Being Present: How Communities In Schools Measures Success Beyond the Numbers

Hope Sinclair, PhD, Executive Director, CISofHR

Maya was just 11 and fighting a rare, aggressive cancer. Her pain often showed up as anger — a reaction her peers and teachers noticed but didn’t fully understand. Lucky for Maya that her elementary was part of Communities In Schools (CIS). Her site coordinator (SC) created a safe space where Maya could speak openly about her fears. As trust grew, so did the child’s outlook. She began smiling more, sharing victories, like her hair growing back after chemo, and friends took notice of her “inspiring attitude.”

32 schools in seven Hampton Roads cities have CIS, a nearly 50-year-old program in 26 states and Washington D.C. Our work centers build trusting relationships with students who face barriers often invisible to the broader education system — food insecurity, homelessness, trauma, and lack of consistent adult support.

We embed SC’s inside public schools to connect students and families with the academic or other resources they need to succeed. But our impact can’t be summed up by a single test score or attendance sheet. We believe that simply “being present” is the first step to positive outcomes.

Our progress is tracked through the ABCs: Attendance, Behavior, and Course Performance — leading indicators of whether students will complete high school. Last year, CISofHR served over 23,000, with 97% of our case-managed seniors graduating, being “relentlessly present” the secret.

When site coordinators step in to help stabilize a student’s life, teachers and administrators gain back valuable instructional and management time. Now educators don’t have to carry the full weight of every crisis — they have a partner in us. Thanks in no small part to CIS, 76% of students improve attendance, 90% behave better, 80% do better in their subjects, and 96% of graduates have a solidified plan after school.

To deepen our impact, we need more: more behavioral health professionals, more flexible funding to meet immediate demands, and more community partners who treat student advocacy as a shared responsibility. We’re not asking for charity — we’re inviting investment in the “Future of Hampton Roads.” You can learn more at https://cisofhamptonroads.org.

Imagine a region where every school has a full-time CISofHR SC, where extra support isn’t the exception, it’s the standard, and where every student has someone in his or her corner.