Communities In Schools, Inc.
All in for Kids
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
CIS aims to address inequitable learning conditions and disparities in chronic absenteeism, drop-out rates, and graduation rates. We surround students with a community of support so they stay – and succeed – in school. Our model of integrated student supports ensures all students have access to the community resources and tools they need to unlock their potential and thrive. We put students at the center and surround them with a caring community of support, anchored by our dedicated staff.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
CIS Programs
Working directly in 3,270 schools in 25 states and the District of Columbia, Communities In Schools builds relationships that empower students to stay in school and succeed in life.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of states currently operating in
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
In addition to the states listed, the District of Columbia is also being served.
Number of students receiving whole-school supports
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of students receiving case-managed support
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Percent of case-managed students who were promoted to the next grade level
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of school and community sites served by CIS
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Percent of 12th-grade case-managed students that graduated or received a GED
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Percent of case-managed students who met or made progress toward at least one of their career readiness goals
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Percent of case-managed students who met or made progress toward at least one of their college readiness goals
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Percent of students who met or made progress toward at least one of their academic goals
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The United States' education crisis can be summed up in one statistic: Every twenty-six seconds, a child drops out of school and into an uncertain future. Students whose academic, social service and basic life needs are not met often succumb to despair and frustration, even though they may be bright and fully capable of achieving in school.
Communities In Schools' (CIS) mission is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. CIS works in the most economically challenged communities – 89% of case-managed students are eligible to receive free and reduced priced lunch; 81% of case managed students served are students of color. By turning around schools where dropout rates are high due to poverty, and going to schools with high minority populations, CIS addresses the dropout crisis where it is most acute.
CIS employs a proven model of Integrated Student Services (ISS). Our vision is to expand quality implementation of ISS to every state through a network of providers benefitting from CIS leadership and services and leveraging resources in their own communities.
CIS will embark on a transformative investment to position the organization and ISS model to attract national, state, and local resources; produce an ROI of sustainable, measurable dropout prevention; and change the lives of children, families, and communities nationwide. We will:
(1) Focus on the quality delivery and scope of services within 180+ existing CIS sites and on judicious and strategic expansion to new markets where there is great need and available resources; and where CIS can leverage involvement to engage policy makers and funders.
(2) Maintain the strongest evidence-based services for young people through sustainable, accredited, and effective non-profit affiliates, fielding certified site coordinators at the local level. We will continue to measure results through rigorous data collection and evaluation, and ensure quality through standards-setting, ongoing training, and our accreditation and certification programs.
(3) Create a funding and practice infrastructure to spread effective implementation of ISS to every state by embedding ISS as the preferred model of dropout prevention in Federal/state/local policy and funding, and positioning CIS nationwide as the recognized source of service provider training, information, standards, research, and accreditation.
(4) Increase the visibility of CIS as a solution through a nationwide communications effort to (a) position CIS as effectively addressing a major societal issue and transforming children's lives through ISS; and (b) provide resources and materials to local affiliates to increase the visibility of their work and engage local stakeholders.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
CIS works inside school systems with superintendents, principals, educators, and other personnel, and forges community partnerships that bring resources into schools and remove barriers to learning. CIS addresses the total student—because students with unmet physical, psychological, and social needs cannot learn effectively—and the whole school environment. Our research has shown that attention to needs of both the entire school and the individual student is critical to reducing dropout rates and increasing graduation rates. The core of program and service delivery is the school-based coordinator. Site coordinators tailor services to the needs of individual students, encompassing academic help, direct provision of health care, counseling, transportation, donated goods, mentoring, afterschool programs, and more. With leadership from the CIS national office and a network of state offices, CIS affiliates gather resources within their own communities to implement the school-based ISS program.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
CIS comes to the dropout crisis with a proven model, a strong national network, committed staff and volunteers, diverse philanthropic support, and a strong management record. According to 2021-2022 school-year data, the CIS network is comprised of 4,780 passionate professionals in 25 states and the District of Columbia, as well as 15,500 community volunteers who serve 1.8 million young people in more than 3,270 schools.
The network is the backbone of CIS success. The successful delivery of the ISS model depends on the skill, initiative, and effectiveness of dedicated staff and volunteer leadership in 114 CIS local affiliates, and on their strong relationships with community and educational leaders.
It also depends on the strong support of the CIS national office staff who aggregate financial resources that are re-granted to affiliates; and provide information, training, network coordination, data collection and analysis, technical assistance, an influential voice in the national discussion of education reform, and state and local advocacy support.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Working in schools and communities impacted by the effects of poverty in the mid- 1970s, Co-Founder Bill Milliken, started CIS with a 100-year vision to transform how schools are built to support the whole child. The idea was to bring a community of support inside our schools to remove barriers that get in the way of student learning. His hope was that one day our work would be strong enough to impact education policy across the country. Today, as we approach 50 years of CIS existence we are continuing to live into that vision.
Our world is grounded in a long-term vision for change. Over the past 50 years we have accomplished much toward realizing our vision and demonstrated the potential of our model to change systems by driving whole-school results.
113 CIS organizations and licensees in the US
2,900 schools served last year
1.61 million students served annually
96% of K-11 students were promoted to the next grade
93% of CIS seniors graduated or received a GED
86% of students made progress towards at least one student developed, CIS-tracked individual goal
Now, is the time for CIS to boldly set the course for the next 50 years to accelerate progress towards this vision
Opportunity exists for CIS to expand our impact by:
Increasing access to Integrated Student Supports
Strengthening fidelity to the model across CIS' network of affiliates and partners
Advocating for policies, practices, and environments that lead to more equitable and just educational systems
Investing in organizational sustainability & continued elevation of site coordinators as professionals, who build critical relationships with CIS students, connect districts, schools and students with tailored community resources, and support long-term success of students
Supporting CIS alumni to thrive post-high school and be leaders within and beyond the CIS network
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Communities In Schools, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 08/09/2023
Elaine Wynn
Trustee, Elaine P. Wynn Family Foundation
Sherrie R Westin
Sesame Workshop
James C Chambers
Renewable Energy Entrepreneur, Biodynamic Farmer, Filmmaker
William E. Milliken
Founder and Vice-Chairman, Communities in Schools
Jillian Manus
Structure Capital
Elaine Wynn
Philanthropist and Co-Founder, Wynn Resorts
Donna Weiss
No Affiliation
Robert H Baldwin
Heartland Payment Systems (retired)
Christopher F Allwin
Aetos Capital
Daniel Domenech
AASA (retired)
Michael French
Marketing Executive (retired)
Joseph DiDomizio
The Hudson Group
Pascal Fernandez
PaF Strategy + Insights, LLC
Kimberly B Davis
National Hockey League
Jerry Croan
Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc.
Arne Duncan
Emerson Collective
Zac Guevara
Capital International Research Inc. (retired)
Talitha Halley
Beach Bodi Studios
Shaquille O'Neal
Former NBA Basketball Player and Hall of Fame Inductee
Darilyn T Olidge, Esq.
Brightwood Capital Advisors
Carmen Ortiz-McGhee
National Association of Investment Companies
Isaiah Pickens
iOpening Enterprises
Juan Sepúlveda
Trinity University
Lenny Stern
Shepardson Stern Kaminsky
Christopher Womack
External Affairs for Southern Company
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 06/08/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.