The aphorism that “it takes a village to raise a child” resonates because of its fundamental truth.
But how does a family find those resources and supportive relationships in the modern world? How can a new parent or someone new to the city, state, or country connect to the opportunities around them?
That’s the problem Dr. Mary Walsh confronted throughout her career. A clinical-developmental psychologist working with low-income and homeless families in Worcester and Boston, Walsh saw first-hand the devastating effects of poverty, food insecurity, and more. She also knew what it was like to grow up as a child of immigrants and what the research said about how children developed: with the right support, every child could thrive.
“City Connects began out of our experience seeing children come to school not ready to learn,” said Walsh. “They were not ready because they were challenged by the conditions of poverty in their communities, in their families. They didn’t always have adequate clothing in wintertime. They couldn’t get afterschool programs that would have benefitted them.
“We saw an enormous number of challenges with these children and an enormous number of strengths. They were talented, and they loved life. They were kids who deserved a chance to learn.”
Drawing on scientific insights from child development, her idea was to create a network of support for each child, building a village around them, with the school as a central hub.
Walsh and Patrice DiNatale, a former principal in Boston with more than 30 years of experience, began to craft an intervention that would give every student in a school a support network. The core of this intervention would be a trained and licensed social worker or school counselor who could be a resource for teachers, students, and families alike.
“Every day, Coordinators bring hope to students because students know there is someone at school who knows them and their family well and will support them in their academic journey,” DiNatale said.
“Coordinators bring hope to teachers because teachers learn more about their students through Coordinators who become trusted partners who can help with the out-of-school factors that students face. And Coordinators bring hope to administrators, because they also know Coordinators are trusted partners who help address the issues students bring to school, and this gives administrators time to go into classrooms and support instruction.”
They conducted dozens of interviews, focus groups, and visits with teachers, principals, community members, and parents to co-design how to best provide comprehensive supports and opportunities to every child in a school. The perspectives and guidance offered by educators and community members were vital.
“I remember talking to a teacher around 2001, and she said, ‘I’ve been trying to bring in coats and snow boots for those that don’t have them,’” said Walsh. “I knew as a developmental psychologist that if we presented the right supports to children, they could thrive. We also know that we can alter the course of development by providing the right supports for children at the right time and doing it consistently over time.
“The image I had in my head was to build a village. We tried to set up a system using the school as the core locus to build a village around a child and give that child access to the things in the village that could help that particular child.”
Out of these conversations sprang City Connects.
“There wasn’t a lot of interest in children’s lives beyond the classroom when we launched City Connects,” Walsh said. “The No Child Left Behind legislation had just passed, and schools had a laser-like focus on achievement and standardized tests. The goal was to fully close the achievement gap for poor students and students of color by 2014. When that didn’t happen, schools began to realize what the real challenges facing students are.
“Our work with City Connects can involve anything from getting eyeglasses for kids to finding shelter for their family, but it also helps teachers in schools with three or four hundred students understand what’s going on with each individual child. We’ve had teachers come to us and say, ‘Now I feel like I really know my students, and I can empathize with them.’ That makes a big difference.”
One big hurdle for the burgeoning City Connects team was understanding whether the intervention was making a difference and, if so, how to study the impact.
That’s where the contributions of George Madaus, then a professor at Boston College, loomed large. Madaus was a research professor at Boston College and an internationally renowned expert on educational testing and measurement. He helped figure out how to evaluate the new intervention in academically rigorous ways.
That research-practice partnership is at the heart of City Connects.
“Thanks to the late, legendary BC Professor George Madaus,“ Walsh said, “we learned that kids who’d had City Connects in elementary school did significantly better on standardized tests through the rest of their education, and their high-school dropout rate decreased by half.”
As we celebrate 25 years of City Connects, we are proud of the impacts we have on the lives of children, families, and communities and the many partners who work with us to make a difference.
We continue the mission Mary Walsh envisioned two decades ago: building the village around each child so they can learn and thrive.
