(bright music) - [Narrator] Whether during the school day or out-of-school time, when community partnerships are aligned with the school's social and emotional learning, vision and goals, the alliance can help students build even more SEL skills.

- Community partners play a significant role in schoolwide SEL because just like families, they provide opportunities to extend our young people's experiences beyond the school environment and school day into new spaces.

And aligning our practices and our language together can be really helpful to promote SEL for our students.

- When we talk about community partnerships, we may be talking about before or after school programs that young people are attending.

We may be talking about community-based organizations where students may be doing projects, or they may have a mentor or they may be connected to other organizations that are supporting them around specifics needs that they may have.

It's a sort of wide net of organizations that are partnering with the school and partnering with a young person to ensure that they are succeeding.

Schools and community partners can align in many ways, that they might be aligning around the vision and goals that they have for young people.

They might be aligning around the particular language they use around social, emotional development or academic development, practices or themes that they are teaching each month or week.

So there are really many ways to create the seamless experience for young people that really deepens their opportunity to practice and to learn.

- [Narrator] Some good examples of what this can look like on the ground can be seen in a few districts near Dayton, Ohio.

- Aligned community partnerships are key to our five-year strategic plan.

Our buildings have done an excellent job of seeking out partnerships at the local level.

We have some local churches that have really done amazing work with supporting students, coming in, helping with homework help, providing specific mentorship for students that are in need of that.

There's also been a lot of connection with our PTOs and some of our parent groups where we have engaging dads to come in and be a part of what's going on during the school day and after the school day.

- I would say that the benefits of community partnerships are endless.

Schools that are able to access and really leverage their community partnerships are able to make leaps and balance with students in terms of their growth emotionally, as well as academically.

So it's just a matter of having someone be able to manage the partnerships, make sure that they are aligned to the visions and that they help enrich the current environment in the school and fill the gaps if there is one.

To support students with meeting SEL goals, the biggest community partners that I access are, one, Education Service Center.

So the Montgomery County ESC has been a huge part in training our staff on SEL, so on trauma-informed care and what that looks like, getting them bought into trauma-informed care, as well as the importance of SEL.

That's been huge 'cause they're riding our back door.

Second would be, I use our community partners to support our students who struggle.

So we have a partnership with Samaritan Behavioral Health, and they provide counseling at the school, which is super important to have a school-based counselor that can service the needs of students when they're in crisis or just continued care.

We also have partnerships to do mentoring.

- [Narrator] For this district, bringing in the third-party therapists and counselors has been a great way to support both students and their families who may have to take off work to drive to an appointment.

It also allows the district to serve each child holistically on campus, which is another way to further schoolwide SEL.

Just like in West Carrollton, in nearby district Huber Heights, mentorship plays a big role in supporting schoolwide SEL.

- We have a watchdog program, and what it is, is we are getting dads coming into school and just being a presence.

They might read with kids.

They might help teachers.

They come in, they help me in the lunchroom.

Another huge way that we use them is extra recess.

Well, do you know how much fun it is to have 30 dads outside on the playground, playing kickball, playing basketball, playing baseball with these kids?

Not only are my kids benefiting from this, but these dads, it's changed some of their lives.

- A lot of kids just wanna be listened to.

They just wanna be heard.

There's an African proverb that says, "If a community doesn't embrace the kid or love the kid or doesn't feel a warmth for the community, is gonna burn it down to feel the warmth."

So to prevent that, I think is very important that we have people that could connect with these kids and listen to these kids and help guide some of those decisions.

We get a lot of our mentors from Engage Church here in Huber Heights city.

We also work with a local fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.

They come and help mentor some of our students.

We also partner up with The Rotary Club, and also we work with the local high school, Wayne High School, work with some of their seniors that's going through the more advanced courses.

- [Narrator] Those mentorships may have started with homework help, playing games, or breaking bread every other week, but since then, they are now evolving into another form of aligned effort that helps build SEL competence, project and service-based learning.

- That kids actually love it.

They actually say, "Mr. Mills, is this the Wednesday?

Or is this the Wednesday?"

So now we about to move into every Wednesday because we're about to start this deeper project with our kids where we're about to build a pond in the middle of our school together.

The kids, that they already designed.

They mapped out how much everything's gonna cost.

They know what it's gonna look like.

So they're gonna be doing a lot of work with the guidance of our mentors.

A school is just a reflection of its community.

So if we can collaborate with the community and build with the community, doing this deeper learning project, doing community service projects, going out and reaching, it's just teaching our kids how to grow up and take ownership or have respect for our environment.

- Another example of a really strong partnership is with the YWCA.

They were able to come into our building and provide instruction for our high school students around safe and positive relationships.

- [Narrator] And while partnerships are not always explicitly teaching SEL lessons, they can provide you with experiences that still build SEL skills.

- One of the key components of our strategic plan is to expand our internships and our career pathway possibilities.

So we have a very strong connection with our local CTC, and we are creating local career paths and opportunities for our students at Wayne High School so that they don't have to leave campus to receive training.

- [Narrator] Along with creating a seamless SEL experience for students across their day, Another focus of aligned community partnerships is the role they can play with school staff.

- So as a school leader, it's super important to also leverage school and community partnerships for staff and professional development.

As a principal, I see my sole role being to support teachers with their own professional growth and development.

But if it's something that I can't help them with, I'm going to access the broader community.

- It's about bringing in every adult that touches young people.

Some of those are part of these outside organizations, and many of those are part of what we would think of as a school community, but operate in out-of-school times.

- [Narrator] Regardless of whether we're looking at individual roles or the role that community groups can play in the life of students, staff and families, the mission of extending SEL is at the core of aligning community partnerships.

- No one is doing this alone.

We are all building on the strengths we have to support young people.

And so I think as long as we are communicating, finding those spaces of alignment, finding where we can share practices and really build professional learning that touches everyone who connects with young people, we are gonna create a more meaningful learning experience for young people and a learning environment that meets everyone's needs.

(air whooshing) (bright music)