United Way of Western Con-
necticut has received a $436,949

Capacity Building and Develop-
ment Grant from the U.S. De-
partment of Education as part

of its $63 million Full-Service
Community Schools grants .
The grants support 42 local

educational agencies, non-prof-
its, or other public or private

organizations and institutions
of higher education working
to expand existing community

schools or establish new pro-
grams in eight new states and

territories, including Alabama,
Alaska, Louisiana, Maryland,

New Mexico, Oklahoma, Ten-
nessee and Puerto Rico.

Community schools meet the

unique needs of the neighbor-
hoods they serve by leveraging

local non-profit, private sec-
tor, and agency partnerships to

bring services into school build-
ings.

This includes services such
as high-quality tutoring, health,

mental health and nutrition ser-
vices, and high-quality early

learning programs, among oth-
ers, for students and the commu-
nity.

“At the height of the pandem-
ic, community schools connected

students and families with nutri-
tion assistance, mental, physical,

and other health services, and

expanded learning opportuni-
ties. This work continues today

because we know that students

learn best when there is a com-
prehensive and holistic approach

to meeting their needs,” said

U.S. Secretary of Education Mi-
guel Cardona.

This year’s grant competi-
tion received the largest number

of applications in the history of
the program, demonstrating the

enormous need to have a contin-
uum of coordinated support to

address students’ academic, so-
cial, emotional and mental health

needs.

The new grantees are commit-
ted to implementing the four pil-
lars of community schools:

1.) integrated student supports

that address out-of-school barri-
ers to learning through partner-
ships with social and health ser-
vice agencies and providers;

2.) expanded and enriched
learning time and opportunities;

3.) active family and commu-
nity engagement; and

4.) collaborative leadership
and practices.
Studies have found that

well-implemented communi-
ty schools can lead to improved

student and school outcomes,
particularly for students in
high-poverty schools.