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The Prudential Foundation Awards $40K to Harvard Graduate School of Education for Full-Service Schools Conference

The Prudential Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Prudential, has awarded a grant of $40,000 to the Collaborative for Integrated School Services (CISS), an interdisciplinary support project for school counseling practitioners, housed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The Prudential grant will fund CISS's second Full-Service Schools Conference at the Harvard Graduate School of Education on March 26-27, 1999, drawing interdisciplinary teams of practitioners and policymakers from schools around the country to explore full-service and community school programs and develop practical collaborative action plans.

Part of a growing trend to engage communities in schools, full service and community school programs respond to the fact that children's academic and social needs are intricately connected. While full service and community school programs reinforce and extend the central importance of academic learning and achievement in children's lives, they also advocate for children in the larger contexts of family and community. Full service and community school programs seek to integrate services and opportunities that will strengthen the wellbeing of young people, families, and communities.

A key component of this year's conference will be connecting practitioners with policymakers. Keynote speakers will include:

• Gene I. Maeroff, director of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media
• David Hornbeck, superintendent of Philadelphia schools
• Charles Bruner, executive director of the Child and Family Policy Institute

About the Collaborative for Integrated School Services

CISS was established in 1991 to respond to the fact that school counselors, psychologists, social workers, and nurses often lack resources to serve children and families adequately. CISS provides interdisciplinary, continuing education in the form of workshops, conferences, peer supervision groups, and publications. The initiative aims to help the helpers, extending and strengthening the range and quality of the services these professionals provide in all kinds of school settings: public and independent; rural, suburban, and urban; and elementary and secondary. Since 1993, CISS has sponsored a number of local and national training programs.

CISS founder and director Margot Welch worked as a psychologist in school, community, and court settings before receiving a doctorate in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

About the Prudential Center

For over 20 years, the Prudential Foundation has supported innovative direct-service programs that address the needs of society in three areas: Ready to Learn, Ready to Work, and Ready to Live. Examples include specific education reform initiatives, job skills programs, and community-based culture/arts programs. The foundation aims to offer meaningful pathways to help those in need become more productive, self-sufficient members of society. The Prudential Foundation awards about $18 million in grants annually.

For More Information

Contact Christine Sanni at 617-496-5873