We're so grateful to the nonprofits, churches, schools, school districts, and partnership experts who have shared their experiences and wisdom with us over the past few months. We hope that the resources we've collected (see below) will be helpful as you engage in new relationships or as you further your current relationships with local schools. We'll keep updating as we learn more!

 

We'd love to hear your story - just click reply!

 

In 2008, Copperfield Church responded to Mission Houston's Whole and Healthy Children Initiative by partnering with Hairgrove Elementary, the school with the highest number of at-risk students in Cy-Fair at that time. Soon after, Copperfield's Pastor Larry Womack approached area churches to consider partnering together at Hairgrove. Calvary Community Church leaders prayed over the invitation and decided to accept.

 

Just this past January, Calvary and Copperfield were awarded the TAPE Community Partnership Crystal Award in the Academic Impact category. In just the first 3 years of this church-church-school partnership, Hairgrove's TAKS scores improved from 71% to 91% and the school's rating improved from Academically Acceptable to Exemplary. Hairgrove is now a Title I High Achieving Campus!

 

From Principal Darynda Klein:

 

"Hairgrove students, staff, and families are having [their basic, safety, social, and self-esteem needs] met by Calvary Community Church and Copperfield Church. Basic needs are met by providing clothing, meals, and gifts during the holidays, serving students wholesome home-cooked meals at academic learning camps and through the Backpack Buddy program which provides food to families each week. Safety, social, and self-esteem needs are met by mentoring students, sponsoring clubs to give children enrichment and a sense of belonging, providing children new school supplies and backpacks, and supporting the staff to be the best they can be by providing treats and meals which uplift the staff's spirits. It is clear that our partners, Calvary Community Church and Copperfield Church, make a world of difference in the lives of our students, staff, families, and our community at Hairgrove. We are so blessed to have their support!"

 

Read more about one of their community projects here.

 

Note: We especially love this church-church-school partnership because of the way the churches work together using their complementary strengths - among other strengths, Copperfield has financial resources while Calvary has volunteer capacity. How can your church collaborate with another church in a school partnership?

 

 

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