Grover Cleveland as a community school

Grover Cleveland Elementary, part of Erie’s Public Schools, became a United Way Community School in 2022. Located in a residential area extending from West Grandview Boulevard toward Pittsburgh Avenue, Raspberry Street, West 32nd Street, and the Glenwood Park Avenue corridor, Grover Cleveland serves about 371 students, with 79% economically disadvantaged, 10% English Language Learners, 19% receiving special education services, and 3% experiencing homelessness. Data pulled from Future Ready PA Index. All data points feature the most up-to-date publicly available metrics.

For more information and district resources, visit eriesd.org/cleveland, or check out their Facebook!

United Way community school director

Community School Directors are United Way of Erie County employees embedded full-time within each Community School. They serve as the on-site connector between the school and community, building relationships with students, families, staff, and partners to remove non-academic barriers to learning. By coordinating resources and aligning support, Community School Directors, with the assistance of United Way backbone staff, help ensure every student and family has what they need to succeed in school and life.

Meet Grover's Community School Director, Sharnae Dunston

Sharnae Dunston holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology. Before joining United Way, she spent five years in student support roles at local charter schools and has worked extensively with youth in various capacities.

She takes a community-focused approach and is committed to building strong connections with families at Grover Cleveland. Her goal is to remove barriers to learning and foster greater engagement between schools and families.

Corporate Partners

Corporate Partners are integrated partners, not just donors. Their collaboration creates consistency, resources, and opportunities that directly impact student success and family well-being — key pillars of the Community Schools Model.

These businesses and organizations provide both financial and volunteer support, working side-by-side with Community School Directors to create meaningful opportunities, improve learning environments, and strengthen connections between schools and the community.

Interested in becoming a Corporate Partner? Contact Julie Chacona, Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer at julie@unitedwayerie.org or Anita Kuchcinski, Vice President of Development at anita@unitedwayerie.org.

Meet Grover's Corporate Partners:

cOMMUNITY sCHOOL hiGHLIGHT

Every year, United Way Community Schools make measurable strides across the four pillars of the Community School Model. Here's one highlight from the last school year.

Grover Cleveland is making major gains in student attendance!
In the 2024-2025 school year:

85 % of students attended school regularly (up from 76% in 2022–23)

54 % decrease in unexcused absences since 22-23

Community school data dashboard

This dashboard provides a comprehensive view of academic performance, attendance, and survey data for Grover Cleveland Elementary as a United Way Community School. It contains seven interactive pages, each focusing on a distinct area of data.

- Page 1: presents key school facts from the most recent year of available data.
- Page 2: displays PSSA scores, allowing users to select metrics and filter by subject and demographics.
- Page 3: shows PVAAS scores for the most recent year, with similar filtering options.
- Page 4: highlights attendance data, which can be filtered by year.
- Pages 5-7: include student, family, and staff survey results, also filterable by year. All visuals and filters are interactive, enabling users to click within charts to explore the data in greater depth.

IMPACT STORIES

These stories highlight real examples of how the United Way Community Schools model is creating lasting change. From improved student engagement to stronger family connections, each story showcases the people, partnerships, and progress driving success across our community.