AUDIOBOOK
About
A revised and updated edition of an exploration into the foundational principles, impact, and real-life success stories from Communities in Schools.
Since 1977, Communities in Schools (CIS) has reached more than one million students and their families annually approximately 3,000 American schools, surrounding them with a community of support and empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.
In “The Last Dropout”, CIS founder Bill Milliken offers nine key principles that Communities In Schools has tested over four decades. Interwoven are his real-world life stories, a journey that began in the turbulent 1960s as a youth worker and evolved into a handful of groundbreakings "Street Academies" that became the CIS movement with a national network of hundreds of local affiliates. Milliken also shares transformative stories about how CIS leaders have adopted these principles in their own communities, with stunning results.
Milliken's guiding philosophy has been "It is relationships, not programs, that change children," and it is a principle that has served as a beacon in the movement for educational equity and success. At the Ford Foundation, we believe in the inherent dignity of all people. Yet around the world, billions of people are excluded from full participation in the political, economic, and cultural systems that shape their lives. We view this fundamental inequality as the defining challenge of our time, one that limits the potential of all people, everywhere. Addressing inequality is at the center of everything we do. Communities In Schools has been a standard-bearer for social justice, beginning with its roots in Harlem during the 1960s. The CIS model is proven and effective and their mission going forward is not just to help low-income children and families and people of color to navigate the barriers but to take down the barriers to equality all together.
Since 1977, Communities in Schools (CIS) has reached more than one million students and their families annually approximately 3,000 American schools, surrounding them with a community of support and empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.
In “The Last Dropout”, CIS founder Bill Milliken offers nine key principles that Communities In Schools has tested over four decades. Interwoven are his real-world life stories, a journey that began in the turbulent 1960s as a youth worker and evolved into a handful of groundbreakings "Street Academies" that became the CIS movement with a national network of hundreds of local affiliates. Milliken also shares transformative stories about how CIS leaders have adopted these principles in their own communities, with stunning results.
Milliken's guiding philosophy has been "It is relationships, not programs, that change children," and it is a principle that has served as a beacon in the movement for educational equity and success. At the Ford Foundation, we believe in the inherent dignity of all people. Yet around the world, billions of people are excluded from full participation in the political, economic, and cultural systems that shape their lives. We view this fundamental inequality as the defining challenge of our time, one that limits the potential of all people, everywhere. Addressing inequality is at the center of everything we do. Communities In Schools has been a standard-bearer for social justice, beginning with its roots in Harlem during the 1960s. The CIS model is proven and effective and their mission going forward is not just to help low-income children and families and people of color to navigate the barriers but to take down the barriers to equality all together.