The Prudential Foundation Awards $150K to HGSE for Full-Service Schools Conferences

The Prudential Foundation, the grantmaking organization of The Prudential Insurance Company of America, has awarded a $150,000 grant to the Collaborative for Integrated School Services (CISS), an interdisciplinary support project for school-based service providers, housed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The grant will help to fund three national conferences focused on full-service and community schools.

Addressing the Whole Child

"Across the country, school districts are grappling with the question of how they can best fuse academic instruction and community services to address the whole child and dialogue among all stakeholders is key," said Gabriella E. Morris, president of The Prudential Foundation. "We are delighted to provide resources to the Harvard Graduate School of Education and hope that our support helps to provide a blueprint of success for our children, their families and communities at large."

Each year, multi-professional teams of practitioners and policymakers from school districts and communities around the country will meet to explore critical issues of practice, policy and training that affect the implementation of full-service and community school programs. Part of a growing trend to engage communities in schools, full service and community school programs respond to the fact that children's academic and social needs are intricately connected. While full service and community school programs reinforce and extend the central importance of academic learning and achievement in children?s lives, they also advocate for children in the larger contexts of family and community. Full service and community school programs seek to integrate services and provide a range of opportunities that strengthen the well-being of young people, families, and communities.

Background

CISS was established in 1991 to respond to the fact that school counselors, psychologists, social workers, and nurses often lack resources to serve children and families adequately. CISS provides interdisciplinary, continuing education in the form of local and national workshops and conferences, peer supervision groups, consultative services, and publications. Designed to help the helpers, CISS aims to extend and strengthen the range and quality of services these professionals provide in all kinds of school settings: public and independent; rural, suburban, and urban; and elementary and secondary. CISS also supports new models of training and services being developed by faculty and students in The Risk & Prevention Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

CISS founder and director Dr. Margot Welch worked as a psychologist in school, community, and court settings before receiving a doctorate in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America. It is part of Prudential's Community Resources Division, a strategic combination of three units: the Foundation, which strives to build children and families' self sufficiency; the Social Investments Program, which originates and manages socially beneficial investments for Prudential; and Local Initiatives, which coordinates employee volunteerism and fosters community partnerships.

For More Information

Dr. Welch is available for comment. Please contact Christine Sanni at 617-496-5873 for scheduling information.