Communities In Schools

In Caddo Parish, approximately 70 percent of students live in poverty. That is around 26,000 children who struggle to have food, clothes and many other things most take for granted. A licensed partnership between Volunteers of America North Louisiana and Communities In Schools, the nation’s largest and most effective dropout prevention organization, works to surround students with community support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. 

The CIS Model

For the 2018-19 school year, seven Communities In Schools site coordinators worked directly inside six Caddo Parish Schools:

More than 90 percent of the students in each of these schools lives in poverty.

Real Outcomes

For the 2019-20 school year, Communities In Schools operated in six Caddo Parish schools.

• around 3,200 students were served with school-wide services, such as a clothing closet, tutoring or food back packs thanks to our partnership with the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana.

• 431 children received intensive case management services. Of those:

  • 70% met their attendance goal.

  • 76% met their behavior goal.

  • 72% met their academic goal.

  • 99% stayed in school.

Get Involved

If you would like to learn more about our Communities In Schools program, please contact Carolyn Hammond, Children and Families Division Director. If you would like to volunteer, please CLICK HERE to complete our online volunteer application.

2019-20 CIS Advisory Council 

Funding Partners

The Communities In Schools program is funded in part by The Community Foundation of North Louisiana, The Grayson Foundation and First Presbyterian Church Shreveport.