School-Community Partnerships Gathering

On Tuesday, December 10th, more than 150 colleagues, including family liaisons, community outreach workers, school educators and counselors, and all types of Out-of-School Time (OST) and community program leaders came together for the second annual School-Community Partnership Gathering, which took place at The Foundry in Cambridge. 

This event, hosted by the Agenda for Children's Elementary School Out-of-School Time Network and Middle School Network, DHSP's Reaching All Youth Network and the CPS Family Engagement Team, centered on fostering collaboration between the elementary, middle, and high school providers, addressing shared obstacles while building sustainable solutions, and sharing tools and best practices to strengthen networks and connection. Interim Supt. David Murphy also came through to welcome folks, and affirm everyone’s essential support of our shared students and families.

After breakfast and networking, attendees joined grade-specific breakout groups. A big highlight of the event was the zipper activity where participants raised and lowered their arms to simulate a zipper as someone (such as the incomparable Ms. G, from the Cambridge Community Center!) ran through. The event concluded with topic-based breakout groups on subjects including Creating Community Culture, Getting the Word Out, Language Barriers, Let's Talk Timelines, Career-Connected Learning Opportunities, Mental Health and Wellness, Community Partners Portal & Demographic Dashboards, and All Things AI.

The energy was electric as new connections were formed, knowledge was shared, and plans were made, all in support of our Cambridge youth.

We asked folks to share something they took away from this gathering (If you haven’t had a chance to share your feedback yet, fill out the form here).

Here is what they had to say: 

• I didn't know Harvard had a department dedicated to connecting with CPS
• How the city has many resources but aren't shared on how to use them or who to connect with. It's all a sub-separate division serving the same kids.
• I learned how many organizations we have available to us
• Learned about different organizations that are in Cambridge
• Career pathways stuff happening in the schools.
• The interim superintendent talked about outcomes! We should also focus on outcomes.
• A lot of us struggle to reach families
• Immigrant community (esp caregivers) we serve - anxiety / difficulty obtaining solid info about upcoming immigration policy changes
• A bit about the work other people are doing. The second round of breakout groups where we joined them based on specific topics with prompts was also very good. Our timeline group shared a lot of collective knowledge I was unaware of and that gave insight into the ways each organization is reacting/responding to the same issue.
• The zipper line and the analogy that we hold the community tight by zipping up and working together.
• The most beneficial piece was hearing about different organizations and the work they do.
• The zipper game. Reminder of the dynamic people who serve young people in this city
• We are all closer and more connected than we think
• When we take the time to think together creatively, more options exist than we realize.
• More conversations across programs/partners/school staff about how we are supporting individual students would be of great value!
• How poppin’ it is in Cambridge and neighboring communities to ensure youth are supported based on their developmental and salient needs
• This gathering helps me continue to develop my overall awareness of all the systems and organizations that support young people and families in Cambridge. My wonderings are how to connect with some of these organizations and people in a way that will create a feedback loop that informs and strengthens our approaches to student learning across the school district.
• That we don't work with youth in isolation -- we are part of a big network! There are many partners for collaborating on challenges and problem-solving.

We encourage you all to stay in touch with each other and have created a directory of those in attendance. Please reach out! To learn more about the breakout group conversations, you can access the notes. Take a look at this slideshow to view the community announcements.

And finally, our Winter Break slideshow is now available! Please share this with your families and youth who may be looking for fun programs and activities to do over December break.

We are excited to continue this work together!