January 2024 Community Schools Newsletter

In honor of MLK Day this month, we celebrate the power of our student leaders. We are also excited to partner with the LA County Office of Education to co-host a study tour and applaud our colleagues in the Southeast who are expanding the National Network of University-Assisted Community Schools.

Mann UCLA Community School Celebrates a Milestone

Student athletes and their families joined together in the gym this month to celebrate Mann UCLA Community School’s first year as a member of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). When the school started expanding from a historic middle school to a 6-12 span school in 2017, adding a sports program was a priority for the community. Realizing the dream of joining the CIF LA City Section this fall was a big milestone. In this first season, the girl’s volleyball team qualified for CIF playoffs as one of the top 20 Division V teams. The boy’s cross country team placed third in the Crosstown League, with two runners placing in the top 15 and earning the school’s first medals. Reflecting on these milestones, athletic director Arbin Lubiano shared, “We dedicate these history-making moments to the continued support of our community members, faculty, staff, administration, UCLA, and students because when one succeeds, we all succeed!”

Youth Leadership at the UCLA Community School

Each month, students, teachers, and UCLA partners meet as a research committee to discuss findings from studies conducted at the school. In the fall, they reviewed three studies on student leadership and agency, including a national study co-led by students at both UCLA Community Schools. The findings highlighted the need to clarify the purpose of youth leadership initiatives and the process for ensuring all students can become leaders. In January, the students on the research committee joined a UCLA graduate student to launch a study that would take up these findings. Their first step is to analyze the 62 student leaders identified in the school’s fall update and probe what it means to lead in different spaces.

California Community Schools Highlights

The Greater Los Angeles Regional Transformational Assistance Center (R-TAC) is one of the eight R-TACS across the state that are partnering with schools and districts to offer grantees the chance to visit local community schools. The visits within the Los Angeles region include a tour of the UCLA Community School. Through these tours, educators will have the chance to see Community Schools in action!

Contact your R-TAC for more information.

New Regional Center for University-Assisted Community Schools

The Southeast Regional Coalition for University-Assisted Community Schools (SRCUACS)– a partnership between Duke University, North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and East Carolina University (ECU) has been selected by the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania to become its 6th regional technical training center for University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS). The first regional center that is anchored by more than one university, SRCUACS is dedicated to promoting the development and sustainability of UACS throughout the Southeast United States. 

Read how powerful university-community partnerships in Durham, North Carolina embraced their collective agency to develop community schools in our 3rd issue of Community Schooling.

Mark Your Calendars

Join community school practitioners, researchers, partners and advocates at the 2024 National Community Schools and Family Engagement (CsxFE) conference in Atlanta from May 29-31!

We are looking forward to the 2024 EMPOWER Summit! Convened by the State-Transformational Assistance Center, the summit is a two-day event open to California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP) grantees, Regional Technical Assistance Centers, educators and community members who serve community schools. Join us in Los Angeles from June 13-14

Check out the the 3rd Issue of Community Schooling

Community Schooling is a publication of the UCLA Center for Community Schooling, featuring multimedia public scholarship to inform the collective struggle for democracy, justice and public education.

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Community Schooling Journal Issue 3 Cover - artwork of clasping hands