Community Schools Corner

What are Community Schools?

School districts and communities across Illinois are meeting the full needs of students and their families by adopting the community schools model. Community schools are a specific model of education and community organizing, different from a neighborhood school. Community schools are public schools that partner with families and community-based organizations to provide well-rounded educational opportunities and supports for students’ school success. Effective community schools work collaboratively, assess community needs, give students sufficient learning time and depth, use data to inform improvement, and create and support infrastructure at the administrative level.

Community schools use a variety of funding streams to fund their various components. Some of this funding is from federal and state governments. However, community schools also leverage private grants, donations, volunteers, and in-kind services for funding.

Pillars of Community Schools

Since each community school is a reflection of local needs, assets, and priorities, no two community schools look exactly alike. However, all community schools have four pillars or components in common. These pillars are:

1. Integrated student supports;

2. Expanded and enriched learning time and opportunities;

3. Active family and community engagement; and

4. Collaborative leadership and practices.

Using all four of these components, community schools have the features found in high-quality schools and in better-resourced communities, where families can afford to supplement the services offered by these schools.

History of Community Schools

Community schools—which position schools as the heart of their neighborhoods—trace their roots back to late 19th-century settlement houses like Hull-House (founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in Chicago in 1889), where education, social services, hygiene, and civic dialogue were combined under one roof. This approach continued through the 1930s, bolstered by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and initiatives that used school buildings for after‑hours programming. During segregation, many Black communities adopted community‑school strategies—offering daytime schooling and evening community activities—to combat poverty and racial violence. The community school model evolved during the civil rights era of the 1960s through the 1970s as a tool for urban education and desegregation support.

Today, community schools are an organized model with a presence around the world. The Coalition for Community Schools estimates that there are more than 5,000 community schools nationwide serving over five million students in the United States. It is estimated that there are 27,000 community schools worldwide.

Impact of Community Schools

Building a Statewide Capacity-Building System for Community Schools: Lessons from Illinois

From 2024 to 2026, ACT Now and Community Schools Partners (CSP) co-designed and implemented a statewide capacity-building system to support 32 new Community Schools across 17 Illinois districts as part of leading two federal Full-Service Community Schools State Scaling grant initiatives.

The capacity-building system combined professional learning, one-on-one coaching, technical assistance, and peer group learning to help schools move beyond understanding the community schools strategy toward implementing it as a whole-school approach to transformation. This report details the five lessons for statewide capacity building in Community Schools uncovered through ongoing reflection between CSP coaches, ACT Now technical assistance specialists, and the ACT Now project director over the course of implementation. It also details lessons in rural capacity building and offers promising coaching and technical assistance practices. Together, they represent a collective synthesis of practice, learning, and adaptation developed over two years of work together. This report is offered as a gift to the Community Schools and capacity building field in order to promote shared learning and improvement.

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What Illinois Stands to Lose: The Impact of Federal Funding Cuts on Community Schools

Illinois cannot afford to treat Community Schools as optional enhancements; they are a foundational strategy for reversing post-pandemic academic decline, stabilizing families, and strengthening the state’s long-term educational and economic health. Decades of research, and now early data from Illinois’ own Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) grants, demonstrate that when schools integrate academic supports with coordinated social, emotional, and family-focused services, student outcomes improve measurably, even in high-need contexts. At a moment when chronic absenteeism has reached crisis levels, achievement gaps are widening, and youth mental health needs continue to rise, dismantling this infrastructure is shortsighted and undermines an effective approach to ensuring students can learn, families can work, and communities can thrive.

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Community Schools as an Effective School Improvement Strategy

This report synthesizes the research evidence about the impact of community schools on student and school outcomes. It aims to support and inform school, community, district, and state leaders as they consider, propose, or implement community schools as a strategy for providing equitable, high-quality education to all young people.

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How Community Schools Improve Outcomes: Fact Sheet

This fact sheet aims to demonstrate how community schools improve student outcomes by providing a research-based overview of the core practices that make them effective. It synthesizes findings from more than 140 studies to show how integrated supports, such as expanded learning time, family engagement, and collaborative leadership, can positively impact academic performance, attendance, and school climate. The document also seeks to inform policymakers and educators about the growing evidence and momentum behind community schools, encouraging continued investment and implementation at local, state, and federal levels.

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Community Schools in Illinois: An Effective Strategy to Address Equity, Health, and Academics in Our Schools

ACT Now has collaborated with community schools to develop a report on their impact. ACT Now is excited to share our findings on these effective partners and holistic support systems with you!

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On October 6, 2020, we hosted an event to release this report and to give people the opportunity to hear from community schools providers themselves as they describe the diverse actions they took to respond to their youths’ and communities’ needs relating to COVID-19 and racial injustice.

Community Schools Events

FY27 Q3 Community Schools Convening: Designing for Family and Community Engagement

Join us for our Q3 Community Schools Convening on Designing for Family and Community Engagement on February 10th at 10:00 am. Community Schools (CS) professionals will engage in a learning experience on program design best and promising practices that invite families, caregivers, and community members into model implementation. Serving as a neighborhood hub, Community Schools ensure programs and services include learning opportunities for adults, and provide avenues for caregivers and community members to share their stories and serve as equal partners in promoting youth success. Learners will leave with strategies for designing high-quality programming that foster and sustain safe, secure and respectful environments to promote the wellbeing, belonging, and growth of youth, families, and community members.

Thank you to everyone who attended the 2026 IL Statewide Conference for Afterschool and Community Schools! See highlights from past conferences below.