Looking to the Future

Author(s):  
Joy G. Dryfoos ◽  
Jane Quinn

It may seem strange in a chaotic political period to say that the community school movement is alive, well, and growing. Yet such chaos can give rise to collaborative concepts. Out of adversity comes action, and that action is directed toward helping children succeed in an increasingly difficult environment of higher poverty levels, less health insurance, failing schools, more mental health problems, and a widening gap between social classes and races. It is not a pretty picture, but it is a challenging one. The Children’s Aid Society (CAS) is moving forward with its commitment to community schools. Although we thought we would stop at 10 school sites in New York City, during the 2003–2004 academic year we initiated three more—two in the Bronx and one on Staten Island. Our Technical Assistance Center is in great demand, hosting more than 600 visits in 2003 and responding to more than 500 requests for technical assistance. Also in 2003 we convened representatives from more than 60 of the national and international adaptation sites for a three-day practicum—a training and networking session at which we heard testimonials to success and stories about challenges. Many of the original adaptation sites have moved from one dynamic community school to a cluster of schools within their neighborhoods or districts. And some of these original adaptation sites have matured to the point of providing guidance to other schools that want to emulate their success. There are now more than 200 adaptation sites—community schools based on the CAS model—in the United States and other countries. We are often asked, “Just how many community schools are there in this country?” We have a reasonable census of CAS sites (13) and adaptations (215), but that is only the beginning of a count. The question is difficult to answer because there are so many versions of other models and so many schools without any of these components that nevertheless call themselves “community schools.” We have tried to construct a continuum along which schools can measure themselves.

Author(s):  
Janice Chu-Zhu

When the CAS community schools first opened in New York City in 1992, they attracted many visitors interested in learning about and adapting our model. In response CAS created its National Technical Assistance Center for Community Schools (NTACCS) in 1994 to handle the increasing number of requests for information, coordinate the large number of visitors to the schools, and provide technical assistance in the process and operations involved in creating a community school. People who wish to adapt our model can now tour the various components of our program and meet with our staff to ask questions and learn about the implementation of our program. This chapter will explore the core components of the CAS model and how adaptation sites in the United States and other countries have been able to incorporate elements that represent their signature style and reflect the needs of their individual communities. An immediate dilemma occurs when program planners seek to learn from the experience of others—should they try to replicate the model precisely or should they try to adapt it to their own local circumstances? Replicators often speak of the importance of “program fidelity,” while adaptors talk about differing needs among various communities and populations. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) astutely assesses the dilemma: “While individual tailoring may account for success at a given location, there is pressing need for theoretically grounded interventions that will be effective in a wide range of communities. Therein lies a challenge. On the one hand, ‘replication’ implies fidelity to the original while, on the other hand, ‘community-based and culturally sensitive’ implies expectation of variation and sensitivity to that variation. The need to vary interventions is widely accepted, but systematically developed and articulated only occasionally.” The NIMH study found two key components that improved the effectiveness of HIV prevention programs as they were implemented in multiple sites around the country. One component was that they were “community-based,” designed with the input and skills of the particular communities in which they were implemented. The second was that the programs were “culturally sensitive”—that is, they reflected the needs and cultures of the individuals expected to participate in the intervention and used media and messages relevant to those individuals and their lives.


A community school differs from other public schools in important ways: it is generally open most of the time, governed by a partnership between the school system and a community agency, and offers a broad array of health and social services. It often has an extended day before and after school, features parent involvement programs, and works for community enrichment. How should such a school be structured? How can its success be measured? Community Schools in Action: Lessons from a Decade of Practice presents the Children's Aid Society's (CAS) approach to creating community schools for the 21st century. CAS began this work more than a decade ago and today operates thirteen such schools in three low-income areas of New York City. Through a technical assistance center operated by CAS, hundreds of other schools across the country and the world are adapting this model. Based on their own experiences working with community schools, the contributors to the volume supply invaluable information about the selected program components. They describe how and why CAS started its community school initiative and explain how CAS community schools are organized, integrated with the school system, sustained, and evaluated. The book also includes several contributions from experts outside of CAS: a city superintendent, an architect, and the director of the Coalition for Community Schools. Co-editors Joy Dryfoos, an authority on community schools, and Jane Quinn, CAS's Assistant Executive Director of Community Schools, have teamed up with freelance writer Carol Barkin to provide commentary linking the various components together. For those interested in transforming their schools into effective child- and family-centered institutions, this book provides a detailed road map. For those concerned with educational and social policy, the book offers a unique example of research-based action that has significant implications for our society.


2021 ◽  
pp. 3-21
Author(s):  
Jessica DuLong

This chapter provides a background of the waterborne evacuation that happened after the events of 9/11. New York harbor was, and is, a busy place — the third largest container port in the United States and a vital connection between New York City and the rest of the world. Manhattan is an island, and the realities of island real estate are what ushered the port's industries off Manhattan's shores and over to Brooklyn, Staten Island, and New Jersey in the 1960s and 1970s. By late 2001, maritime infrastructure had been replaced with ornamental fencing. On September 11, 2001, as the cascade of catastrophe unfolded, people found their fates altered by the absence of that infrastructure and discovered themselves dependent upon the creative problem solving of New York harbor's maritime community — waterfront workers who had been thrust beyond their usual occupations and into the role of first responders. Long before the U.S. Coast Guard's call for “all available boats” crackled out over marine radios, scores of ferries, tugs, dinner boats, sailing yachts, and other vessels had begun converging along Manhattan's shores. Hundreds of mariners shared their skills and equipment to conduct a massive, unplanned rescue. Within hours, nearly half a million people had been delivered from Manhattan by boat.


1952 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-119

The Council held a post-assembly session June 21 to 29, 1951 in which air navigation problems figured most prominently. The Council established universal radio telephony procedures recommended by the Airworthiness and the Communications Divisions during their fourth sessions and incorporated them into Amendment 4 to Annex 10 (Aeronautical Telecommunications) of Standards and Recommended Practices for implementation November 1, 1951. The Air Navigation Commission was authorized to establish a small standing committee, proposed by the Airworthiness and Operations Divisions, to make tentative amendment to Annexes 6 and 8 (Operation of Aircraft, Airworthiness of Aircraft). The Council also approved the implementation January 1, 1952 of the Revised Supplementary Regional Procedures in Meteorology. On the advice of the Air Navigation Commission, the Council approved the proposal by the United States and France to include the New York-Paris circuit in the Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunications Network of the European and the Mediterranean Region, subject to review by the European and Mediterranean Regional Air Navigation Meeting in February. Amendments 23 to 28 to Annex 4 (Aeronautical Charts) were adopted; and unless disapproved by a majority of contracting states they would become effective November 1, 1951 and implemented January 1, 1952. The Council endorsed the establishment of regional training centers and directed the Secretary-General to encourage such development and particularly to urge the governments of India, Pakistan, and Egypt to consider further development of centers of Allahabad, Nawabshar or Karachi, and Cairo, not only for the benefit of their own nations, but also for that of neighboring states. Noting the development of prohibited, restricted, and danger areas along international air routes, the Council asked all contracting states to issue communications prior to boundary changes. Mohammed El Hakeem (Egypt) and A. C. Carter (United Kingdom) were appointed to the Air Navigation Commission. In conclusion, the third report of the Organization's technical assistance program was approved with its estimated $900,000 budget for 1952 for transferral to the United Nations. The retirement of the Secretary-General, Albert Roper, was deferred until December 31, 1951.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evette Cordoba ◽  
Gil Maduro ◽  
Mary Huynh ◽  
Jay K Varma ◽  
Neil M Vora

Abstract Background “Pneumonia and influenza” are the third leading cause of death in New York City. Since 2012, pneumonia and influenza have been the only infectious diseases listed among the 10 leading causes of death in NYC. Most pneumonia and influenza deaths in NYC list pneumonia as the underlying cause of death, not influenza. We therefore analyzed death certificate data for pneumonia in NYC during 1999–2015. Methods We calculated annualized pneumonia death rates (overall and by sociodemographic subgroup) and examined the etiologic agent listed. Results There were 41 400 pneumonia deaths during the study period, corresponding to an annualized age-adjusted death rate of 29.7 per 100 000 population. Approximately 17.5% of pneumonia deaths specified an etiologic agent. Age-adjusted pneumonia death rate declined over the study period and across each borough. Males had an annualized age-adjusted pneumonia death rate 1.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5–1.5) times that of females. Non-Hispanic blacks had an annualized age-adjusted pneumonia death rate 1.2 (95% CI, 1.2–1.2) times that of non-Hispanic whites. The annualized pneumonia death rate increased with age group above 5–24 years and neighborhood-level poverty. Staten Island had an annualized age-adjusted pneumonia death rate 1.3 (95% CI, 1.2–1.3) times that of Manhattan. In the multivariable analysis, pneumonia deaths were more likely to occur among males, non-Hispanic blacks, persons aged ≥65 years, residents of neighborhoods with higher poverty levels, and in Staten Island. Conclusions While the accuracy of death certificates is unknown, investigation is needed to understand why certain populations are disproportionately recorded as dying from pneumonia in NYC.


Author(s):  
Jane Quinn

This chapter outlines the importance of capacity-building assistance in implementing the community school strategy with quality; describes and assesses the work of the nation's oldest and largest community school capacity-building organization—the Children's Aid National Center for Community Schools; and positions that work in the context of community school reform efforts nationally and internationally. The chapter provides case studies of capacity-building efforts with three community school initiatives, two in the United States and one in Europe, and also offers a listing and brief description of other engagements from 2012 to 2018.


1960 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-322

The resumed 28th session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was held in New York on December 14 and 15, 1959, under the presidency of Mr. Cosio Villegas (Mexico). Much of the business of the 1090th meeting dealt with elections, with the following results: 1) Canada, Japan, and the Soviet Union were elected members of the Governing Council of the Special Fund representing the economically developed countries; 2) Yugoslavia, Pakistan, and Thailand were elected members of the Governing Council representing the less developed countries; 3) Sweden was elected to the seat on the Governing Council left vacant by Denmark, for the remainder of Denmark's term (one year); 4) Haiti, Israel, and Norway were elected members of the Technical Assistance Committee, for a period of two years beginning on January 1, 1960; 5) China, Costa Rica, France, New Zealand, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States were elected to the Council Committee on Nongovernmental Organizations for 1960; and 6) Mr. Mohamed Abu Rannat (Sudan) and Mr. Enrique Rodriguez Fabregat (Uruguay) were elected members of the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, thereby increasing the number of members of the subcommission to fourteen.


Author(s):  
Joy G. Dryfoos

All of the contributors to this book are clearly in favor of community schools. We would like to see this movement grow rapidly or, as we often say, “go to scale.” This would mean that communities with high needs and low performance would be assisted in transforming their schools. The Children’s Aid Society (CAS) work is one of the streams that have come together to create a new field of full-service community schools. The CAS model has been strengthened by many adaptations throughout the country and overseas. A National Technical Assistance Center for Community Schools has been set up at Intermediate School (IS) 218 with facilities for orientation and training. More than 6,000 policy makers and practitioners from all over the world have taken the tour and observed the rich climate at this pilot school. The concepts of community schools do not necessarily sink in at first encounter; it sometimes takes a while for people to “get it.” The question often arises: Do you really expect the schools to do all of that? It is not well understood that the idea behind the community school movement is for schools to do less, not more! Partners such as CAS come into the building and take responsibility for health, social services, extended hours, and parent and community involvement. However, some school superintendents do get it; Thomas Payzant is a good example (see ch. 15 in this volume). Arne Duncan, head of the Chicago Public Schools, is another strong advocate: “We started with 20 community [school] centers this year [and] we want to add 20 each of the next five years so we will get up to 100 over five years. . . . [T]he Chicago School System cannot do this alone. . . . We have universities, local Boys & Girls Clubs, the YMCA’s, Jane Addams’ Hull House . . . helping to run our program with us.” The quest for appropriate space within schools for the core components is being addressed in large new school building initiatives around the country.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Quinn ◽  
Martin J. Blank

This article features two leaders of the contemporary community school movement who share their reflections on key lessons learned by community school practitioners and advocates over the past two decades and outline ideas about the challenges facing the field in the years ahead. They offer a brief history of community schools in the United States and provide an update on the evidence of the strategy's effectiveness, particularly in high-poverty urban schools. They also explain how the current "generation" of community schools has addressed two specific shortcomings of earlier iterations of this holistic approach to education. Acknowledging that today's political climate creates both opportunities and obstacles for education reformers, the authors argue that the community school strategy is increasingly recognized as a compelling alternative to the neoliberal dream of public-school privatization.


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