Overview

Our Mission

To champion the connection of needed community resources with schools to help young people successfully learn, stay in school, and prepare for life.

Communities In Schools of Philadelphia, Inc. (CISP), a charitable 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, is one of the largest of more than 200 independently incorporated local affiliates of Communities In Schools, Inc. (CIS), the largest stay-in-school network in the country. Since its inception in 1986, CISP has grown to annually serve more than 13,000 public school students attending Philadelphia's high schools and kindergarten through 8th grade schools. CISP administers over 25 programmatic initiatives, all in collaboration with the School District of Philadelphia, agencies of the federal and state governments, and a large number of other non-profit organizations and community-minded businesses.

Our Mission
History & Purpose
Goals
Who We Serve
Our Approach

The Communities In Schools, Inc. (CIS) idea was conceived in the hearts and minds of a group of young men and women motivated by a growing concern for the plight of the urban poor. With an over-taxed and faltering public school system, communities must work together to put young people on the right track. CIS was created by founder and president Bill Milliken in 1977 as a grassroots program devoted to working with youth who are potential dropouts, have dropped out of school, and are unemployed, homeless and/or substance abusers. CIS has become the largest stay-in-school network in the United States. With over 200 independently incorporated, non-profit affiliates providing services to prevent and reduce the rate of school dropouts and better prepare students for the challenges of the world of work, CIS has served over one million students in the last school year alone.

To visit the CIS National Website click here > > >

CISP combines social advocacy and vocational education to provide Philadelphia's youth with the opportunity to visualize and achieve future aspirations via academic and social growth resulting in post-secondary advancement in higher education and/or the workforce.

A major focus of CISP is to provide services and programs to meet the needs of non-traditional students: overage, under-credentialed, pregnant or parenting, whose needs can most adequately be met with a specialized programmatic approach designed to provide each with what we call the CIS BASICS.

CISP implements the following divisions: Education Leading to Employment and Career Training (ELECT)/Cradle to the Classroom (CTC) Programs , Schools Operation Support and After School Programming, External Initiatives, and Specialty Projects and Programs. These programs incorporate the following to prevent and reduce the rate of school dropouts and better prepare students for the challenges in the world of work:

• Service learning
• Youth leadership
• Life and occupational skill training
• Career exposure and awareness
• Preparation for entry to post-secondary education

One or more of these programs facilitate shadowing/mentoring experiences that may lead to paid, work-based learning internships, post secondary education/training, and/or future employment.