The city of Poughkeepsie, New York has a north star goal: connect all young people and their families to transformative cradle-to-career opportunities that place them on pathways to postsecondary completion and socioeconomic mobility.
Poughkeepsie sits on the Hudson River and is home to hundreds of acres of parks, two colleges, one university, art studios, a children’s museum, and an abundance of community pride. It’s also a city struggling with the effects of poverty and the impact of systemic inequities in education. In 2020, city leaders launched the Children’s Cabinet, leveraging the city’s unique resources to support the needs and ignite the passions of children and their families. Given this goal, it was only fitting that City Connects play a role in Poughkeepsie’s renaissance.
“My hope for our district aligns with the fundamental core of the City Connects model: which is providing enrichment opportunities and support for our students. I’m excited to see City Connects blend into our schools, partnering with us to discover each student’s interests, needs, and strengths, and putting targeted programming into place to support their academic journey. It makes a difference to have someone who cares, who will make every effort to connect you to opportunities, resources, and supports in an uplifting way,” said Diandria Williams, Program Coordinator for the Poughkeepsie City School District’s Office of School Engagement, who oversees the implementation of City Connects in Poughkeepsie.
Through the leadership of Rob Watson, co-founder of the Poughkeepsie Children’s Cabinet and Executive Director of the EdRedesign Lab at Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Mary Walsh, Executive Director of City Connects and Founding Director of Center for Thriving Children, City Connects was brought to Poughkeepsie in 2021. After two years of operating at the middle school level, City Connects was launched in Poughkeepsie’s Early Learning Center in September, supporting around 250 Pre-K and Kindergarten students as part of a Full-Service Community Schools grant.
“There is a belief in Poughkeepsie around the importance of connecting all kids to resources and getting all kids support. And they needed to organize this in a way that is systematic and structured. They have the ideas of what resources to utilize, but how do they get that back to the kids that need it? City Connects can help make those connections and tie those resources directly to students’ strengths, needs, and interests,” said Jen Bouckaert, Senior Manager of Coaching and Networks for the Center for Thriving Children.
The expansion of City Connects in Poughkeepsie coincides with school restructuring in the district. Currently, there is one Early Learning Center, serving all Pre-K and Kindergarten students in the district. Starting next year, the district will have two Pre-K through 2nd grade schools and three schools serving students in 3rd through 5th grade. The move will provide the community with closer and more accessible schools. Over the coming years, City Connects will expand to one new school each year until they are in all five of the city’s elementary schools.
“City Connects is there to support all the wonderful things that are already happening in Poughkeepsie schools. There’s some great initiatives going on and we’re building people’s understanding of what integrated student support is, what it looks like, and how City Connects as a system can support schools in their efforts so that all students receive the supports and the services they need,” said Cynthia Scheller, Director of Student Support Programs and Practice at the Center for Thriving Children.
After less than a year in the Early Learning Center, City Connects is already illuminating the strengths and needs of Poughkeepsie’s youngest learners. Student reviews revealed common challenges around attendance, early math and literacy, and a need to bolster social-emotional and behavioral skills. As a result, the school’s City Connect Coordinator Vailea Rutty is working with a group of students and families on addressing barriers to attendance. She’s also launching the Buzzing Buddies, a series of social skills groups focused on specific social-emotional and behavioral needs named in honor of the school’s bumblebee mascot.
Meanwhile, City Connects leaders are already seeing endless possibilities for leveraging resources in Poughkeepsie to ignite the strengths and interests of students.
“By doing interest surveys, we found out that a lot of students love art, swimming, and LEGOs. We have a swimming pool in our middle school, several community art studios/programs, and LEGOLAND is right across the river. We can use these resources that exist in the community to build up students’ skills, build up their strengths, and leverage them so that their social-emotional learning components are just exploding with possibilities. This means when they are entering middle school and high school they’re better suited for success,” said Williams.
Williams added that she hopes Poughkeepsie’s proximity to LEGOLAND can lead to a future partnership, not only for the widespread appeal of LEGOs to the city’s students but also for what LEGOs represent.
“LEGOs are endless possibilities, so if we can bring that into a community that is struggling and trying to survive, we can let students know at an early age that anything is possible; it’s within you to create that magic,” Williams said.
