Communities In Schools^® (CIS^®) announced today that Ballmer Group is committing up to $165 million to help the organization scale its integrated student support model to 1,000 new majority low income (i.e., “Title I-eligible”) schools. CIS has a bold ambition to grow into every Title I-eligible school in America and to build a stronger system that better supports the 12 million students living in poverty. This new initiative will establish a fund designed to accelerate the adoption of its in-school student support services model to under resourced schools across the country. 

“The initiative we are kicking off today, supported by the generous investment of Ballmer Group, marks an important milestone for students who are marginalized and left behind or in need of help to overcome obstacles on their path to achieving their dreams,” said Rey Saldaña, President and CEO of Communities In Schools.  

Communities In Schools works by bringing community resources directly into schools through embedding a trained local coordinator whose sole focus is helping connect students with additional supports to help them learn, advance in grade level and graduate. During the 2021-2022 school year, CIS served 1.8 million students through 3,270 school and community sites in 25 states and the District of Columbia. The new grant will enable CIS to get to almost 4,000 Title I schools nationally through their current affiliates and new licensed partnerships, serving another half million kids per year. Most importantly, the fund is designed to catalyze local public and private investment in the model through a 1:1 match requirement over the first three years and commitments to fully fund the work long-term.