Local affiliate of the nation’s largest non-profit stay-in-school network which services over 2,000,000 at-risk youth annually in 245 school districts at 1,550 project sites. The CIS mission is to identify youth at-risk of school failure and provide them with the school based, supportive services necessary to successfully learn, stay in school, and prepare for life.
CIS was organized as a private, non-profit corporation in 1989 with over 18,000 students receiving specific CIS services since that time. Services are provided to in school and out of school youth at twenty-six sites including the Laurel Highlands School District at the Senior High School; the Brownsville Area School District at the Senior High School; the Albert Gallatin School District at five elementary school sites and the Senior High School; the Frazier School District at the Senior High School; the Uniontown School District at the Senior High School; the Connellsville School District at the Senior High School; the Southeastern Greene School District at one elementary school and the Junior/Senior High School; eleven high schools in Westmoreland County-Burrell, Belle Vernon, Franklin Regional, Monessen, Mount Pleasant, New Kensington, Southmoreland, Yough, Kiski, Derry, and Ligonier Valley; one Vocational Technical school, Northern CTC in Westmoreland County; the Success Academy at the Uniontown Mall, which serves students from all Fayette County school districts; and the Pregnant and Parenting Teen Program.
CIS services include: on-site academic and behavioral assistance through mentoring, tutoring and homework assistance clubs, career awareness and preparation, self-esteem and behavioral modification workshops, intergenerational and summer programs, after-school educational programs, alternative education, and services for pregnant and parenting teens.
Youth are referred to CIS by teachers, principals, parents, friends, or self-referrals. CIS students include those with low academic attainment, school attendance, attitude and behavioral problems, juvenile court record, and unresolved social/emotional problems. CIS uses a “whole family” approach. Parental involvement is vital to CIS through home visits, positive communication, parenting workshops, and human service referrals.
Since 1996 the implementation of a countywide alternative education program, as outlined in the Fayette County Strategic Plan, has been carried out by the Success Academy of Fayette County. The academy is operated by Communities In Schools and is centrally located in the Uniontown Mall. The academy offers academic and employment training opportunities targeted to at-risk students. The morning program for which school districts purchase slots, provide academic activities including behavioral and mental health counseling, mentoring activities, life and career skills, entrepreneurial projects. The afternoon program is accessed and funded by the school districts for students who have been expelled, suspended, or have fared poorly in the Morning Program. This program focuses entirely on academic remediation. The evening Dropout Recovery Program is offered to low-income students up to the age of 21 who have formally dropped out of school. Students work at their own pace utilizing an individualized, computer based curriculum to earn their high school diploma.
CIS is governed by a thirty-nine member board of directors. CIS is staffed by an Executive Director, Administrative Assistant, Accountant, WIB Program Supervisor, twenty-three Project Coordinators, seven Success Academy staff, one Pregnant and Parenting Teen Program Supervisor, and a Health Professional.
REV: 06/05
