Communities In Schools of Greater Tarrant County
A Brief History

Understanding the Need and Complexity of the Solution - During 1990 and 1991 about 100 community volunteers working as part of a United Way Stay-In-School Task Force studied the dropout problem in Fort Worth ISD's two most seriously effected high schools. The longitudinal completion rate for these schools, comparing starting 9th grade students with those who graduated four years later, was less than 50%. The two-year study concluded that students drop out of school, not because of any single reason, but because they become entangled in a web of problems. The list of issues might include poverty, low self-esteem, alcohol & drug abuse, gang involvement, family conflict, abuse, neglect, teen pregnancy, teen parenting, criminal justice involvement, violence, victimization, low educational expectations, poor health, homelessness, hopelessness, and other factors. Successful dropout prevention therefore, requires a holistic response to all these factors. The study further concluded that no school district or any other single organization could possibly address this array of concerns alone. Therefore, the dropout problem was not a school problem, but a community problem that could only be successfully addressed by the whole community working together. These conclusions described exactly the values and mission of the national organization known as Communities In Schools which had recently captured the attention of the Governor and Texas Legislature. In 1986 the Texas Legislature began appropriating seed funding to replicate this innovative and successful model across Texas.

The Birth of Communities In Schools in Fort Worth - In the Fall of 1991, seventeen members of the original United Way Task Force came together to hear a presentation by the Communities In Schools (CIS) State Director. They confirmed that CIS was the solution that the Fort Worth community was seeking. They filed for 501 C (3) non-profit status.

Year One - On May 1, 1992 the new CIS program had an Executive Director and over the course of the next year, business operations were established, and four program staff delivered case management services to over 200 students from the two high schools involved in the United Way study. Only three of the students dropped out leaving a stay-in-school success rate of over 98%. Progress toward the initial CIS goal of establishing program credibility was well under way.

United Way Partnership - After three years of United Way community initiative funding and successfully completing the United Way partnership review process, CIS Fort Worth was awarded United Way partnership status.

Selection As National Pilot Site - In the fall of 1995, CIS Fort Worth was selected as one of five national recipients of a five-year Department of Labor demonstration grant to implement a “Quantum Opportunities” pilot project at Paschal High School. This model, developed by the Ford Foundation, was an intensive derivative of the CIS model which employed five case managers to serve 100 students for their entire high school career.

The First Five Years - Over the first five years, the number of schools doubled to four, then seven, then eight, then nine. By the end of the fifth year, CIS program credibility had been clearly established.  Throughout this growth, stay-in-school success rates stayed consistently above 98%.

The Start of a New Fort Worth Tradition - In 1996 one of the board members who had founded CIS, introduced the idea of an annual Kitchens Tour to raise funding for CIS expansion. Under her proven leadership as the chair of the first Kitchens Tour committee, a new fall tradition was born in Fort Worth. In November and every year since then, nearly 1,000 guests tour five of Fort Worth's most elegant kitchens. There, they are treated to demonstrations and tastings provided by Fort Worth's most famed chefs. Now an anticipated event on the annual social calendar, proceeds of over $90,000 benefit the programs of Communities In Schools.

Beyond Fort Worth - In 1997 and 1998, as the CIS program expanded from nine to twelve, then eighteen schools, CIS established programs in Everman ISD and Arlington ISD. This prompted the historic change in name from Communities In Schools Fort Worth to Communities In Schools of Greater Tarrant County.

Characteristics of the Mature Program - Fully implementing the concept of Licensed Social Workers operating the CIS model from inside schools takes time, but creates a new way of doing business for the whole social service community. Rather than asking troubled students to seek out the help they so badly need from a confusing variety of disconnected agencies throughout the community, the help goes to the students where they are........at school. The Tarrant County social service and health community has responded eagerly to this opportunity. Each year over 100 CIS service provider partners bring their programs to CIS schools. This massive effort culminates in students gaining the developmental assets needed to make good decisions and stay in school.

The Ten-Year Mark - Reaching its 10th Anniversary in May 2001, CIS employed a staff of 93, had grown to become Tarrant County's largest private employer of school-based social workers and had an annual budget of over $2.5 million. CIS brokered services for over 14,000 students. CIS case managed students still stay in school at a rate of over 98%.

A Conduit and Key - Using the CIS/school connection as a conduit, new pilot projects have taken wing. In collaboration with Cook Children's Medical Center, CIS has piloted the Save A Smile project which provides dental screening for over 4,500 pre-k through 3rd grade students every year. CIS Case Aides from the local communities then become the key to real success by making sure that the children in need of immediate dental care......get to dentists who can provide them with free treatment. Almost 400 children each year have been treated.
In collaboration with the Tarrant Area Food Bank, CIS operates Weekend Backpack Programs at five elementary schools. Backpacks filled with nutritious food are sent home with children each Friday to feed some of Fort Worth's most needy children.

Today -Today, Communities In Schools serves over 16,000 students in Ft. Worth, Hurst-Euless-Bedford (HEB), Keller and Azle ISDs and has continued to maintain a stay-in-school rate of over 98% for 14 consecutive years.

The CIS Organization
The local CIS program is part of a national network www.cisnet.org  of over 130 programs in 30 states. The local CIS program is a non-profit, charitable organization governed by a local board of directors.