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CISNC is pleased to announce that it is raffling a 2009 Lexus IS250 and $10,000. Please visit the website below to purchase a ticket. Tickets are only $100.00 and we are selling a total of 1000. Please see the rules on this same website. The purchase of this raffle ticket will go towards helping at risk students stay in school.  Click here to learn more and purchase a raffle ticket!

CIS of Brunswick Couny – Grants aid programs to keep students in school

Grants aid programs to keep students in school

The Sun News – December 4, 2008
By Steve Jones – sjones@thesunnews.com

SHALLOTTE, N.C. — Brunswick County schools could see fewer high school dropouts in the future if two programs to begin early next year do what they’re supposed to.

Both funded through grants from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, the programs include a $125,000 dropout prevention program at Shallotte Middle School and a $145,500 program at Brunswick County Academy.

Preventing dropouts is a big issue in Brunswick County, where the school dropout rates are among the highest in the state.

The middle school program, organized and coordinated by Brunswick County Communities in Schools, will bring together a variety of community and school-based resources to help 60 students who are identified as being at-risk of becoming dropouts.

The school system is directing the program at the academy, which will seek to stimulate students academically through exposure to visiting artists.

Research shows that students who participate in the arts have higher grades on standardized tests and are at less risk for becoming dropouts, said Rita Hargrove, Brunswick County schools’ director of school safety.

The CIS program is supported by an outside audit that said the organization’s dropout prevention program “is one of a very few in the United States proven to keep students in school,” according to a synopsis of the audit.

Additionally, the audit found the CIS program is the only one in the nation “with scientifically based evidence to prove that it increases graduation rates.”

The program at Shallotte Middle School will use student appearances before the school’s Peer Court to identify those who need the special assistance, said Patsy Thrift, program operations officer for Brunswick CIS.

Once they are chosen, Thrift said, students will be eligible for a variety of services aimed at resolving low academic performance, low attendance rates and behavior problems. In addition, the program will include parent counseling to help assure the family’s buy-in both to education in general and the program’s assistance in particular.

Counseling and tutoring services will likely be offered by paid professionals while other program offerings such as mentoring will come through volunteers, Thrift said.

The idea is to surround the student with help.

“Some will take it and use it,” Thrift said of the help, “and some won’t. It’s just like any other program.”

The only difference in the Brunswick program and the standard CIS dropout prevention program is that the students locally will be identified through Peer Court.

A CIS-backed program, Peer Court is the equivalent of Teen Court, which conducts student-led trials of other students who have chargeable offenses that must be adjudicated. Peer Court also handles lesser, nonchargeable offenses, Thrift said.

The CIS national audit of the program said that of 1,000 students in schools with the program, 36 more will stay in school and 48 more will graduate on time with a regular diploma.

Both the CIS program and the school system’s program will begin in January and run through June 2010.

No matching funds are required for either grant.

Contact STEVE JONES at 910-754-9855.

CIS of Buncombe County – Children First gets $11K grant

Children First gets $11K grant

Asheville Citizen Times
published December 6, 2008 12:15 am

ASHEVILLE – The Carolinas Credit Union Foundation on Wednesday presented a check for $11,000 to Children First/Communities in Schools of Buncombe County.

The Micro Community Grant will be used to purchase furniture, supplies and equipment for the group’s Project MARCH homework clubs.

MARCH offers a safe haven to complete homework, exercise and socialize after school until parents/guardians are available.

The Children First/CIS Project MARCH grant proposal was put together with the help and cooperation of the Western Chapter of Credit Unions and United Services Credit Union.

For more about Children First, visit www.childrenfirstbc.org.