Reducing Chronic Absenteeism through Neighborhood Engagement

Monica testimonial (2m35s)

What are the barriers to academic success?

What are the causes of absenteeism?

PEOPLE ARE THE HEART OF HEALTHY COMMUNITIES.

People.

People

Places LINCages

Economic Development Business incubation Cowork space Job creation/ retention Access to capital Commercial space Trainings

Commercial and residential property rehabilitation Quality homes for sale or rent Affordable housing development Construction training

Real Estate Development

Workforce development Financial education and coaching Public benefits access Homebuyer education Foreclosure prevention

Neighborhood Services Community engagement Leadership development Capacity building Neighborhood news bureau Civic engagement Educational engagement

Resident Services

C o n n e c t i n g p e o p l e t o o p p o r t u n i t y

The holistic approach.

Community

engagement

Economic

development

Asset

building

Personal

coaching

Affordable

housing

Education

Leadership

development

Place making

activities

Health &

Wellness

Baby Scholars

Strategic alignment of

vacant GRPS buildings

for use as Early

Childhood Centers

Parent Capacity and Asset Building.

Children Savings Accounts.

Community and Parental Engagement.

Increasing literacy

through partnership

with United Way

Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative

LINC Opportunity Center

CFED Amway Foundation

United Way

Believe 2 Become

Increasing entrepreneurial

development through

partnership with Amway

Foundation

Connecting for collective impact.

… and it works for Academic Achievement too

Community

engagement

Economic

development

Asset

building

Personal

coaching

Affordable

housing

Education

Leadership

development

Place making

activities

Health &

Wellness

Academic Achievement

but many

Absenteeism is not the result of one factor

but many

LINCing Best Practices to combat absenteeism

Academic

Achievement

Example of how it works

LINC

Neighborhood

Engagement

GRPS

ELNC

DHS

Place.

Illiteracy

unstable housing

poor transport

lack of safe paths to school

blight

economically depressed neighborhoods

“When a large percentage of children are

affected by chronic early absence, it is likely

indicative of systemic issues related to

schools or communities.”

- Chang, “Present, Engaged, and Accounted For”

Hedy Chang, “Reducing the Gap in Achievement & Graduation: Start With Monitoring Chronic Absence” 9/12

Barriers

LINCing PLACE.

• Development of quality housing (mixed use,

affordable housing, quality rental)

• Creation of safe paths to school (corridor

development, street beautification)

• Blight elimination (grants to eliminate blight,

commercial development, neighborhood

enhancements like parks)

• Holistic community revitalization (place-based

strategy)

People.

Illiteracy

unstable housing

lack of programming

lack of safe paths to school

chaotic schools

poverty Hedy Chang, “Reducing the Gap in Achievement & Graduation: Start With Monitoring Chronic Absence” 9/12

Barriers

“Improving student attendance at school

requires a holistic approach that

addresses school and classroom factors,

as well as factors outside of school.”

—Sheldon & Epstein, “Getting students to school”

LINCing PEOPLE.

• Parent engagement = increased involvement (B2B,

parent groups, leadership training through L.A.S.T.,

LOC coaching)

• Increase programming for students (parent

engagement, recruiting to programs like Baby

Scholars, action groups)

• Create safe environments & paths to school (Stop

the Violence, community engagement, partnerships,

WATCH Dogs & parent volunteers)

• Lift families out of poverty (personal coaching

through the LOC)

• Address housing issues (foreclosure counseling,

quality affordable housing & rental development)

Stop the Violence pledge (30s)

Partnerships.

Illiteracy

“Results indicate that school, family, and

community partnership practices can significantly

decrease chronic absenteeism, even after school

level and prior rates of absenteeism are taken

into account.” —Sheldon, Epstein, “Getting students to school”

isolation

lack of authentic engagement

lack of investment (time, $) in the

community

poverty

other systemic issues

Barriers

Social change is transformational,

not transactional.

• Connect communities to opportunity & resources

• Lift the community voice through authentic engagement

• Use a holistic approach

• Measure and track results over time

• Maximize partnerships

LINCages.

Real impact.

More than 200 parent involved in schools

Average 48.1% saturation rate in each zone

Hope Zone schools and students participating in

attendance challenge

Measurable increase in monthly perfect

attendance

LOCAL. STATE. NATIONAL.

Many local organizations…

LOCAL. STATE. NATIONAL.

Connecting for Collective Impact

Revitalization

Financial

Counseling

Access to

Public

Benefits

Co

mm

un

ity B

uild

ing

Capacity Building

Community

Organizing

Lead

ersh

ip D

evel

op

men

t

Business Incubation

Career Training

S.E.C.A.

Azizi video (TBD)