2025 Community Schools Conference

July 23, 2025 to July 25, 2025
Waldron Campus Center, Gannon University
628 Peach St, Erie, PA 16501

Stay in the Loop

A Two-Day Event

This event will provide the foundation and the “nuts and bolts” of the community school strategy as implemented by United Way of Erie County.

A Two-Day Event to Tackle Generational Poverty Together!

Erie's inaugural Community Schools Conference will be an in-person learning and networking opportunity designed specifically for our local United Way friends, colleagues, school districts and other partner organizations working to address the complex social issue of generational poverty in their communities.

The two-day event in beautiful Erie, Pennsylvania will provide the foundation and the “nuts and bolts” of the community school strategy as implemented by United Way of Erie County, a nationally recognized best-practice backbone organization who launched the model in Erie, Pennsylvania in 2017.

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Location

Community Schools Conference
July 23, 2025 to July 25, 2025
Waldron Campus Center, Gannon University
628 Peach St, Erie, PA 16501

Tickets

Plan now to save your spot. Seating will be limited.
Early bird registration will open Friday, November 1!

See you in the 814!

Interested in receiving updates about the Community School Conference? Click below!

Stay in the loop!

General Sessions

General Session 1: Welcome
Our decision to implement the CS Model in Erie
Keynote speakers – Gary Goscenski

General Session 2: Fundraising / Resource Development
Laurie and Julie
Braided funding model

General Session 3: Closing
Dr. Iwanenko – university partnerships
Staff Q&A

Tours

Wednesday, July 23, 8:30am – 10:30am

Erie High
Wilson
Grover Cleveland
Iroquois as backup if we have a lot of signups

Erie CS 2025 Conference Presentation
MODEL ONE

Building Organization Capacity and Building School District Partnerships

To successfully implement the Community School Model, both the backbone organization and the school districts involved need to have the capacity and commitment from its staff to move forward. This session will include perspectives from United Way of Erie County leadership and Erie School District administrators. This session will highlight United Way’s staff responsibilities as the backbone organization of the Community School Model and how United Way keeps clear and open communication and direction between office staff and community school directors embedded in schools. Leadership from United Way and Erie’s Public Schools will discuss the timeline for planning and rollout of the Community School Model within a school district, and how United Way and the district maintain dialogue and a strong working relationship to support students’ educational goals.

Presenters:

  • Mike Jaruszewicz, Senior Vice President of Community Impact, United Way of Erie County
  • Brian Polito, Superintendent, Erie’s Public Schools
  • Teresa Szumigala, Assistant Superintendent, Erie’s Public Schools

Data Drives Success: Methods for Collecting and Utilizing Community School Data

The Community School Model relies on data to identify unique needs and gaps at each school. In this session, attendees will learn about United Way of Erie County’s data collection methods within each community school, including surveys, focus groups, individual conversations, and the application of state-level data. United Way of Erie County’s Data and Evaluation Team will highlight how they use this data to formulate a community school’s unique Action Plan, which serves as the roadmap for CSDs to use through their first years implementing the Model. Additionally, presenters will also discuss how community school directors and the data team collaborate to complete Annual Progress Reports to identify areas of improvement and growth at schools.

Presenter:

  • Sara Naughton, Director of Data & Evaluation, United Way of Erie County

Panelists:

  • Nathan Arora, Data & Evaluation Manager, United Way of Erie County
  • Josh Kehl, Data & Evaluation Manager, United Way of Erie County
  • Alycia Olivar, Data & Evaluation Manager, United Way of Erie County
MODEL TWO
MODEL THREE

Completing the Continuum: Bringing the Community School Model to Erie High

During the 2024-2025 school year, United Way of Erie County, in partnership with Erie’s Public Schools, brought the Community School Model to our first high school: Erie High. Because all EPS elementary and middle schools were community schools, onboarding Erie High into the Model meant that EPS students were now supported by the Model from the start Pre-K to high school graduation. Presenters and panelists will provide a retrospective look at the first year of Erie High as a community school, including how data was collected to discover priority needs to address, how the Pillars of the Model were adjusted to better fit the needs of older students, challenges faced in the first year of implementation, and future plans for improvement.

Presenters and Panelists:

  • Meghan Easter, Erie High Lead Community School Director – Family and Community Engagement, United Way of Erie County
  • Donald Orlando, Principal of Erie High, Erie’s Public Schools
  • Jason Burgert, Director, Career & Technical Education, Erie High
  • Lori Krause, Senior Director, Community Impact, United Way of Erie County

Pillar Track

3 speakers per pillar, each taking 15-20 minutes to speak on topics with room for questions at the end.

  • The Community School Model emphasizes the importance of a positive environment for learning where all students, families, and faculty feel welcome. In this session, attendees will learn strategies to improve school culture. Community school directors will discuss specific approaches at their schools that increased the comfort, sense of belonging, and school pride of students, their families, teachers, and administrators alike. Examples include how one suburban community school leveraged student leadership groups to foster positive behavior, how an urban elementary school promoted proactive attendance strategies to maintain positive family bonds, and how one middle school with XX different native languages created an environment Erie’s newest Americans can call home.

    • Caitlin: Student Leadership Groups
    • Shanna: Attendance Strategies and Attendance Team Collaboration
    • Rachel: Engaging Diverse Student Populations
  • Enrichment before, during, or after the school day has been proven to help address the inequalities that many families face when living in communities of concentrated poverty. When children are given the opportunity to think creatively, problem solve, and engage in hands on learning, they are more likely to thrive. In this session, attendees will learn about three United Way community school extracurricular frameworks designed to provide grades 2-8 with everything from summer learning, to career education, to weekend and family enrichment at their schools.

    • Tammy: Out-of-school time and Summer Learning Opportunities
    • Katrina: Career Readiness and Lightning Clubs
    • Tami: Explorers Club – weekend and family field trips
  • Caregivers serve as the first role models for their children, which means barriers to success cannot be reduced without families as partners. As community schools work towards building robust partnerships, they may still face the challenge of getting parents in the building. In this session, presenters will discuss strategies used to move families towards attending academic programming, encourage families to sit at the table and be a voice for change at their community school, and to spend time getting to know fellow students and families at fun engagement events.

    • Bailey: Engaging Families in Academics
    • Scot: Getting Families in the Building
    • Amy: Family Impact Team, family supports and community connections

    Other CSDs: JoAnna Connell, Courtney, Chris, Ashley, Liz, Bryan, Kane, Shateria

Timeline

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Wednesday 9/18/24

Fleshed out session descriptions posted for review by leadership

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Friday 9/27/24

- Asked speakers to present
- Asked tour leaders to be prepared to hold tours

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Friday 10/4/24

Speakers confirmed and asked to review their session descriptions and provide bios

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Monday 10/21/24

- Met with groups of speakers to review content
- Finalized session descriptions and speaker bios with presenter input (Early Bird goes live Nov. 1)

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Friday 1/31/25

Presentations completed by speakers

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Friday 3/28/25

- Presentations practiced in front of and reviewed by leadership
- Tour leaders refreshed on tour process or toured another community school if needed

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Friday 6/20/25

- Any presentations that need 2024-2025 content / data are finalized (i.e. Erie High)
- Tour leaders prepped on content and expectations

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Friday 6/27/25

All presentations reviewed one more time to check for any needed updates