Communities In Schools (CIS)
The mission of Communities In Schools is to champion the connection of needed community resources with schools to help young people successfully learn, stay in school and prepare for life. By bringing caring adults into the schools to address children’s unmet needs, CIS provides the link between educators and the community. The result: teachers are free to teach, and students – many in jeopardy of dropping out – have the opportunity to focus on learning. For more information about this nationally recognized program please visit www.cisnet.org.

CIS helps students choose success by ensuring their access to the “Five Basics”:

· A one-on-one relationship with a caring adult
· A safe place to learn and grow
· A healthy start and a healthy future
· A marketable skill to use upon graduation
· A chance to give back to peers and community

What makes CIS unique is how we identify specific community needs and collaborate with school administrators, teachers, counselors and other child advocates, parents businesses, community organizations and governmental agencies to deliver programs and services. CCEF provides CIS programming for students at 12 schools throughout Cumberland County.

The Fuller Performance Learning Center® (FPLC) opened in the fall of 2007 providing another learning option for our high school students and community. CIS of Cumberland County and Cumberland County Schools partnered to open this non-traditional high school with grant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The FPLC incorporates Communities In Schools caring philosophy and approach that combines strong personal relationships between staff and students with an intense focus on academic achievement. The students complete assignments using an integrated online and project-based curriculum. This small learning environment serves students on a 4x4 schedule who are not succeeding in a traditional school setting. The PLC establishes an environment of high expectations, which allows students ample opportunity to graduate and emerge with certifiable employment skills.  While less than half of low-income and minority students in the U.S. complete high school, 85 percent of CIS students earn their diplomas and two-thirds go on to some form of post-secondary education.