Good Neighbors at State Farm $ 250,000 Grant for communities

 

Saturday, Mar 28,2009, 3:53:35 PM   Click:

Copyright: PR Newswire
Source: PR Newswire
Wordcount: 975

Three-year partnership to replicate in schools in underserved communities

Tallahassee, Florida, March 27 / PRNewswire-USNewswire / - Communities in Schools (CIS) of Florida, the first stay in the school organization, is proud to announce the awarding of a grant of 250,000 $ State Farm to support its work to reduce the state dropout rate.

"The high school dropout rate has become a national epidemic. As many as one of three students at the national level are not graduates every year. In Florida, without support, up to 1 million students are currently enrolled in danger of not graduating with their peers. Thanks to the monumental task facing educators today, schools simply can not meet all the needs of students alone. The public, private and non-profit sectors need to increase our collaborative efforts to ensure that Florida's graduation rate improves. Companies like State Farm, who have an eye on the future, make a real difference as we work together to meet the needs of our the most vulnerable population - our children, "said Lois Gracey, CIS state director of Florida.

"This generous grant of $ 250,000 from State Farm is to replicate the model of the Communities in Schools. We are very excited about the opportunity to serve many more students of both prevention and intervention services. This grant is a great kick-off our 20th anniversary of being in Florida the first program of prevention of abandonment, "said Frank Messersmith FSM Associates, Chairman of CIS of Florida.


John Burns, State Farm's Education Initiative Chairman, said: "This partnership with the CIS of Florida is a natural choice because of our shared belief that students in the education system are our future. Our partnership with the CIS is crucial in helping us to reduce Florida's high school dropout rate in order to have a skilled workforce. As a leader in an industry that depends on well educated, critical thinking involved, State Farm knows the importance of having a skilled workforce. Education is very important to us, and it should be all business. We are concerned that currently there can expect a deficit of 7 million college educated workers in America in 2012. It was essential that every child has the chance to graduate from high school, so that he or she will have the opportunity to succeed in the future, no matter what happens in our world today. It is shocking when we realize that the statistics cited in the titles are not so much on the failure of the class, but that many these children fail to get the key even before their school day begins. What we have seen through our work with the CIS is as follows: even if not every child has an idyllic life, they can be surrounded by people who love and encourage them to work hard at school and find success in life.

We are pleased to present this $ 250,000 check to Communities in Schools of Florida. As citizens, we must choose to be active partners in our schools. The children we teach and mother will soon be the backbone of our workforce - the definition of our country and our economy. State Farm supports the communities in schools, as studies show the program. Our participation in this program is good for business because they are based on research results to prove the effectiveness of the CIS model. "

In 2008, the Communities in Schools national office published the first results of the mid-point of its five-year longitudinal study. The study, conducted by ICF International, a consultancy and research, three major findings. One of the most notable is that the community schools model of providing integrated student services has a stronger impact on the results for the school to provide services to students in the lack of coordination of fashion.

For over three decades, communities in schools has been to work in partnership with public schools, integrating the services that students should stay in school and achieve a high level of achievement. Services such as tutoring, mentoring, after-school programs, career development, health programs and life skills development are coordinated by a single point of contact at the school. This coordinated, integrated way of serving all children is the hallmark of the Communities at school model, which is now proven to produce better results. Among similar research-based organizations to prevent the abandonment, the Communities in Schools model is one of the few truly proven to keep students in school. It is also the only program in this small group of organizations that has been proven to increase graduation rates.

About communities in schools: the CIS is the nation's first community organization helping children stay in school and prepare for life. Today, more than 2 million young people each year have access to services through more than 200 communities in school programs in 28 states. In 2008-09, the network of Florida CIS served over 31,500 students in 14 counties. CIS "results to prove that its model of integration of services to students is effective, with 97 percent of monitoring students stay in school, and 86 percent of study time. To learn more, visit the IEC on: www.cisfl.org.


About State Farm: State Farm insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the United States, is the first insurer to boats and it is also one of the largest insurers in Canada. 17,000 State Farm agents and 68,000 employees serve over 78 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada and more than 1.9 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent company of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 32 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com (R) or in Canada statefarm.ca (R).

Communities in Schools of Florida, Inc. Lois L. Gracey, State Director c / o Tallahassee Community College, 444 Appleyard Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32304 Phone: (850) 201-9750 e-mail: lois@cisfl.org Web: www. cisfl.org and http://www.cisnet.org/

SOURCE communities in schools

CONTACT: Connie Walters communities in schools, +1-407-397-2861, cisconnie@cisfl.org



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