In addition to the personal benefit to each child, the economic benefits of keeping students in school are staggering. Dropouts from the class of 2008 will cost the nation more than $300 billion in lost wages over the course of their lifetimes.

CIS provides and/or coordinates services that address the underlying reasons young people become dropouts. We leverage community resources to reach out to at-risk students while they are still in school. Through a one-to-one relationship with a caring adult, each individual’s needs are assessed and connections made between the school and the community resources.

Teachers and their classrooms focus on academics. CIS focuses on addressing the issues that fall outside of academia, but have a significant impact on each child’s schooling as well as their overall quality of life – issues like anger management, employment training, and substance abuse.

Communities In Schools surrounds students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve their goals. Through school-based coordination, Communities In Schools connects students and their families to critical community resources that are tailored to their needs. CIS works in more than 3,200 schools nationally, in the most challenged communities in 26 states and the District of Columbia. Communities In Schools serves nearly 1.4 million young people and their families every year. Communities In Schools has become the nation’s leading dropout prevention organization, and the only one proven to both decrease dropout rates and increase graduation rates.

Here in the Lehigh Valley, CIS serves more than 2,900 students in grades 5 through 12 each year. Communities In Schools of the Lehigh Valley (“CISLV”) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to keeping kids in school and providing on-site best practice social support services. CISLV has partnered with Allentown School District since 1994, Easton Area School District since 1999, and Bethlehem Area School District since 2005. CISLV is the Lead Partner with the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley at Calypso Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary School and South Mountain Middle School. Through the COMPASS (Community Partners for Student Success) initiative, CIS is working to advance the Community School philosophy in partnership with COMPASS, the Allentown School District and the Bethlehem Area School District.

Communities In Schools of the Lehigh Valley has contracted with Kutztown University to certify the technical integrity of program evaluation and performance measures. This validation assures that programs yield noteworthy results.