Cape Fear Memorial Foundation Funds Student Success in Brunswick County
Communities In Schools of Brunswick County (CIS) has been providing dropout prevention services to students attending Brunswick County Schools for the past twenty-nine years. Today, CIS serves over 550 students annually who attend one of eleven local elementary or middle schools and who are identified as being at risk of not being promoted to the next grade at the end of the school year, and at risk of eventually dropping out of school. Studies have shown that you can predict with significant accuracy which students will drop out of school, based on third grade Reading proficiency. As students fall further behind academically, they lose hope, feel disengaged in the classroom, have anxiety about attending school, and are unable keep pace with their peers. CIS provides case management and targeted interventions to students in the areas of academic tutoring, mentoring, character development, behavior interventions, and truancy interventions, along with providing support with basic needs, to help students stay in school and work toward graduation.
To establish and maintain our Action for Success Program and staff at a school site takes ongoing resources and financial commitment. Fundraising and grant support are critical to both the growth and sustainability of this program. As Brunswick County continues to grow, so do the needs of our schools and CIS wants to ensure it can provide a consistent presence for vulnerable students who need additional support to be successful.
The Cape Fear Memorial Foundation has been a generous supporter of the work of CIS, providing grants to the organization for many years. This year, they have awarded CIS a two-year grant to help sustain programming and staff at the school sites CIS serves. This support is essential and allows CIS to continue to focus on its mission “to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.” The mission of the Cape Fear Memorial Foundation of Wilmington, NC is to support not-for-profit organizations providing services that improve the health and wellness of the people of southeastern North Carolina.
The principal at South Brunswick Middle School recently shared his experience with the CIS program and Success Coach Bryan Mills stating, “Our CIS Coach provides aid and equity for students who lack direction and support. He has provided food for students who don’t have the means to help combat hunger. He has provided tutoring for students who need academic support. He has provided opportunities for our students to travel to meet people who have fought adversity and become successful in our community in order to provide goals and direction. He provides mentorship, wisdom, counseling, supplies, and support for students who may be in danger of giving up on themselves, allowing those students to know they have someone in their corner ready to advocate for them and provide the skills to be successful in and out of school”.
One of the students and families that has directly benefited from the CIS Action for Success Program is the Gaskins family, whose daughter attends Supply Elementary School. Jaedyn is in 5th Grade and receives intervention to help with her academic performance and school attendance. Her CIS Success Coach, Mr. Drew, works with her throughout each week to help her achieve her goals. She has been successful in turning around her academic performance and significantly reducing her absences, from eight last school year during the first quarter of the year, to only three this year. Jaedyn’s mother, Melissa Gaskins, shares “Communities In Schools has helped my daughter Jayden build confidence. It has helped her tremendously with her schoolwork and makeup work when she was absent. Mr. Drew has been amazing. He is a very very positive role model, very encouraging. Jaedyn thinks the world of him. I am very thankful that she has had the opportunity to meet him and work with him. Jaedyn has made straight A’s for the first 9 weeks and we are so proud of her!”
Work with Jaedyn and other students across Brunswick County could not happen without grant funders like The Cape Fear Memorial Foundation. They help make it possible for CIS to keep its commitment to local students, to be there daily in their corner, cheering them on to success, and helping them each step of their personal journeys to becoming accomplished learners and community members. Communities In Schools of Brunswick County thanks The Cape Fear Memorial Foundation for always being #AllinforKids and for being a powerful partner in this work!
