School Partnerships

Through our Partnership Program, a team of CIS of Chicago specialists works with school leaders like principals and guidance counselors to identify and understand the types of supports their students need to succeed in school and life. Once the priorities of each school are identified, our partnership specialists coordinate with a deep network of community partners to link a range of support programs and services. 

The programming that CIS of Chicago links to schools fits into four main categories: behavioral and mental health, the arts, college and career readiness, and health and wellness. All programming is provided at no cost to schools or students. These connections have a direct, positive impact on students’ academic performance in reading and math, as documented by a 2015 gold-standard evaluation of the Partnership Program.

Our school partners benefit from working with us in many ways – one of which is that they don’t have to worry about doing the legwork of finding these programs that help meet the needs of their students. We are there to help make sure that we are supporting meaningful connections between schools and community partners.

During the 2018-2019 academic year, CIS of Chicago partnered with 160 CPS schools and 193 community partners, positively impacting the lives of more than 70,000 students.