We’re excited to share that City Connects has received two grants that will magnify the work we’re doing in Indiana.
City Connects launched in Indiana in 2018. We grew by partnering with Marian University’s Center for Vibrant Schools to create the City Connects Technical Assistance Center.
Now, we’re continuing our work and expanding into a new school, and we’re conducting research on how best to serve students, particularly in the shadow of the pandemic.
A grant for our work in Muncie
In November, Indiana University Health (IU Health), the largest healthcare system in Indiana, announced that it had awarded $9.6 million in grants to 14 community organizations to improve the lives of state residents.
Among the recipients is Marian University, which has received “$500,000 over three years to expand the City Connects program into Muncie Community Schools.”
The funding comes from IU Health’s $200 million Community Impact Investment (CII) Fund, which supports organizations focused on “key social and environmental factors that heavily affect people’s health outcomes.”
IU Health’s goal is “to make Indiana one of the healthiest states in the nation.”
It’s a goal that dovetails well with City Connects’ approach. Health is one of the four domains (along with academics, social/emotional wellbeing, and family life) that City Connects Coordinators consider as they assess students’ needs and strengths. Responding to students’ health needs can include connecting them to dentists and eye doctors or helping students from food-insecure families access food.
As City Connects Midwest Director Jillian Lain explains, “Students should be able to focus on learning at school. Unfortunately, we know many are dealing with a lot outside the classroom.”
A research grant
The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has awarded a $1 million research grant to The Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children at Boston College and the Indiana Department of Education.
The two organizations will look at how “academic achievement and behavioral outcomes for marginalized students have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic,” IES explains, and at whether and how City Connects can help by providing comprehensive student support that increases students’ access to resources and closes achievement gaps.
The project will include data on public and private school students from the 2015–16 school year through the 2024–25 school year. The research will “focus on mathematics and English language arts achievement as measured by state standardized tests, along with attendance and suspension in grades 3 through 8 as outcome measures.”
Information will also be collected “directly from principals, teachers, and program coordinators via surveys and interviews.”
The goal is to produce research reports and to provide Indiana with “actionable information” that can be used to make decisions about “comprehensive student support and a whole-child approach to support student learning.”
What Indiana learns from this work can also be used by other states that are interested in using student support programs to clear away barriers and help students access the resources they need to succeed in school and life.
