Coalition for Community Schools National Forum 2008 April 30-May 2, 2008 The National Forum will bring together a diverse group of leaders from the fields of education, youth development, health and human services, family support, neighborhood and community development, government, philanthropy and others who work at the local, state and national levels. Who Should Come: § Superintendent and school board members seeking deeper and more effective relationship with an array of community agencies and institutions. § City and County Officials seeking to ensure more effective use of scarce resources. § Leaders of Community-Based Organizations and Public Agencies seeking long-terms sustainable relationships with public schools. § State policymakers and their staffs who want to learn how to bring together an array of programs and funding streams to get better results. § Community school leaders and advocates seeking to deeper their work § Practitioners from various disciples who want to work together with other similarly committed to better results for children, youth families and communities. § National Leaders seeking deeper connections with community. Forum Goals: The Forum will help participants to: Learn how to mobilize local leadership as champions for community schools -- system-wide Increase their capacity to advocate for community schools with national, state and local policy makers Systematically plan and organize community schools at the school and community levels Capture and utilize research data and information to make the case for community schools Learn to apply best practices across the range of supports and opportunities (academic, health, youth development, family support, community engagement and community development) that should be available in a community school. Conference Theme: The theme for the 2008 Coalition for Community Schools National Forum is “Community Schools for All”. This theme reflects the thrust of the Coalition’s new strategic plan: We want to help communities and school districts develop More and More Effective Community Schools. We will focus on five specific strategies, each of which will represent a strand at the Forum: Fueling Local Action Creating a Supportive Policy Environment Building Capacity of Local Leaders and Communities Demonstrating the Effectiveness of Community Schools Communicating about Community Schools Effective services and opportunities in Community Schools The Coalition for Community Schools is an alliance of national, state and local organizations in education K-16, youth development, community planning and development, family support, health and human services, government and philanthropy as well as national, state and local community school networks. The Coalition for Community Schools believes that strong communities require strong schools and strong schools require strong communities. We envision a future in which schools are centers of thriving communities where everyone belongs, works together, and succeeds. Our mission is to advance opportunities for the success of children, families and communities by promoting the development of more, and more effective, community schools.