At all levels, students are assisted by staff to solve personal and family problems that can potentially interfere with their doing well in school. Providing campus-based social services and parent involvement staff is central to the Project GRAD mission. The role of the social services/parent involvement program to the overall effectiveness of GRAD is vital considering the range of problems young people and their families face in inner-city environments. This program focuses on drop-out prevention and social services that provide guidance, counseling, community outreach, and family case-management services to at-risk children. Through these services, students and their parents become aware of private and public community resources and how to access these resources to meet their social, economic, health, and other needs. The program provides support services for students that enable them to appreciate learning, stay in school, and improve their academic performance.

Full-Time Staff

Project GRAD ensures that students have easy access to its services by placing full-time social service providers and project managers in schools to work with teachers, counselors and parents. At both the elementary and secondary levels, social services/parent involvement staff members work to identify the needs of students and their parents in order to provide appropriate instructional support activities for them.

In sites where Communities in Schools(CIS), a dropout prevention and social service agency, is in place, it is the vehicle for providing these social service/parent involvement staff members. In sites where there is no local CIS organization, Project GRAD has established a variation of the CIS component called Campus Family Support (CFS), which customizes traditional CIS services to meet the needs within the feeder system.

Parental Involvement

In addition to student services, staff is dedicated to organizing activities to enhance communication between teachers and parents. Parents are empowered to become advocates both of their own children and of the entire school community. The parent involvement initiative focuses on supporting parents in taking a more active role in the life of their school. Parents build stronger relationships with administrators and teachers to build an active constituency for their school. Social services/parent involvement staff members annually facilitate the Walk For Success^SM. The volunteers inform parents about the program and, at the ninth grade level, ask them to sign a contract committing their children to the scholarship program. Secondly, based upon surveys during the Walk for Success, Parent Universities are set up throughout the feeder patterns to offer parents courses which they have requested. An example of the success of the program is the fact that in 1999 Project GRAD Houston offered scholarships to three parents who received their GED through the Parent University Program.

GRAD Program Support

The social services/parent involvement staff members work strategically with other programs to ensure student success. For literacy, they staff, chair and/or participate in the Family Support Team, which provides support for struggling readers; recruit tutors and listeners; and invite parents to the training sessions. For mathematics, they recruit tutors, use the strategies in after-school programs, and invite parents to Family Math Nights. For classroom management, they adapt and use the strategies in their office and invite parents to the Parent University workshops on the program. For the scholarship component, they inform parents about the Project GRAD scholarships, encourage students to attend college, conduct college awareness activities for students and parents, and coordinate the Walk for Success.

College Awareness

Social services/parent involvement staff in both the elementary and secondary schools coordinate the College Awareness Day’s activities. As a complement to the scholarship component, the college awareness activities and discussion begin in Pre-K and Kindergarten classes and continue through high school. Each year on College Awareness Day teachers decorate rooms and doors with material from their college, hold assemblies with guest speakers, and promote the idea that every child can go to college. Staff members also develop and implement activities that allow students to see themselves as college students and promote awareness of the scholarship opportunity. The high school staff members coordinate closely with the Project GRAD College Access Coordinator in order to serve the maximum number of students. Activities may include parent and student college visits, guest speakers, SAT/PSAT preparation, assistance with loan and scholarship applications, and tutoring and mentoring.

Campus Family Support

Campus Family Support is the Social Service Component of the Project GRAD model. CFS provides direct support services to students and their families. This support runs the gamut of social services including parental involvement activities, individual intervention, career counseling, enrichment, group activities, after school activities, information about and referral to community agencies, tutoring, and mentoring.

The mission of CFS is to bring resources together to address problems outside of the classrooms that impede student success. The goals and objectives of CFS are:

1. To support and improve student academic achievement
2. To improve student attendance and behavior
3. To offer essential social support services at all schools partnering with Project GRAD
4. To ensure that all students stay in school
5. To ensure that eligible students graduate and receive a high school diploma
6. To encourage parents to get involved in school and community activities.

CFS uses a holistic approach to support academic achievement and career development. Through this component the underlying causes for poor school performance, such as family issues, physical and mental health problems, economic issues, and lack of guidance and life skills training will be addressed. Source: Project GRAD USA Campus Family Support Handbook

Community Resources are also a key component of Campus Family Support. There is a strong local network with community resources, faith-based organizations and after-school programs. CFS screens and monitors GRAD mentors/tutors/volunteers through PGK, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Kids Hope partnering.