Dear Friends,
Thankfulness in the Season

The last two school years have been rough on everyone. We are so grateful for all the support we have received and now we find ourselves grappling with the loss of one of two fundraisers in a single year and demand for programs and services increasing. The idea that we have to address short- and long-term funding is a reality that looms larger than ever.
We’ve had an endowment for a number of years and haven’t spent a great deal of time working on it. Timing is everything in life and as the end of the year is approaching, the tax experts tell us that some of our supporters might have a reason to become engaged in our endowment efforts.
Communities In Schools of Spokane County is among organizations throughout Eastern Washington and North Idaho asking supporters to invest 5% in end-of-life generosity to transform our communities. While few of us consider ourselves wealthy, most of us have enough to share with our communities at the end of our lives, especially when we look beyond cash on hand. Our giving potential is also found in our homes and real estate, personal belongings, investments, business holdings and elsewhere. A simple bequest in your will or a real estate gift, no matter what 5% means to you, the movement only works when we all take part. If everyone committed just 5% to benefit local communities, over $200 million would be available for annual grantmaking – year after year – for generations to come.
Now is the time to make a plan. Reach out to discuss your giving options as you create a plan to invest 5% in your community. Contact me, (Chuck) at 509-413-1436, send us an email at chuck@cisspokane.org, or you can call our colleagues at Innovia Foundation at 509-624-2606.


Sincerely,

Chuck Teegarden
Executive Director
Thanksgiving Needs
Office Depot Raises Over $12,000 for CISSC
Every year Office Depot helps Communities In Schools of Spokane County raise money to purchase school supplies through Round It Up America for our annual Tools2Schools fundraiser. This year, with the support of our generous community, they were able to raise a record breaking $12,846.83 to purchase school supplies for CISSC! Because of our past success with this fundraiser,
Office Depot's state wide also joined in and raised $99,000 to help support CIS affiliates across the state! Darren has been such an amazing advocate for our program and has helped us transform lives. Thank you Office Depot!
PrimeTime Mentoring & Tutoring
We are currently matching mentors
for the 2021-2022 school year. 
Contact Kelley Hinrichs at Kelley@cisspokane.org or Emily Winn at Emily@cisspokane.org for more information


Additional Volunteer Opportunities

We are looking for volunteers!

We are in need of support from community members like you. Please see the volunteer opportunities listed below. Please contact our Volunteer Director, Kelley Hinrichs kelley@cisspokane.org for more information.




  • Tree of Sharing, we will have volunteer opportunities to hand out gift tags at the local malls from 11/26-12/17.

  • We also need some people that can be on call to help us sort and deliver gifts to our sites between 12/13-12/17.


PrimeTime Mentoring - Serve as a Virtual Mentor through our PrimeTime Mentoring Program. Do you have 30 minutes once a week? We have students waiting to be matched with you.

PrimeTime Tutor -  Serve as a Virtual Tutor for students needing educational support. Weekly sessions are 45 minutes in length. We will work to match you with your preferred student age/school subject. 



Click on the link below to sign up for PrimeTime Mentoring or PrimeTime Tutoring !



If you have any questions please contact our Volunteer Director, Kelley Hinrichs  kelley@cisspokane.org
Motivational Interviewing Training Funded by Morning Star Foundation
Thank you Morning Star Foundation for recognizing Communities in Schools of Spokane County and helping make a difference in our community. We are honored to be awarded a grant of $16,000 for our motivational interviewing program that will support the development of students in Spokane County.

Our Site Coordinators at CISSC are putting their Motivational Training (MI) to use, the following story is a demonstration of one of our Site Coordinators using MI Training.
I have a student on my caseload that struggles significantly with attendance and grades. They attend school maybe once a week, so I thought I would try Motivational Interviewing with them.

 I was nervous at first, because I didn’t want to say the “wrong thing”. However, I remembered that in our training, Casey Jackson explained that if we say something wrong, the client (student) will simply correct us. I therefore decided to give it a try. I worked very hard to consciously leave out my own opinions about the problem, how to solve it, or start a sentence with the word “I”.

My goal during the conversation was to have high empathy so I would not generate resistance. I focused on that step for most of our short conversation. In response to Motivational Interviewing, they explained that school is actually a priority to them.

They told me that certain family members told them to drop out and get a GED, but they came back to school this fall because getting a diploma matters to them. While I do not think I was consistent enough to truly move to "Sustain" or “Change" talk, I look at our conversation as a success. I look forward to learning more about MI this fall in order to improve my skills, and hopefully have further MI conversations with this student.
Partnerships That Support North East Spokane Student and Families


The ZoNE through Northeast Community Center Association (NECCA) received 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) funding through Washington State OSPI that would provide over $2M in the next 5 years to support Spokane Public Schools students in Northeast Spokane with after-school and summer learning opportunities. 
 
Four community learning centers at Shaw, Garry, Lidgerwood, and Logan schools were implemented as a partnership between The ZoNE, Spokane Public Schools, and Communities in Schools of Spokane County. 
 
As of Sept. 20, 2021, The ZoNE has been approved to receive an additional $800,000 in supplemental 21st CCLC funding for after school and summer learning at Bemiss, Whitman and Stevens Elementary Schools over the next 2 years, as well as new family support staff on the Hillyard Community Campus. The ZoNE is also partnering with Spokane Schools to fund family support staff at Regal, Whitman, and Bemiss.  

We are proud to be a part of this dynamic partnership to support quality out of school programming in Northeast Spokane, says Chuck Teegarden, Executive Director of Communities in Schools of Spokane County. “Our past experience with 21st CCLC programs prepares us to create safe, supportive and fun experiences with Spokane Schools students and their families.” 
 
The ZoNE 21st CCLC Partnership includes funding for: 

• Quality before/after school and summer learning.  
 
• Serving 4th-8th graders annually with academic and enrichment programming with a focus on STEM, reading, math, social-emotional development. 
 
• Family engagement and opportunities for adult learning and career development.

• Connecting siblings of older students to after school/childcare options.  
 
• Full-time Communities In Schools Site Coordinators and a Program Manager shared between 7 schools to create the strong connections with school building staff, families and students, as well as funding for SPS after-hours learning support staff.
 
Outcomes expected: 
• Increased student progress in Math and ELA and increased confidence in STEM and interest in STEM careers. 
 
• Improved financial and emotional well-being of the whole family by increasing participation of siblings in afterschool care/programs and parents/caregivers in financial, education, employment classes, and healthy activities. 
 
• Increased positive behavior outcomes and social-emotional learning skills. 
 
TRADES NIGHT November 10th , 2021