Schools across North Texas are in full swing, and a non-profit focused on helping kids succeed explains why routines and relationships are critical for children.
Communities in Schools of the Dallas Region started in 1985 and, over the last 41 years, has provided services to kids in grades Kindergarten through 12.
The non-profit uses evidence-based interventions for its programs to supply trained staff on campuses every day at schools to provide intervention to high-need students and families to remove barriers.
Dr. Summer Rose, Psy.D, CEO of Communities in Schools of the Dallas Region, explains why routines and relationships are critical for the start of the year.
“We’re trying to get kids back in the habit of getting up early, you know, having all their things prepared, making it to their classes on time, and also building from relationships,” said Rose. “They’re learning their new teachers; they might have old friends from last year, but there also might be new friends from this year. We might be having transitions from elementary to middle or middle-to-high. And so we really are talking about the importance of being in class every day so that you can build those routines and relationships because those habits formed early really impact for the rest of the school year.”
Communities in Schools of the Dallas Region said it relies on the generosity of the community, which is why North Texas Giving Day is huge for them.
“This is like our Super Bowl. We love North Texas Giving Day, especially as a nonprofit, because we do survive; we thrive off of the donations from the community. This support allows us to be able to place these trained staff, both site coordinators and we have licensed mental health workers that also travel between the campuses that we serve to provide much-needed intervention. And so, North Texas Giving Day allows us to reach more students and families through the generosity of the community,” explained Rose.
She talked about a middle school student who struggled making friends and felt like a loner.
Rose said a site coordinator from CIS of the Dallas Region noticed the girl was distant and lacked some social skills and confidence. The coordinator put her in a group with some other girls experiencing the same things and noticed it became a safe space for them to talk to each other and the site coordinator.
The student opened up to the coordinator about her struggle with thoughts of suicide, and it led to a dialogue of intervention, including connecting the student and her family with a therapist.
“As a result of her being engaged and wrapped in these services, she built some skills because what we all know is life is going to continue to life, right? Things are going to continue to happen, and we want our students to be resilient. We want them to have the tools that they need to survive and thrive in spite of the things that are going to come their way. And so she stands out to me as a student that really benefited from a donation from North Texas that allowed us to,” said Rose.
Giving opened on Aug. 27th and continues through Sept. 17th.