On Friday, June 14th the National League of Cities, Make For All and Nation of Makers co-hosted a “Makers Mayor Collaboratory” in Chattanooga, Tennessee, coinciding with NOMCON, the national conference of maker community leaders. The Collaboratory brought together both mayors and maker organizations to identify areas where local elected officials and makers could work together. Mayors came from around the country, including cities and towns like Rexburg, Idaho; Salisbury, Maryland; Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania; and of course a Tennessee contingent of Knoxville, Tennessee and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Policy & Advocacy, NationalStephanie SantosoJune 26, 2019Make For All, Maker Economy

East Somerville students speak out against rising rents

“Dear Mayor Curtatone,

I'm a student at the East Somerville Community School. I live in Somerville and I think affordable housing is important because people and families are losing their homes because rents are raising more than usual. [...] Kids’ best friends have to leave and move apart due to un-affordable housing. Please fix this issue. If you do, thanks.”

-Emily, 5th grade

A New Approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Citizen Schools

The development of a more diverse, equitable and inclusive organization has long been a priority at Citizen Schools, given our mission and the communities we serve. We strongly believe that as an organization it is our moral imperative to breakdown the systems of oppression that have long prevented us from copiously serving our young people and supporting their visions of success.

National, Policy & AdvocacyStephanie LajoieJanuary 23, 2018Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, DEI

A Step in the Right Direction: Career Exploration in Middle School

In the quest for college and career readiness, policymakers are slowly but surely coming around to the importance of career readiness. Though much of this nascent effort is focused on career readiness for high schoolers, middle school is beginning to enter the discussion, too. The middle grades are a crucial time to engage, or reengage, students and put them on a path to college and career success. Research has demonstrated that grades, attendance, and engagement in middle school are strong predictors of high school graduation and postsecondary success. The Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University found that “sixth graders who failed math or English/reading, or attended school less than 80% of the time, or received an unsatisfactory behavior grade in a core course had only a 10% to 20% chance of graduating [high school] on time.”

US2020 Honors Leaders of the STEM Mentoring Movement

This morning, US2020 announced the winners of the third annual US2020 STEM Mentoring Awards. The awards are a national platform to celebrate and encourage exceptional work in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) mentoring. Awards were handed out at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, where national leaders in this field are discussing strategies for advancing STEM opportunity in the United States.

The City as Classroom

As summer’s blaze softens into autumn hues, our city’s children are back in the schoolhouse. For many students in the Boston Public Schools, summer was more productive, inspirational and fun than they expected. This is thanks to citywide work to replace traditional summer school with creative and research-based summer learning, as well as a growing commitment in Boston to ensure all students, regardless of family income, access a wide range of summer activities.

Massachusetts, National, Policy & AdvocacyMegan BirdSeptember 18, 2017classroom technology, Opportunity Gap, policy

DACA Should be Kept

Have you heard anything about DACA and/or DAPA? DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA is an American immigration policy founded by the Obama administration in June 2012. Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents sometimes called Deferred Action for Parental Accountability, is a planned American immigration policy to grant deferred action status to certain undocumented immigrants. DAPA and DACA give immigrants opportunities such as employment, but there are some downsides to DACA and DAPA that affect many immigrants. DACA and DAPA programs do too little to protect undocumented immigrants while allowing them to legally stay in the US because their rights can be easily taken away and they don’t know if they can get citizenship. But others, like Republicans think that immigrants get too much support because there is too much spent on the immigrants.

National, Massachusetts, Policy & AdvocacyJoana September 11, 2017DACA, DAPA, immigration, policy

2017 National Teacher of the Year Sydney Chaffee on her time with Citizen Schools

Massachusetts, National, Policy & AdvocacydanagooleyMay 12, 2017sydney chaffee, national teacher of the year, Teaching Fellow

A small school caught in the crossfire of AmeriCorps debate

Nativity Preparatory School in New Bedford, Mass., could lose vital funding for most of its teachers if the AmeriCorps program is slashed from the federal budget. But such a threat also exposes the challenge of providing a tuition-free, private school education for students from low-income families.

Massachusetts, Media Coverage, National, Policy & AdvocacydanagooleyApril 12, 2017New Bedford, AmeriCorps

Expanding Opportunity: Citizen Schools Impact 2016

In the past year, our programming has continued to demonstrate measurable impact in academic growth and achievement, helping to narrow the opportunity gap in our schools. This report includes key national and regional results, as well as introductions to just a few of the many supporters, volunteers and Americorps members who help make it possible for middle schoolers across the country to discover and achieve their dreams.

Hundreds of education leaders from charter schools, nonprofits denounce Trump’s travel ban

Leaders of several hundred education nonprofits, charter school networks, and other education groups have signed onto an open letter expressing “unequivocal disagreement” with the travel ban President Trump instituted last month.

National, Policy & AdvocacyWhitney BuckleyFebruary 23, 2017achievement first, immigration, KIPP, muslim ban, open letter, trump, donorschoose, dsst

Lessons From Year One as CEO: Our Role in the Education Sector

Winter marks a set of important anniversaries for Citizen Schools: the anniversary of our incorporation on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1995; the anniversary of Black History Month, which offers the country an important reminder of the perseverance and resilience necessary to forge a more just and equitable society; and, now, my first year anniversary as our CEO. I am proud to stand on the shoulders of giants in fulfilling our mission to close opportunity gaps to restore economic mobility in this country - and every student’s shot at the American Dream.

Abt Associates Evaluation of Citizen Schools ELT Model

Since our earliest days at Citizen Schools, we have invested in rigorous external evaluation to understand the impact of our program on students, school communities, and Citizen Schools volunteers, and to identify the priority areas for improvement. Today marks an important milestone in this commitment. We are pleased to release the final report of a five-year external evaluation of the Citizen Schools national Expanded Learning Time (ELT) initiative, conducted by Abt Associates.

National, Policy & AdvocacyEmily McCannNovember 3, 2016abt associates, Citizen Schools, Education, emily mccann