Community School Connections
Quarter 2 2018-2019
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Building a stronger Erie County,
one student at a time.
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United Way's
community schools
model is a strategy (
not a program
) for organizing school and community resources around student success. A
community school
is both a place and set of partnerships that help address health, wellness and the social needs of its students, families and the surrounding neighborhood. Schools become centers of the community, open to everyone, all day, every day, evenings and weekends.
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United Way's eight community schools in place throughout Erie County cumulatively make a HUGE impact on
more than 5,000
students and families!
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United Way's community school model was recently featured on the weekly
Giving You the Business segment with Erie News Now reporter Paul Wagner.
Special thanks to the
Edison Elementary school team for allowing us to visit their school as a representation of the countywide community school model.
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United Way's six community schools in collaboration with Erie's Public Schools are Diehl Elementary, East, Edison Elementary, McKinley Elementary, Pfeiffer-Burleigh Elementary and Strong Vincent
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Community School Director: Katrina Byrd
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Ensuring Healthy Smiles through Mobile Dentistry
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We know that families often find taking their children to the dentist to be a challenge due a variety of issues including transportation and having to take time off from work. That's why
Strong Vincent, a United Way community school, recently partnered with
Mobile Dentists' Smile Program to transform the school library into a dentist office for more than 30 students. There is an ease and convenience of the in-school dentist. Plus, kids are more comfortable seeing the dentist in the comfort and familiar surroundings of their school.
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Pfeiffer-Burleigh Elementary
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Community School Director: Meghan Easter
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Community-Based Attendance Improvement
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Many families face barriers to their children attending school regularly. At
Pfeiffer-Burleigh, a United Way community school, these barriers are being discussed and addressed head on with parents and caregivers through the
Community-Based Attendance Improvement program funded by United Way. This newly funded program is administered by community school Lead Partner Family Services of NWPA at both Pfeiffer-Burleigh and McKinley. Training for parents opens with a powerful video from Erie District Judges. The message is clear. Classroom over Courtroom!
The goal is to increase school attendance and academic performance, along with improving the well-being and strength of the family, school and community. The program engages students and parents to acknowledge and develop awareness of obstacles affecting attendance and provide supportive services. When students come to school, they can succeed!
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Community School Director: Amy Grande
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When students have access to music and the arts right at their school they can succeed! That's why community school staff at
McKinley Elementary worked with the Foundation for Erie's Public Schools and World of Music to bring local musician Steve Maynard to school to implement the aptly named
McKinley Rocks after-school music program. The program includes teaching children how to play the guitar as well as the keyboard.
Steve visits the community room at McKinley every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Instruments were donated by supporters of the school as well as through social media outreach. In fact, through Steve's network, a donation of keyboards for McKinley came from as far away as Chicago!
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Community School Director: Tami Krzeszewski-Conway
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Triple Play in Full Swing
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Fardos, a third grader at
Edison Elementary, a United Way community school looks forward to going to her school gym each Tuesday and Thursday after class ends.
That's when she gets to participate in
Triple Play,
A Game Plan for the Mind, Body, and Soul with dozens of other Edison students.
Triple Play is a dynamic initiative that demonstrates how eating smart, keeping fit, and forming positive relationships add up to a healthy and well developed child.
These three areas are focused on with each student:
- Mind – developing a knowledge base to acquire health habits
- Body – becoming more physically active through daily fitness and fun
- Soul – strengthening character and reinforcing positive behavior
In addition to funding from United Way, facilitators from the Boys and Girls Club of Erie along with parent volunteers make Triple Play possible.
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Community School Director: Jamilia Gates
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8th Graders Learn from Penn State Behrend Visit
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Living the Dream. A group of 8th grade students from
East, a United Way community school visited the Penn State Behrend campus during the week of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday.
The students went on a campus visit and participated in a number of interactive activities with Behrend students, including learning about black history and contemporary African dances and their origins. The event was presented by the Association of Black Collegians, the Organization of African and Caribbean Students and the Dream Queens Dance Ensemble. Students were invited to attend based on their grades, attendance and good behavior.
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Family Game Night is Just the Beginning
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Diehl Elementary, United Way's newest community school recently held a very successful
Family Game Night. More than 200 families were in attendance to enjoy quality time while playing a variety of board games.
Initial progress to develop Diehl Elementary as a United Way community school including identifying a lead partner and hiring a Community School Director is still underway.
Thank you to our corporate partners making this work possible!
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Community School Director: Kerrie Grande
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Carrington's Wild Character Adventure
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Second graders at
Iroquois Elementary, a United Way community school are learning all about important character traits thanks to the
Carrington's Wild Character Adventure program.
The curriculum for the program was written by two women through impact partner Women’s Care Center of Erie. The name was thought up by a child, because it stands for “we care a ton”.
Each character trait is connected to an animal. The class learns facts about the animal, complete a relevant craft, learn a song and earn a “trading card” with the animal on the front, with their character trait listed, along with examples of how to live out that trait. Each time the children learn a new trait, they add on a stanza to a rap they are learning. Penn State Behrend students, identified through the Hagen Center for Community Outreach, Research, and Evaluation (community school Lead Partner), teach the program.
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Community School Director: Kim Ozimek
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A former storage area space at
Elk Valley Elementary, a United Way community school, has now transformed into a fully functional Giving Pantry for students and their families. The Giving Pantry is stocked with an assortment of food, toiletries, coats, hats, boots, school supplies and a long list of other basic needed items for students to get whenever they need it.
Donations have come from a school-wide food drive, United Way school supply drives, parent and teacher donations and church groups.
The EVES Giving Pantry provides a welcoming and convenient space for students and their families to get items they are in need of with no stigma or shame in just needing some help. Opening the pantry has really demonstrated the power of the community school model for the EVES community!
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