"A community school is a place and a set of partnerships between the school and other community resources. Its integrated focus on academics, services, supports, and opportunities leads to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities. Schools become centers of the community and are open to everyone - all day, every day, evenings, and week-ends."
- The Coalition for Community Schools

Community schools "combine the rigorous academics of a quality school with a wide range of vital in-house services, supports, and opportunities for the purpose of promoting children's learning and development. The community-school unites the most important influences in children's lives - school, families, and communities - to create a web of support that nurtures their development toward productive adulthood."
- The Children's Aid Society

The community schools movement is a national initiative dedicated to creating committed, lasting partnerships among schools and their neighborhoods. In California this initiative is best known as Healthy Start. Healthy Start brings schools, families, neighborhoods, and public and private agencies and business together to meet student and family needs. CCSP has served as the Healthy Start Field Office since 1992, providing orientation training and technical assistance to over 800 grantees.

The Coalition for Community Schools promotes five conditions for learning that are necessary for community schools to work together.

1. The school has a core instructional program with qualified teachers, a challenging curriculum, and high standards and expectations for students;
2. Students are motivated and engaged in learning - both in school and in community settings, during and after school;
3. The basic physical, mental, and emotional health needs of young people and their families are recognized and addressed;
4. There is mutual respect and effective collaboration among parents, families, and school staff;
5. Community engagement, together with school efforts, promotes a school climate that is safe, supportive, and respectful and that connects students to a broader learning community.

Visit the Coalition for Community Schools to learn more about the community schools movement.