Communities in Schools of Nevada

IT WORKS

Communities In Schools of Nevada has been making positive change since 2003. Over the past seven years, the financial downturn in the economy hit our families early on and the barriers to success for our students have never been higher. Despite this, CIS has been incredibly effective in delivering positive results and making an impact on the lives of our youth.

Last year alone, Communities In Schools of Southern Nevada leveraged over $2.1 million in direct services, grants, and donations for our communities. Our administrative overhead is very low: eighty-five cents of every dollar go directly to programs for kids. An outside agency evaluation conducted by the Nevada Institute For Children's Research & Policy in our most recent fiscal year found that we provided a “substantial” 461% return on investment.

This same study found that Communities In Schools of Southern Nevada services increase student achievement. For example, the average grades of a sample of students participating in the WeekEnd Hunger Program increased 15% in reading, 32% in math, and 26% in writing, and the children’s attendance rate was 5% higher than the school average. Students participating in CISSN’s Fellows Academy had a 97% academic promotion rate to the next grade, compared with a 25% rate for a similar group of their peers. These results are to be expected: CISSN is part of the national CIS network, which is the only dropout prevention organization proven by research to increase graduation rates.

Communities In Schools of Southern Nevada

Services provided through CISSN are wide-reaching, and impact thousands of children each year.

In partnership with Three Square Food Bank, provided 14,953 backpacks for hungry children in Clark County to take home for sustenance throughout the weekend; provided an additional 3,800 backpacks for hungry children in the Colorado River Region.
Provided 3,250 full-service pediatric visits for children, including sick child visits, well child visits, immunizations, and sports physicals. Provided an additional 258 immunization visits to children at in-school ‘shot clinics’ through a partnership with the Southern Nevada Health District.
Distributed nearly 500 articles of clothing in addition to Goodwill vouchers through our Clothing Closet.
Provided group and/or individual counseling to 288 youth, for a total of 6,600 counseling hours, through a partnership with the UNLV Department of Counselor Education; also connected youth and their families with Olive Crest for family wrap-around services and with MenteSana for bilingual, intensive counseling services for youth.
Ensured that 517 children had a birthday celebration in partnership with Junior League.
Connected up to 563 children with 956 dental treatments (some children may have been duplicated if they visited the dentist on multiple days) through partnerships with Miles for Smiles and the Southern Nevada Health District.
Worked with 114 youth through the Fellows Academy initiative, connecting these youth with services such as academic supports, counseling, and volunteer opportunities, and addressing the youths’ emergent needs as appropriate through regularly scheduled Interagency Case Management Team meetings.
Worked with 68 families to connect them with programs such as Medicaid and Nevada Check-Up through our Eligibility Services, a partnership with Nevada Caring for Kids & Families.
Provided 29 children with vision screenings and glasses.
Provided work-related trainings to 81 youth and summer employment for 47 youth through the Summer Work for Youth Initiative, in collaboration with SNWIB, Manpower, Catholic Charities, and UNLV – The Center.
Distributed over $8,600 worth of school supplies to our sites throughout Southern Nevada.

Communities In Schools of Northern Nevada

In its first two years of operation, Communities In Schools of Northeastern Nevada achieved substantial growth with amazing results in its rural communities. The success of these initiatives has led it to become one of the leading school-based support organizations

Provided 20,284 breakfasts were provided to hungry children at at-risk schools that did not have the federal free/reduced breakfast program.
Provided 1,340 backpacks of food were sent home with hungry children to get them through the weekend.
Provided 1,830 immunization visits were provided to needy children; CIS was also able to work with our partners to provide an additional 1,600 immunization visits to the adult members of the family (at no cost to the grant). Thus, a total of 3,430 immunization visits were provided. Quite often multiple immunization shots were administered at each visit.
Provided 262 hours of no-cost clinical mental health counseling were provided to youth in their own communities. Prior to this program, there was no free mental health counseling services for at-risk youth.
Provided 5,859 hours of mentoring were provided to at-risk youth through a variety of programs.
Established the Evening Reporting Center with the Elko County Juvenile Probation Division as an alternative to detention for youth who have multiple violations. Of the 43 youth enrolled, 38 graduated. All youth who graduated have either gone violation-free since graduation or have committee violations of a lesser nature. In June 2009, no graduates were arrested for any reason. An Evening Reporting Center is being opened in Winnemucca.
Developed the resources to open a Fellows Academy at both Spring Creek High School and Elko High School in the fall of 2009. This academy will provide life skills training, resiliency training, tutoring, behavior modification training, career readiness training, etc. to juvenile offenders, Alternative Education students and Intervention Education students—meaning the district’s most challenged, difficult youth.
Developed the resources to open the Carlin Early Childhood Learning Center preschool for children in the fall of 2009. Carlin currently has no for-profit or non-profit preschool services at all.
Coordinated the movement to develop the Elko Health Consortium. The consortium is in the process of addressing critical public health issues in our area, and is in the process of developing a county Health Authority. Worked with partners to secure funding for a dedicated development officer.

Communities In Schools of Southern Nevada

Services provided through CISSN are wide-reaching, and impact thousands of children each year.

In partnership with Three Square Food Bank, provided 14,953 backpacks for hungry children in Clark County to take home for sustenance throughout the weekend; provided an additional 3,800 backpacks for hungry children in the Colorado River Region.

Provided 3,250 full-service pediatric visits for children, including sick child visits, well child visits, immunizations, and sports physicals. Provided an additional 258 immunization visits to children at in-school ‘shot clinics’ through a partnership with the Southern Nevada Health District.

Distributed nearly 500 articles of clothing in addition to Goodwill vouchers through our Clothing Closet.

Ensured that 517 children had a birthday celebration in partnership with Junior League.

Connected up to 563 children with 956 dental treatments (some children may have been duplicated if they visited the dentist on multiple days) through partnerships with Miles for Smiles and the Southern Nevada Health District.

Worked with 114 youth through the Fellows Academy initiative, connecting these youth with services such as academic supports, counseling, and volunteer opportunities, and addressing the youths’ emergent needs as appropriate through regularly scheduled Interagency Case Management Team meetings.

Worked with 68 families to connect them with programs such as Medicaid and Nevada Check-Up through our Eligibility Services, a partnership with Nevada Caring for Kids & Families.

Provided 29 children with vision screenings and glasses.

Provided work-related trainings to 81 youth and summer employment for 47 youth through the Summer Work for Youth Initiative, in collaboration with SNWIB, Manpower, Catholic Charities, and UNLV – The Center.

Distributed over $8,600 worth of school supplies to our sites throughout Southern Nevada.

Communities In Schools of Northern Nevada

In its first two years of operation, Communities In Schools of Northeastern Nevada achieved substantial growth with amazing results in its rural communities. The success of these initiatives has led it to become one of the leading school-based support organizations

Provided 20,284 breakfasts were provided to hungry children at at-risk schools that did not have the federal free/reduced breakfast program.

Provided 1,340 backpacks of food were sent home with hungry children to get them through the weekend.

Provided 262 hours of no-cost clinical mental health counseling were provided to youth in their own communities. Prior to this program, there was no free mental health counseling services for at-risk youth.

Provided 5,859 hours of mentoring were provided to at-risk youth through a variety of programs.

Developed the resources to open the Carlin Early Childhood Learning Center preschool for children in the fall of 2009. Carlin currently has no for-profit or non-profit preschool services at all.

Coordinated the movement to develop the Elko Health Consortium. The consortium is in the process of addressing critical public health issues in our area, and is in the process of developing a county Health Authority. Worked with partners to secure funding for a dedicated development officer.