Building a Modern Village
Let's close the education opportunity gap together.
The U.S. has been called the "land of opportunity,” but if that were uniformly true, why do half of the people born into the lowest socioeconomic quintile stay there throughout the course of their lives? Why do young adults own homes at lower rates than their parents and grandparents did at similar ages? And why is the wealth gap between Black and White families still so significant?1 Part of the reason is that our education system tends to amplify rather than counteract inequalities established by birth circumstance.
"Highly educated adults in the United States have lower yearly mortality rates than less-educated people in every age, gender, and racial/ethnic subgroup of the population," write University of Texas at Austin researchers.2 Not only do people who've received a high quality education have more opportunity to secure sustainable employment than peers who haven't, but they've also got the skills, knowledge, and connections they need to successfully navigate today's rapidly evolving world, engage in self-actualizing pursuits, and accrue resources they can share with their communities.
At its best, an education is an empowering experience; it equips young people with a robust and versatile toolkit they can use to rise above their birth circumstances. As it stands, the majority experiencing education at its best are those whose birth circumstances are already pretty good. Students facing food-insecurity, homelessness, chronic stress, and all the other devastating realities associated with poverty—they don't have access to the tools they need to improve their lot.
The Problem
This in part because they're overwhelmingly attending schools with fewer resources, less experienced teachers, and lower staff retention than their wealthier peers.3 And it's in other part "because of what's happening before a student even walks into the school building," commented Laura Elliot, Senior Director of Community Schools and Network Development at United Way of Asheville Buncombe County. “How can students learn when they're cold, neighborhood violence has kept them up all night, a parent's struggling with addiction, or another parent lost their job?"
Most of a child's waking hours are not spent in school,4 and what goes on during that time exacerbates established inequalities among students. Once the bell rings, well-resourced young people—many of them—head off to sports practice, arts programs, mentorship groups, clubs, tutoring sessions, etc. Or, they're transferred into the care of a nanny or babysitter—someone who keeps them safe until their parents wrap up work. Meanwhile, many disadvantaged students are left without anything to do or anyone to care for them, increasing the odds they'll fall behind in their studies, struggle with mental health challenges, or become victims or perpetrators of crime.5
You can help change this.
How You Can Help
1. Advocate for public investment in afterschool and summer learning opportunities.
Not only are many afterschool and summer learning opportunities prohibitively expensive for many families, but there also aren't enough of them to go around. "For every child in an afterschool program, three more children are waiting to get in,"6 reports the Afterschool Alliance, a nonprofit working to ensure all students have access to safe, enriching extracurricular care. In response, this nonprofit spearheads advocacy initiatives aimed at securing more local, state, and federal investment in affordable afterschool and summer programs.
You can support these initiatives with nothing but five minutes and an internet connection. "We've put templates together to make it super easy for folks to help," commented Jodi Grant, Executive Director of the Afterschool Alliance." They're available here—simply enter in your zip code, and the page will populate with your state's officials as well as a message for them.
Not ready to reach out now, but want nudges at critical points during the legislative process? Sign up for the Afterschool Alliance alerts, and you'll get emails letting you know when it's time to take action.
2. Expand afterschool and summer programming in your community.
If you've got more than five minutes, you can partner with a local afterschool or summer program provider to expand their offerings and reach more kids. You could coach a basketball club, teach chess, offer homework help, or read to elementary students. You could run arts and crafts workshops, you could host an internship program at your business, or you could organize a foreign language group. The possibilities are endless, and so are the ways of getting in touch with potential partners.
You could contact folks at your local YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, or 4-H chapter. You could reach out to local school leaders. Or you could head to the Afterschool Alliance's state-by-state resource webpage. There, you'll find all kinds of helpful data, including state-specific stats and contact info for afterschool network point-people. No matter how you offer help, youth development leaders will be thrilled to have you on board. They'll also be thrilled if you'd want to become a youth development leader yourself. The Afterschool Alliance has compiled a huge collection of resources designed to support folks who want get a new program off the ground or keep one running sustainably.
"If you've participated in extracurricular programs, think about the kind of impact they had on your life. Chances are, you formed some of your most important relationships and learned some of your most valuable skills while playing sports, performing a play, or at camp," commented Grant. Helping to make affordable, enriching afterschool and summer learning opportunities more accessible means effecting real and enduring change for students in your community.
3. Get involved with your local Community School.
"In a lot of ways, integrated afterschool and summer programs are a stepping stone to Community Schools," explained Grant. And Community Schools are an ingenious solution to the issue of inequitable resource distribution across our nation's neighborhoods. The strategy brings local partners—families, businesses, nonprofits, health care organizations, literacy groups, mentorship programs, etc.—together into school buildings where they can reach students directly.
"At the same time, by converting public schools into resource hubs, Community Schools make it easier for providers to connect with the folks they aim to serve," explained Elliot. “They also empower students, parents, and other community members to become impact leaders.” The strategy has proven to be extremely effective. According to pre-pandemic data from Buncombe County, NC, students attending one of the seven community schools there achieved a 10% improvement in attendance and performance. For BIPOC students, that number was even higher: 15%.7
"School-based health centers are a really great example of the integrated supports this model promotes," said Elliot. Normally, if a student's sick, their parent has to take off work to bring them home or to the doctor's. This often comes with significant financial barriers, so a lot of students who may be infectious end up staying in class, which spreads the illness to their peers and teachers. On the other hand, appointment wait times can be long, and that means a lot of students who could stay at school end up losing out on learning hours.
"But when health care professionals and facilities are on campus, kids can receive care immediately. We're seeing that 90% of students who visit one of our school-based health centers are able to receive treatment and safely return to class. We're also seeing families take advantage of our centers to receive quality care too," commented Elliot.
Enabling local parents to spearhead change in their communities is an important part of the Community School model. And that means there are countless ways in which you could partner with your local Community School. You could volunteer to serve food or tutor during Community Nights and Homework Diners, or you could host an information session on professional development resources. "We once had representatives from a local community college come talk about their programs with our students. Then, one of our parents enrolled, and she's now well on her way to a fulfilling career path," recalled Elliot.
If you live in Asheville or Buncombe County, you can learn more about how to get involved with Community Schools there by visiting United Way's community school webpage. If you live somewhere else, visit the Coalition for Community Schools website, or the National Center for Community Schools website for contacts you can use to locate Community Schools in your region. You can also reach out to administrators, school board members, or education leaders in your area for information on the subject.
No Community Schools nearby? One of the most powerful ways you could promote education equity for students in your area is by helping your local public school become one. Both the Coalition for Community Schools and National Center for Community Schools publish comprehensive guides for starting this process. You can visit both organization's websites, contact their constituents, or check out the Learning Policy Institute's report, "Community Schools: An Evidence Based Strategy for Equitable School Improvement" to learn more.
4. Join or start a childcare timebank.
Timebanking is a mutual aid strategy in which two or more people pledge to share their time, talents, or expertise with one another at no cost. Since resources can vary from person to person, the only rule guiding participation is that one hour given to anyone in the group equals one hour earned back.
Let's imagine three parents of three 4th grade students have entered into a childcare timebank with one another. Say Parent A tutors all three students for two hours Tuesday afternoon. Then, Parent B takes all three students to the arcade for two hours after school on Wednesday. And Parent C takes all three students to the park for two hours of supervised play Thursday. From the perspective of a timebank, those contributions of time have the same value. All three parents have given 2 hours, and all three parents have received 4 hours.
Timebanks exist to promote equity and inclusion. They succeed because of commitment and trust. That's why it's important to learn more about timebanking best practices before joining or starting one. You can visit the TimeBanks.org website to further explore this mutual aid strategy. From directories of timebanks to comprehensive resources people can use to start and effectively run their own and software that assists with logging hours, the website has all kinds of tools designed to facilitate effective and sustainable collaboration among timebank participants.
5. Become a Backrs mentor.
If you think this all sounds great, but you just don't have the time to devote to the action steps we've outlined so far, don't worry! There's another meaningful way you can help underserved students: becoming a Backrs mentor. We published a whole 35 minute podcast episode about the work this innovative company does; the TL;DR of which is:
It takes five minutes to download the Backrs app and create your mentor profile. Then, you'll be matched with a high-performing but under-resourced high school or college student who could use your help—advice, encouragement, or financial support—to earn their degree and pursue the career of their dreams.
From there, your protégé will use the platform to ask you questions (How do I get a line of credit started? How do I get the professional hours I need while I'm in school? Etc.) and you can respond with a video, text—whatever's easiest and most convenient for you. Total time commitment after getting started: about 5-15 minutes per week. Impact you can have: absolutely immeasurable. Visit the Backrs website to learn more, or go ahead and get started now by downloading the app through the Google Play or Apple App store.
All these strategies for supporting disadvantaged populations make use of an age-old youth development philosophy. Today's cities, towns, and digital networks might not fit your idea of a village, but when they're united in support of students and families, they can be just as good at raising healthy children. The American Dream becomes a reality when today’s youth have access to the holistic education they need to become tomorrow’s leaders.
Experts Featured:
Laura Elliot is the senior director of community schools and network development at United Way of Asheville Buncombe County. She also serves as national co-chair of the Institute for Educational Leadership/Coalition for Community Schools Leadership Network.
She leverages her 30 years of experience in the fields of education and youth development to create system-level, sustainable change enabling faculty, familties, and community partners to unify in support of all students.
Jodi Grant has been Executive Director of the Afterschool Alliance, a nonprofit public awareness and advocacy organization working to ensure that all children and youth have access to quality, affordable afterschool programs since 2005.
As Executive Director, she oversees federal policy efforts, works with the field to help programs tap into federal funding streams, and supervises research to help national, state and local afterschool advocates and providers support, create and expand quality afterschool programs.