CISNTblog

Six years is a long time to commit to mentoring a child.  But that’s the kind of commitment CISNT volunteer mentors possess.  Last Friday, CISNT celebrated another great year of mentoring in our dropout prevention program at Tomas Rivera Elementary School in Denton ISD.  Brenda Bennett, our Campus Manager at Rivera, with the help of our friends from State Farm Insurance, treated the mentors and their students to her annual ice cream party!

CISNT Mentors from the Denton County DA Office, The Village Church, FEMA, UNT, TWU and across north Texas all share one vision - to make a difference in a child’s life at Tomas Rivera.  It was amazing to look across the room and see the vast differences among our mentors - all ages, a variety of walks of life, interesting people who were all deeply admired by the student they mentor. 

Walking around the room it was clear that the relationships that have been built over the year, or over the years, are very important to each student. 

One Brenda Bennett at Tomas Rivera that coaches, supports and encourages 70 volunteer mentors who change 70 lives.  That’s Communities In Schools of North Texas at its best!

Tuesday night I had the pleasure of talking with the amazing people of Altrusa in Denton about Communities In Schools of North Texas.  They do such great work supporting the needs of non profit organizations in our community.  After sharing a few CISNT stories (one of my favorite things to do!) they asked question after question about our students and their needs.

As I drove home, it left me thinking about how far we have come.  That small group of community members that met each week in 1993 who conceived the dream of building a Communities In Schools organization in this area (there are 28 across the state of Texas now) would be amazed.  They would be amazed not only in how far their dream has come, but in how visionary their thinking was and how strategic their efforts have become.

We study demographics at CISNT, they help to illuminate the “invisible” epidemic we’re facing with students who are at-risk of dropping out of school.  Recently, we collected data from the Texas Education Agency’s AEIS (Academic Excellence Indicator System) Report for the last reported school year (2006-07).  We found that in the four school districts we serve (Denton ISD, Lewisville ISD, Little Elm ISD and Northwest ISD) that these school districts reported to TEA that there were 22,015 “economically disadvantaged” students in these four districts combined.  There were only 84,032 total students in the four districts combined, so this staggering number represents 26% or 1 in 4 students.  The number of “at-risk” students reported by the four districts was even greater, 26,273, or over 30%.

It takes people like the great folks at Altrusa, and many many other civic, faith-based and community organizations to address the growing needs of our north Texas at-risk student population.  It’s encouraging when we get to be with a group of caring and concerned people who want to understand the problem and truly try to help.

The United Way of Denton County has been a tremendous partner to Communities In Schools of North Texas.  Today, the volunteers of “The Youth Way” committee came to visit the CISNT program at Calhoun Middle School as a part of their overall annual appropriations process. 

The annual United Way of Denton County visit to our program is a milestone of sorts for me.  I joined CISNT January 2004 - today was my fifth meeting with this amazing group of dedicated volunteers.  The visit reminds me that the calendar has clipped off another year.  Time moves so fast.  Today, the annual United Way of Denton County visit served as a haunting reminder that as time marches on, the problem is getting bigger not smaller. 

Today, we shared with The Youth Way committee the sobering statistic that the number of “economically disadvantaged” students in the area has increased about 30% in the last two years.  This is a troubling reality that we struggle to communicate to the community each day.

Today, we shared with The Youth Way committee the growing need for more CISNT programs, a need that far outpaces the financial support CISNT has previously received.

Today, we shared with The Youth Way committee stories of success, amazing volunteer achievements, and the basic need for eye glasses, clothing, food, mentors…and students who are elated when they receive a mentor or get help from a CISNT Campus Manager.

Today, Joe Ader spoke passionately to The Youth Way committee of the commitment from the surrounding community to roll up their sleeves and make a difference at schools like Calhoun.

Today, CISNT board member, Sam Burke spoke about years of serving as a CISNT director and the need for more board members to rise up from the Little Elm commuity, the Denton community and the Alliance/Northwest community.

Today, I was encouraged that in spite of what sometimes feels like overwhelming odds, a few people can truly make a difference.

Today, I was reminded why I work at Communities In Schools of North Texas…

 There are literally hundreds of important causes and organizations to give to this holiday season across north Texas, why give to CISNT?  That’s the question I have been asking myself each time I get another letter in the mail asking for money from one of dozens of non-profit organizations and causes.  I hope it’s a question you are asking too…why should I give?

For the last several years, CISNT has taken great pride in the fact that we successfully generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial support for our dropout prevention programs that came from outside of the north Texas community (the US Department of Education, Texas Criminal Justice Division,  Texas Juvenile Probation are several examples).  We bring resources into the community - that’s value added! 

Local north Texas businesses were the first to step up to the plate and support CISNT’s programs.  Aramark, Cadbury Schweppes, Capital One Bank, Costco, Durham School Services, EDS, Hillwood Development, Medical Center of Lewisville, Northstar Bank, SHW Group, University Behavioral Health, Viewpoint Bank, Walmart,  among others have been longtime generous supporters of CISNT’s programs.

Now, we’re asking the north Texas community to step up to the plate and make a financial donation to support and help expand our great program.  Why? 

First, it is critically important to CISNT as we continue to pursue grants and donations from businesses and foundations that the north Texas community is “behind” CISNT.  The number of volunteers grows dramatically each year, the hours donated helping kids grows each year, clearly the community is investing time and energy now more than ever in CISNT.  Now it is time for the community to make a financial statement that CISNT must continue to grow - children who are at-risk of dropping out of school must be provided the resources they need to succeed.  We won’t do it for them, but we’ll be there, filling the gap with clothing, school supplies, academic mentors, tutors, free eye exams and free eye glasses - and by doing this we will have removed the obstacles that prevent them from graduating from high school - on time.

Even more important, CISNT and others who work with the growing population of children in Texas who will not graduation from high school without our help are shaping the economic future of Texas in the next 20 years.  You do the math, a historic number of high earning “baby-boomers” are retiring, while a historic number of students at-risk of dropping out of school are growing up in Texas.  When high school dropouts replace high earning baby-boomers on the state tax roll, the math is more than disturbing.  This generation of at-risk students must graduate from high school and go on to college.  The north Texas economy demands that they must or we’ll all suffer the consequences…

So, please make a donation to CISNT to support our work with students at-risk of dropping out of school.  We believe it is some of the most important work happening in north Texas…

On any given day, CISNT stands in front of groups to advocate for students who are at-risk of dropping out of school.  Well, actually we beg for help…  In the last 24 hours, CISNT has talked with Mayors, a County Commissioner, prominent business leaders, UNT faculty & students, chamber of commerce members, school board trustees and non profit leaders.  And this was a slow week!

CISNT had the pleasure of meeting with the Denton Young Professionals organization yesterday.  What an AMAZING group of emerging leaders!  One of their members has been mentoring a child for about a year.  His dedication to doing “whatever it takes” to help this boy succeed was inspiring to me.  And as is most often the case, the mentor wondered if he was really making a difference…he is.

I am encouraged that so many people are hearing the message about our growing “at-risk” population in Denton and Wise counties.  23% increase in the last year!  Even more exciting is the action people are taking to help meet the growing need. 

Before many of us even begin shopping for our holiday gifts this year, CISNT will have received thousands of dollars in donated gifts for CISNT students to receive this holiday season.  Students who will return to school in January without “their story to tell” if we don’t help.  If you haven’t already, please consider contacting one of our CISNT campus staff at http://www.cisnt.org/campusesserved.html and help provide an at-risk child a gift this holiday season… 

That’s the way I described Communities In Schools of North Texas’ role on behalf of students who are at-risk to the men and women of the Lewisville Morning Rotary today - “the conscience of the community”.  Meaning, it is up to us to make the community aware that there are children in our community that go to school underfed, without healthcare, undersupported and destined to fail, eventually, in school.  Following the amazing Dr. Penny Reddell, who gave a brief overview of the state of Lewisville ISD, was a perfect way to demonstrate the strong partnership that exists between CISNT and LISD and our passion for finding people who will invest deeply in helping “our” children.

The Lewisville Morning Rotary is embarking on a project to provide dictionaries to Lewisville students who are English Language Learners or who possess Limited English Proficiency.  And as Dr. Reddell so eloquently shared with the rotarians, ELL’s come from all ethnic backgrounds, but share one common factor - they live in homes that are at, or below, the Federal Poverty level.

CISNT former Mentor of the Year and Lewisville Rotarian, Ray Irwin and longtime friend of CISNT and ARAMARK executive, John Pokorny shared the details of the dictionary project.  In the next few weeks, hundreds of poor Lewisville children will receive a new dictionary that will belong to them - not their school, not their classroom - their’s to keep forever!

Sometimes being the conscience of the community is a painfully hard and sometimes lonely job for our staff.  Today, with the amazing men and women of the Lewisville Morning Rotary, it was a joy!