Guest blog by Arizona Serve of Prescott College

Deep in the south side of Tucson, Ariz., sits Pueblo Magnet High School, home to more than 1,500 students from one of the city’s lowest-income areas. The school, a member of the Tucson Community Schools Initiative, recently hosted a press conference to celebrate the past two years of the Operation AmeriCorps initiative, as well as its continued funding.

In 2013, Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild created the Mayor’s Commission on Poverty to understand how to better serve low-income families. The commission found that Tucson had a wealth of nonprofits offering assistance to lift families out of poverty; at the same time, difficulty accessing these services paired with a lack of awareness created challenges in bringing these families together with local nonprofits.

In 2015, the Mayor’s Office partnered with intermediary organization Arizona Serve at Prescott College to apply for an Operation AmeriCorps grant, which harnessed all three streams of the national service program to implement a community schools model in eight different high schools across three districts. This model transforms school campuses into resource hubs that can be conveniently accessed by community members who are already served by those schools.

Mayor Rothschild said that by the end of the first year the initiative was able to assist more than 2,800 students through bi-weekly resource nights at the schools, connecting students and families with federal student aid and tax prep, enrolling students in college savings accounts, and other methods.

The mayor added that the program succeeded by focusing on what the students needed on the ground, having AmeriCorps service members in the schools to find the students, and getting the nonprofits to work within the schools. This success, paired with support from local officials, made a clear path to continue the Tucson Community Schools Initiative.

Speaking of newly awarded funding, Arizona Serve Director Ben Olsen said that the grant will “fund 77 AmeriCorps positions across 10 schools, we are expanding into middle schools, and are excited to expand our partnership with Higher Ground. It’s really focused on empowering students and helping them develop a positive vision for their future.” This expanding partnership includes Arizona Serve at Prescott College, Higher Ground: A Resource Center, La Frontera Behavioral Health, and the city of Tucson.

Mayor Rothschild noted that Pueblo High School graduation rates increased 3% and 84% of the school’s graduates said they would be pursuing post-secondary education, a number that rose 11% over last year.

“Moving that needle is a big deal, so I want to thank everybody who has participated,” he said.

Beyond the numbers, the vision of a community school keeps the “person” as the guiding star, a concept that Principal Augustine Romero of Pueblo Magnet High School embraces.

“We want to recognize our vision for Pueblo, that it becomes the community’s center of health – not a health center, but a center of health – where it is the healthiest place our students can be,” said  Romero. “I want to thank all those who carry the water to make this happen and that’s our AmeriCorps people, Sabryna Alers (AmeriCorps VISTA), Michelle Valenti (AmeriCorps State Member), and Meg Riley and Ben Olsen (Arizona Serve program staff).”

News coverage raised awareness of the Tucson Community Schools Initiative and increased the potential for community members to become involved, which has been a driving force for the program.

“To see the connection to the community and members is really uplifting – it’s very encouraging to see what can happen when community members, nonprofits, and businesses come together to support an initiative,” said CNCS Southwest Cluster Area Manager Michael Laverty.