The global pandemic was traumatic for everyone, and it revealed the vast inequity in public services to which people have access. Fortunately, community schools in the United States had been coordinating services to meet the needs of their families prior to the pandemic, and when schools closed in 2020, they kicked into high gear to provide for those needs. In this session, participants will learn about the concept of community schools and how their effort to meeting families’ basic needs (i.e. food, shelter, clothing) generated trusting relationships, producing social capital in their neighborhoods. This is especially important in racially and economically isolated neighborhoods which many community schools serve. In the end, this webinar will share examples of how community schools have worked in action and discuss their potential for converting the social capital they generate into further advocacy alongside the families with whom they work.
About the presenter:
Jessica T. Shiller, Ph.D., is a professor of education at Towson University in Maryland and the director of the Maryland Center for community schools. She is the author of many publications including “Preparing for democracy: How community-based organizations build civic engagement among urban youth,” and “The Transformative Capacity of Baltimore’s Community Schools: Limits and Possibilities in a Spatially Unjust Urban Context for Black Communities.”
