing to Spread the Word
• on the Hill
• Second step is to build a larger coalition of
  Congressional delegates aware of community
  schools. To accomplish this, the Federation will
  host another briefing on the Hill in early spring
  (post-election), with neighboring States, their
  delegation members and representatives of their
  community schools.

9
Federal Level Advocacy

• Monitoring 21st Century dollars
• The Federation, and its membership, will weigh
  in on 21st Century Community Learning Centers
  budget line, any proposed changes, and seek to
  increase this funding line which supports many
  community schools. This will be part of our focus
  at the DC hill briefings.

10
Federal Level Advocacy

• Increasing Dedicated Community
• School Federal Funding
• Work with the Illinois delegation to obtain
  their support and ask for an increase in the 5
  million community school budget line established
  in this current year Federal budget by Rep. Hoyer.

11
Administrative Advocacy

• Rewarding Successful Lead Partners
• Currently lead agent partners who use 21st
  Century dollars to support their community
  schools are penalized (by losing points during
  the RFP process) when their schools start to make
  AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) Thus, undermining
  the success and steps forward made by the school
  becoming a community school.
• The Federation will work with ISBE to try to
  establish a merit-based points system that would
  assign more points during the 21st Century RFP
  process for those lead partner organizations who
  have led a community school from not making AYP
  to making it. This is a way of rewarding the
  successful partnerships by increasing the points
  allocated during the RFP process.

12
Administrative Advocacy

• Educating Government Agencies
• The Federation will continue to meet with,
  provide information to and organize member-based
  writing campaigns to ISBE board members as well
  as the Governors office and staff. This branch
  of state government can have a great impact on
  community schools if it can be moved. We will
  continue to dialogue with them.

13
Professional Development Strategies The
PD/Research Subcommittee is co-chaired by Greg
Hall and PAC Member Celia Lozano
14
Professional Development Strategies

• Goals/Outcomes Identified
• (from PAC PD/Research Subcommittee Chairs)
• Provide outcomes focused, evidence based tools
  that can help sites identify their developmental
  needs strengths.
• Create shared expectations for accountability
  for Community School progress among our members.
• Serve as a resource for Illinois community
  schools by providing professional development
  opportunities and serving as a repository for
  related best practices and research.

15
Professional Development Strategies

• Develop a How to Manual
• Developing a concise How to become a community
  school manual (tool) so that anyone doing
  community school work can identify their work in
  the broader community school vision and have
  tools and best practices to help guide further
  implementation.

16
Professional Development Strategies

• Standardizing a Self-Assessment Tool
• Develop an approach for standardizing a system
  that would allow community schools to assess
  themselves and their own strengths and
  developmental needs as a community school.
• Involve members in identifying and mapping
  community school outcomes into developmental
  stages that schools can use to find their work
  and think about how to move forward.
• Use the process of development to engage
  Federation members in reflection and dialogue
  about their work to help prepare them for
  pathways to self improvement
• Software tool that John Riding(MFS) has used for
  similar efforts that will guide us through this
  process.

17
Professional Development Strategies

• Finalizing the Parthenon Model
• Expanding and completing the Parthenon
  materials presented at earlier board meeting to
  support practitioners in defining effective
  program implementation and self evaluation toward
  quality improvement.

18
Professional Development Strategies

• Providing Limited Assistance to RCs
• Complete documents for Resource Coordinators
• - First 40 days
• - RC job functions and how they relate to other
  roles and functions in a Community School

19
Communications Strategies The Communications
Subcommittee is co-chaired by Melissa Trumbull
and PAC Member Ernie Sanders
20
Communications Strategies

• Goals/Outcomes
• Support advocacy efforts by creating a public
  awareness campaign that educates the general
  public about Community Schools and the benefits
  they offer to children, families, and community
  members
• Create tools that can be used by Federation
  members to enhance their communications efforts

21
Communications Strategies

• Public Awareness Campaign
• Media relations plans
• Video/documentary
• Public Service Announcements
• Family of print materials
• Messaging Branding

22
Communications Strategies

• Media Relations
• Monthly press releases about community schools
• Create relationships with media outlets (press
  releases one strategy)

23
Communications Strategies

• Community Schools Documentary
• Work with the Chicago Video Project to create a
  film highlighting the work and positive outcomes
  of Community Schools
• Clippable so pieces can be shown to certain
  audiences, or documentary can be used in its
  entirety
• Range of audiences
• Companion pieces that accompany documentary
  (i.e., discussion guides)

24
Communications Strategies

• Public Service Announcements
• All aimed at raising general publics awareness
  about Community Schools, targeted for places that
  messages would reach the general public
• TV spots
• Radio spots
• Print ads on the el, bus, bus shelters, in
  newspapers, in magazines
• Postcards, flyers, posters

25
Communications Strategies

• Messaging
• Refining Federation documents to ensure messaging
  is consistent, ensure consistency across all
  communications tools, and across outputs from
  other content areas
• Train stakeholder members on Community School
  messages practice using many voices, one
  message

26
Communications Strategies

• Branding
• Maintain a consistent brand identity for the
  Federation
• Coordinate the placement of the Community School
  logo on all Community School Web sites, on
  plaques in their schools, on Community
  School-related communications, etc.
• Ensure consistency across all communications
  tools, and across outputs from other content
  areas (i.e., Professional Development and
  Advocacy)