» Center For Resilient Schools And Communities (CRSC

CENTER FOR RESILIENT SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES (CRSC)

BUILDING RESILIENT COMMUNITIES – A PLACE BASED APPROACH

SAM has long partnered with schools and colleges to improve academic performance and degree attainment in Spartanburg County. While this work continues, data makes it clear that the community in which a child lives is a large predictor of a child’s academic success and therefore must be a foundational part of our work. A child’s community dictates the resources that are available to him or her, the level of violence and traumas to which the child might be exposed, the number of safe spaces he or she has during out of school time, the amount of quality supervision and teaching that he or she receives, etc. To ensure children in our communities have equal opportunity to succeed, SAM formed its Center for Resilient Schools and Communities (CRSC) and is partnering with neighborhoods on a holistic approach to building “capital” for children and families in communities where children are not succeeding at the same rate as in peer neighborhoods. The CRSC’s neighborhood-level work focuses on five key objectives and multiple associated activities that change communities and ultimately support post-secondary academic achievement. » Objective 1: Strengthening social, economic, and health related protective factors for children and families from prenatal to age 5 to facilitate early learning. » Objective 2: Creating a seamless and highly coordinated system that provides access to comprehensive services through upstream systems change. » Objective 3: Providing high quality academics and academic enrichment opportunities from pre-kindergarten through high school graduation. » Objective 4: Providing whole-child and family wellbeing services in communities and schools. » Objective 5: Engendering a college-going culture by ensuring college awareness, affordability, enrollment, and persistence to graduation and career.

CENTER FOR RESILIENT SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES

PLACE-BASED PARTNERSHIPS

Place-based partnerships are a community-driven, outcomes-focused approach. They position place as the nexus of progress, designing and implementing solutions that are tailored to a particular community. Leaders come together across sectors to identify shared goals and hold themselves accountable to achieve impact. These partnerships attend to pressing needs, while building on individual and community assets to create cradle-to-career opportunity pathways.

EVIDENCE-BASED TRAINING

The Center for Resilient Schools and Communities, under the direction of Dr. Jennifer Parker has trained more than 650 school administrators and educators in priority traumafocused areas to serve Spartanburg County students. Designed for school administrators, teachers, and school staff, the goal of this training is to establish a base of knowledge about the impact of trauma on learning and provide participants with an introduction to trauma-informed schools and trauma-sensitive practices. The Center trains educators on the following themes: Introduction to Restorative Practices in the Classroom, Trauma Sensitive Schools and MTSS, Building a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom, Behavioral Management Approaches: Punitive to Restorative, Trauma-Sensitive Practices in the Elementary School Classroom, Trauma-Sensitive Practices in the Secondary School Classroom, and Behaviors and Needs in the Classroom. SAMS’s Center for Resilient Schools and Communities also provides training for a wide range of professionals in the form of workshops and group training.

Resilient children become resilient adults

Resilient adults nurture resilient children

Resilient families create a strong community

A strong community thrives

Spartanburg County thrives