Transforming Vision into Reality: Bringing the Win Home
Implementing the California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP)
In response to organizing and advocacy efforts, and with support and leadership from the governor, legislature, State Board of Education (SBE) and California Department of Education (CDE), the State is investing $4.1 billion in community schools to support school transformation in partnership with students, families, community, and educators.
The Community’s Expanded 4 Pillars for Transformative, Racially Just, Relationship-Centered Community Schools:
- Active Student*, Family and Community Engagement
- Shared Power and Collaborative
Leadership and Practices
- Enriched, Culturally Sustaining, and Expanded Learning Time and Opportunities
- Integrated Student, Family, and Staff Supports
California’s NEWLY ADOPTED Community Schools Framework includes 4 Cornerstone Commitments to:
- Assets-driven and strength-based practice
- Racially just and restorative school climates
- Powerful, culturally proficient and relevant instruction
- Shared decision making and participatory practices
*Pupil added in statute in 2022 (Ed. Code Sec. 8902(f)(3))
Bolded language - Community continues to advocate for this language be added to the CA Framework’s 4 pillars
Community engagement is key! To be prioritized to receive grants,schools and districts MUST involve students, parents/caregivers, teachers, school staff, and community partners in the planning process and commit to shared decision-making.
What kinds of grants are available?
The first round of CA Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP) grants to schools and districts was approved in May 2022. Two types of grants were awarded: planning and implementation. You can find out whether or not your school or district received a first-round grant and how much money they expect to receive: planning grants or implementation grants. Additionally, here is a list of the school-based allocations for implementation grantees.
In March 2023, SBE approved an additional $45 million for the second round of planning grants. The second round of implementation grants was approved in May 2023. Additional Requests for Applications for implementation grants will be made available annually through the 2024-25 school year. This creates opportunities for current and future grantees to apply for CCSPP implementation grants. You can sign up to receive updates about future CCSPP grant opportunities from the CA PFL here.
The CCSPP is structured to offer implementation grants to local education agencies with existing community school initiatives and planning grantees who have successfully developed and implemented their vision and plan in partnership with their shared decision-making teams, inclusive of students, families, community partners, and educators, as well as Starting in the 2025-26 fiscal year, extension grants will also be made available for implementation grantees. This funding will extend implementation grants from five years to seven years for ongoing coordination costs of up to one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) annually per site of an existing community school. This funding will be available through the 2030-31 fiscal year.
Planning Grants
Up to $200,000 per district for up to 2 years for districts with no existing community schools to plan for establishing new community schools. Use for:
- Community School Coordinators
- Needs and Assets Assessments
- Training and Support
- Student, Family and Community Engagement
- Preparing Implementation Plans
- Partnership Development and Collaboration
Implementation Grants
$100,000-$500,000/year per school for 5 years for districts that already have community schools to create new or strengthen existing community schools. Use for:
- Staffing, including Community School Coordinators
- Support Services
- Training/Support, including School Culture Efforts
- Student, Family, and Community Engagement
- Needs and Assets Assessments
- Capacity Building
- Program and Funding Sustainability Planning
- Data Collection and Program Evaluations
Funding for Implementation Grants
Annual grant amounts vary by size of school:
For grants approved in 2022, the amounts ranged from $150,000-$500,000 per school for 5 years, depending on school size (year 5 will be 25% less). Local Educational Agencies (LEAs), must provide 1/3 match in funding or in-kind services.
| Enrollment Category | Annual Grant Amount Years One through Four | Annual Grant Amount Year Five | Total Grant Amount over Five Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very Small: 25-150 students | $150,000 | $112,500 | $712,500 |
| Small: 151-400 students | $250,000 | $187,500 | $1,187,500 |
| Medium: 401-1,000 students | $300,000 | $225,000 | $1,425,000 |
| Medium/Large: 1,001-2,000 students | $400,000 | $300,000 | $1,900,000 |
| Large: 2,001 or more students | $500,000 | $375,000 | $2,375,000 |
**Note: These amounts could vary for grants approved in future years of the CCSPP.
Who is eligible to apply?
School districts and other local educational agencies are eligible if they have either:
- 50% or more low-income, English learner and/or foster youth students (“unduplicated students”), or
- Higher than state average dropout rates, suspension and expulsion rates, or rates of child homelessness, foster youth, or justice-involved youth.
Who will be prioritized for grants?
School districts or other local educational agencies that:
- Serve pupils in schools with at least 80% low-income, English learner, and/or foster youth populations
- Demonstrate need for expanded access to integrated student support services, including disproportionate COVID-19 impact
- Involve pupils, parents, staff, and cooperating agency personnel in the process of identifying needs and in planning support services
- Commit to providing Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), trauma-informed health, mental health, and social services for pupils, and partner with other schools, LEAs, or Community-Based Organizations
- For qualifying entities that serve elementary school pupils, or for schools where there is a demonstrated need for childcare, commit to providing early care and educational services for birth to five through an LEA or Community-Based Organization. This includes programs for pregnant and parenting teens.
- Identify a cooperating agency collaboration process for sharing governance with shared decision-making teams that include pupils, families, educators, and community-based organizations, and integrating and redirecting resources and school support services
- Plan to support a network of community schools to ensure that services, professional development, and engagement can occur on school site, or adjacent location, with the support of Community-Based Organizations and other relevant providers
- Identify a plan to sustain community school services after grant expiration
- Serve small and rural schools
- *In the 2022-23 implementation grant RFA, CDE encouraged all applicants to include schools meeting qualification thresholds. This includes schools serving other high-need student groups such as Black and indigenous students and students with disabilities.
How can your district or school apply?
Refer to this QuickStart Guide to Community Schools Grants created by Public Advocates.
Community School Plans
Initial Proposals
All community school grantees had to submit an initial proposal when they applied for implementation grants. The proposal explains:
- How they will engage students, families, school staff, and community partners
- What programs and services will be available and where
- What resources will be used
- Which partners will be involved
Creating a Community School Plan
Each school's path to becoming a community school is different, so each community school grantee needs to develop their own community school plan. All members of a school community should be involved in creating that plan, which may include:
Building Structures
- Hiring a community school coordinator
- Collaborating with a network of community schools
- Creating shared decision-making teams that include students, families, school staff, and community partners
- Creating spaces for those shared decision-making teams to integrate existing resources and services
Coordinating & providing support services
- Partnering with nonprofits and government agencies to provide staffing and services
- Providing trauma-informed health, mental health, and social services
- Creating a Coordination of Services Team
- Providing childcare and education for children under 5
Training and support for school staff and community partners
- Leadership coaching for school leaders, teachers, families, students, and community partners
- Training to integrate resources to support students
- Training on social-emotional well-being
- Training on trauma-informed practices
Implementing new or expanded practices
- Student-family-teacher conferences and home visits
- Intensive tutoring
- Restorative justice practices
- Before-school, after-school, and summer school programs and activities
Make sure that your school or district includes students, families, school staff, and community members on any school and district community schools leadership and decision-making team to shape a plan and vision for community schools.
Grant Requirements
Deliverables
Planning Grants
All planning grantees must:
- Conduct a needs assessment and asset map
- Engage with students, families, educators, and community partners and make a plan for collaborative leadership and shared decision-making
- Identify and name which schools will be part of the community schools program
- Create a plan to sustainably implement community schools
- Track and report disaggregated student and school data
- Track outcomes and develop processes to update plans based on those outcomes
Implementation Grants
All implementation grantees must:
- Post their grant application and community school plan on district websites
- Conduct a needs assessment and asset map
- Engage with students, families, educators, and community partners
- Create structures for collaborative leadership and shared decision-making
- Give students opportunities to make decisions about what they learn and how they learn it
- Strengthen and support inclusive school climates through:
- Building trust between all members of a school community, including students, families, school staff, and community partners
- Providing mental health and wellness support
- Implementing supportive practices to resolve conflict and promote healing
- Respond to student and family needs
- Track disaggregated student and school data
- Annually report and publicly present their community school plans, including data, outcomes, and progress toward long-term financial stability, at the school site and at a meeting of the LEA’s governing board.
- These presentations should be developed with and presented by each school’s CCSPP shared decision-making team or council.
What Role Can Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) Play?
Beyond the vital role that CBOs can play in supporting students and families to engage in shared decision-making processes and to hold schools and districts accountable for their commitments, CBOs can also contract with schools or districts to provide services.
For example, CBOs can partner with schools or districts to lead family engagement and parent workshops, consult on developing collaborative leadership and community engagement structures, and provide training for school and district staff. CBOs can also provide mental health services, childcare programs, before/after/summer school programs, or other services.
Red Flags
You should raise concerns with the school or district if any of the following happens:
This is a basic first step for transparency and community engagement, and is explicitly required for implementation grantees.
Timelines
Planning Grants
July 2022
Full disbursement of Cohort 1 grant funds (can be used for up to two years)
March 2023
Cohort 2 grants approved (can be used for up to two years)
Spring/ Summer 2023
Full disbursement of Cohort 2 grant funds (can be used for up to two years)
Date TBD, Fall 2023
Cohort 1 Mid-Project Progress Report and Mid-Project Expenditure Report
Grantees that have completed planning requirements can apply for the next cohort of implementation grants. If they choose to do so, they must submit the End-of-Project Report and Expenditure Report instead.
June 30, 2024
Cohort 1 End-of-Project Report and Expenditure Report due (all planning grant funds must be expended)
Cohort 2 Mid-Project Progress Report and Mid-Project Expenditure Report
Cohort 2 grantees that have completed planning requirements can apply for the next cohort of implementation grants. If they choose to do so, they must submit the End-of-Project Report and Expenditure Report instead.
June 30, 2025
Cohort 2 End-of-Project Report and Expenditure Report due (all planning grant funds must be expended)
Ask your school or district to post all planning grant reports online and present them at public meetings.
Implementation Grants
July 2022
Initial disbursement of Cohort 1 grant funds (funds will be disbursed annually over 5 years and can be rolled over from year to year)
May 2023
Cohort 2 grants approved
(funds will be disbursed annually over 5 years and can be rolled over from year to year)
Date TBD, Fall 2023
Public presentation and submission of Annual Progress Report, Implementation Plan Update, and Expenditure Report
June 30, 2024
Public presentation and submission of Annual Progress Report, Implementation Plan Update, initial Sustainability Plan, and Expenditure Report
June 30, 2025
Public presentation and submission of Annual Progress Report, Implementation Plan Update, Sustainability Plan Update, and Expenditure Report
June 30, 2026
Public presentation and submission of Annual Progress Report, Implementation Plan Update, Sustainability Plan Update, and Expenditure Report
June 30, 2027
Public presentation and submission of End-of-Project Report (including Sustainability Plan) and Expenditure Report due (all implementation grant funds must be expended).
Grantees can apply for extension grants to receive two more years of funding.
Implementation grantees are required to publicly present their annual reports at school site meetings AND at district board meetings. Make sure that your school or district also posts these reports online.
Resources
CA PFL Resources
CDE Resources
- CCSPP Overview
- CA Community Schools Framework, Adopted Jan. 2022
- CCSPP Planning Grant
- CCSPP Implementation Grant
- CCSPP Lead Technical Assistance Center
To receive updates from CDE, you can subscribe to the CCSPP-Info listserv by sending a "blank" email message to join-CCSPP-Info@mlist.cde.ca.gov.