All children deserve a chance to learn, but many face obstacles too steep for them to climb alone. In the winter, those obstacles can revolve around keeping warm and fed. In City Connects schools, Coordinators work tirelessly to build a network of support for students and their families.
“Students who are cold or hungry may find it difficult to focus on school,” City Connects Programs & Practice Director Cynthia Scheller said. “City Connects gives students opportunities to learn and thrive by addressing the whole child and supporting them not just academically but with their strengths and needs outside the classroom. A warm coat or a nutritious breakfast can significantly reduce a child’s anxiety and improve their ability to focus during the school day.”
Since its inception, City Connects has strived to meet the needs of the students in its schools. There are many examples of how Coordinators help support the strengths and needs of their students, especially in winter.
“Saint Theresa of the Child School’s City Connects Coordinator Tania Medeiros has worked very hard to support her students,” Senior Manager of Coaching Jillian O’Neil said. “Tania has partnered with the local Stop and Shop in Somerville for food donations. She also teaches the children the importance of giving back. Ahead of the winter season, Tania helped the students run a food drive for the Elizabeth Peabody House for Thanksgiving. Throughout the winter, the school also runs holiday drives and winter coat drives for the local community.”
These are just a few of the many ways City Connects Coordinators continue to create new opportunities for students across our network.
The need: 2 in 5 children in America experience clothing insecurity. “Lack of clothing” ranks among the three reasons children miss school.
The supports: “It’s about so much more than clothes:” City Connects and Cradles to Crayons at the Massachusetts State House
Last winter, Lynn Margherio, Founder and CEO of Cradles to Crayons, and City Connects Program manager Sara Davey were invited to speak at an advocacy event at the Massachusetts State House. Representative Marjorie Decker sponsored the event.
Davey shared an inspiring story about how the partnership between City Connects and Cradles to Crayons makes a real impact on students.
“In one of our schools, we have a refugee family who has regularly expressed appreciation for the donations provided by Cradles to Crayons,” Davey said. “This family is currently experiencing housing insecurity and living in a shelter. Their son is in the third grade– his eyes light up every time he sees our City Connects Coordinator with the bag of clothing for him, and he has treasured his donated Levi’s jean jacket so much that he wears it almost every day.”
“I hope people understand that this is about so much more than clothes,” Davey said. ”It’s about children feeling proud and how that helps them succeed.”
The supports: Mobilizing generosity: connecting kids to clothes in Salem
The Clothing Connection is a City Connects community partner working in multiple Salem Public schools, and it’s a great example of City Connects’ practice of helping students by mobilizing existing resources. These resources are often health services, spots in day camps, and, yes, clothes. But the story of the Clothing Connection is also a story about mobilizing a community’s generosity.
Read more here: https://cityconnectsblog.org/2021/12/09/mobilizing-generosity-connecting-kids-to-clothes-in-salem/
The need: 1 in 5 children face food insecurity, affecting nearly 14 million children in 2023.
The supports: The Sheridan Story gives Minnesota students food for the weekend
When City Connects Program Manager Laurie Acker meets with the coordinators she supervises in Minnesota, she routinely asks them a question:
“What services do you need that you don’t have a community partner for yet?”
One common answer is food. Some students come to school hungry, go home hungry, and dread long weekends because their families are grappling with food insecurity. Others hoard the food they receive at lunch.
Community partners help address this kind of problem. They are an essential part of the City Connects model of getting the right services to the right students at the right time, and Acker has worked hard to build these connections.
Read more here: https://cityconnectsblog.org/2019/12/12/the-sheridan-story-gives-minnesota-students-food-for-the-weekend/
The need: 28.5 percent of America’s homeless are families with children. Homelessness among families with children has grown during the housing crisis.
The supports: A backpack and hope: third graders in Brockton help homeless students
While we are proud of the work that City Connects coordinators do to help students without stable housing, we are even more proud of the work that third graders at Trinity Catholic Academy in Brockton, Mass., are doing to help their peers.
The third graders packed backpacks full of school supplies for other Brockton children who are in the third and fourth grades and are experiencing homelessness.
“Remember, miracles can happen. Dream big. Work hard,” one Trinity Catholic third grader wrote in a note to a child who will receive a backpack.
This effort engages students in the work of helping their peers and their community become stronger, more caring, and better connected.
Read more here: https://cityconnectsblog.org/2018/05/31/a-backpack-and-hope-third-graders-in-brockton-help-homeless-students/
