School Community Partnerships That Work

Building Relationships Among Stakeholders to Support Real Change

Jul 1, 2009

When schools work with community organizations, businesses, and agencies, they become powerful agents of change for students, families, and the neighborhoods around them.

Schools are the natural hub of a neighborhood or community, and can serve as the foundation for community partnerships that are beneficial to students, families, businesses, agencies, and other civic organizations. By building communication, sharing resources, and developing unique solutions to community problems, these partnerships can become vital and organic entities that are agents of lasting change in the community.

In order for a school community partnership to work, it is essential to build strong communication among all the participants and those who will be affected by the partnership. The levels of communication may vary, depending on the circumstances and the purpose of the message, and include the following components:

Active school community partnerships achieve the highest levels of communication as they collaborate toward solving community issues and providing services that build on their shared resources and expertise. Regular meetings with designated agendas help ensure that all partners are kept actively involved in the process; however, channels for less formal communication should also be encouraged so that relationships are built among the members and other less-structured or creative opportunities are explored.

Sharing Community Resources

A main purpose for building school community partnerships is to share resources and avoid the duplication of services. Schools can provide easy access to children and families in need of community services, and by partnering with agencies in the community, they can ensure that parents and other family members are aware of all the types of assistance that are available to them and how to access those services.

Strong communication among school and community partners can result in a network of services available to community members at a school. Schools and their partners may provide parent education, ESL (English as a Second Language) or other classes, legal assistance, job training, tutoring, diet and nutrition information, health visits, and many other types of services. By avoiding duplication of services, each agency is able to channel its resources more directly toward its specific purposes.

Developing Community Solutions

Each community has a unique set of problems, and those best equipped to solve them are within the community itself. Regular meetings of all stakeholders provide an opportunity to discuss issues facing the students and families and to brainstorm ways in which schools and community organizations may collaborate to solve them. Creativity is key. School community partnerships provide the opportunity to synthesize what is available into unique programs and opportunities for all.

While donations of time, materials, space, and expertise by local businesses or organizations are always appreciated by schools, they are just the beginning of what a school community partnership can be. By becoming actively involved with each other, schools and community organizations can build unique networks of services that specifically serve the communities they share and provide real solutions to the problems faced by the students and families they serve.

Epstein, Joyce and others. School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2008.

Sanders, Mavis. Building School-Community Partnerships: Collaboration for Student Success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2005.

The copyright of the article School Community Partnerships That Work in Educational Issues is owned by Barbara Abromitis. Permission to republish School Community Partnerships That Work in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.