From the Archives: The Work We Do

While the blog is on summer vacation, we’re sharing past posts about the many ways City Connects helps students thrive. 

This week’s roundup looks at some of the people who make the work of City Connects possible. Our staff is full of people committed to our mission of helping children thrive. Their skill sets are varied and cover a wide range of topics, from survey research to implementation and social work. This allows the Center for Thriving Children to maintain a vibrant research-practice partnership with City Connects practitioners, and some of that partnership is on display in the stories below. 

The Program Manager for Ohio, Megan Bettelon, knows what it takes to support City Connects Coordinators, because she served as one herself for seven years. 

“I found that often the most impact I had with families was not in the tangible work I did, but in just being a supportive presence and friendly face in a school system that they otherwise may have found overwhelming,” Bettelon said. “Now as a Program Manager, I know a lot of the resources that are available to families that I can share with the Coordinators. I can also speak to the importance of the school-family partnership and the real impact it can make in the lives of the students.”

Bettelon supports the Coordinators of Catholic Central Elementary and High School in Springfield and Our Lady of the Rosary School in Dayton. She provides leadership, coaching, and supervision to Coordinators. She also builds partnerships with school leaders and helps them to utilize data to drive decision-making. Bettelon understands deeply how important supporting the whole child can be, and the importance of data in discovering trends that can help schools to better care for and educate the students in their community. Read More

As a school counselor, elementary school assistant principal, and high school principal,  Jillian O’Neil’s saw first-hand the differences between schools with systems of student support, like City Connects, and those without. 

“It was kind of like putting out fires instead of building a system for real, holistic student support,” said O’Neil, who ended up bringing City Connects into her school as principal. “The mission of City Connects truly resonates with me. I saw how much of a need there was for our mission when I was working in the field of education. When I was looking for another opportunity, I was lucky to have this opportunity to work directly with City Connects, and to serve students on a wider scale.”

Now, as City Connects’s Senior Manager of Coaching and School Partnerships, O’Neil is helping to bring City Connects to more schools. From coaching to helping create professional development sessions, O’Neil supports Program Managers across Massachusetts. Read More

The Chain Reaction: Nan Yang Helps Turn Data into Action

January 23, 2026

As a survey researcher for Boston College’s Center for Thriving Children, Nan Yang finds great joy in seeing the positive impact her work can have on children and families. 

“Whenever I think about the chain reaction from what I find in the data to how we actually help kids, that makes me very happy,” Yang said. “Sometimes when you do research you feel like you are so far away from the practice. You are making some theoretical suggestions, but how far is that from being implemented in school and really helping a kid? What I love most about my job is that the distance isn’t that far. I collect data from people, I bring those data to my colleagues who work with schools, and then sometimes you see those changes happen.”

Yang oversees the Center’s primary data collection efforts, developing everything from surveys and questionnaires to interviews and focus groups. She analyzes the data she collects from teachers, principals, community partners, and coordinators in City Connects schools to understand where the work is having an impact and what improvements can be made. As a member of the Center’s Research and Evaluation team, Yang also plays a big role in identifying new research topics as well, from digging through decades of survey data to find any interesting trends that have not yet been discovered to exploring new areas where a better understanding of City Connects’ impacts can be developed. Read More