Learning

One measure of a healthy neighborhood is that its residents' children are doing well academically. Families with choices are not going to live in neighborhoods with poor schools.

Community Impact addresses the educational component of neighborhood renewal by working through strategic alliances to intervene at both the neighborhood level and the systemic level.

In 2002, Community Impact funded a study by the New York University Institute for Education and Social Policy to assess parent involvement and public engagement in Chattanooga's urban elementary schools, and then convened an Education Collaborative of key community organizations to review the study's results and recommendations.  In addition to Community Impact, this group includes the Hamilton County Department of Education, the Public Education Foundation and the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga.

The Collaborative is focusing its initial efforts on a program in urban elementary schools to build stronger connections between schools, parents and community by upgrading the expectations and salary of the traditional "parent coordinator" position. Eight urban elementary schools now have Family Partnership Specialists (FPS), funded by Community Impact and other Collaborative members. The first FPS was hired in 2003, and the others began working in 2004.

Specific activities vary from school to school, but all Family Partnership Specialists share the same core responsibilities, which are aligned with each school's improvement goals: coordinate after-school enrichment programs to help struggling students close the achievement gap; help parents become engaged in their children's schooling through workshops at the school and through in-home visits; and connect businesses and other community partners with the school.