New Funding and Grants for Community Schools
A Community Schools model can provide holistic synergies that reverse cycles of inequity and drive school success!
K12 Ed Grants Update
Originally posted in August, 2022, this post was updated in October 2025.
Funding and Grants Highlight Sustained Interest in Today’s Community School Model
The NEA (National Education Association) says that “community schools are built with the understanding that students often come to the classroom with challenges that impact their ability to learn, explore, and develop to their greatest potential.”
In 2025-26, the US Congress continues to appropriate funding for the Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) program — in the $150M range for recent cycles — and the Department of Education has made dozens of multi-year awards to LEAs and state scaling efforts.
Depending on the grant, eligible organizations often include many or all of the following:
Individual schools
School districts/LEAs
County offices of education or their intermediaries
Significant school or district partners — like CBOs, health and social service organizations…
those eligible to apply may include not only public schools or school districts, but also charter schools, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals.
As for types of grants, these have come to include not only site-based grants, but “state scaling grants” and “multi-site implementation grants.”
In this post, you’ll learn all about
what Full Service Community Schools are
the kinds of grants opportunities available to pay for planning, implementing, or expanding your own Community School models, services, or programming
1. What Are Full Service Community Schools?
The idea of Community Schools goes back nearly a century, and the Full Service Community School (FSCS) model evolved over many decades.
Features that funding agencies expect to see in FSCS program design often include:
robust support targeting students in underserved and economically or socially disadvantaged communities
social support, academic design, and enrichment opportunities that are culturally responsive to local community needs and identities
integrated, wrap-around services with tiered intervention models based on student needs and risk factors: partnerships, resources, and programs across the school community that promote a whole-student approach and help ensure foundational school readiness, student wellbeing, and positive engagement (addressing health and nutrition concerns as needed, monitoring and incentivizing consistent school attendance, providing counseling and mental health support, integrated academic support such as tutoring and extended day programming, offering parenting support for guardians, ensuring access for English-language learners…) — a design that empowers not just students, but their family units, and the larger school community.
“A community school is both a place and a set of partnerships between the school and other community resources. Its integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development and community engagement leads to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities. Community schools offer a personalized curriculum that emphasizes real-world learning and community problem-solving. Schools become centers of the community and are open to everyone – all day, every day, evenings and weekends.”
The School-Community Nexus: “Tell me your zip code and I’ll tell you your test scores”...
A core assertion or core reality driving support for Community Schools is that educational outcomes will often reflect community resources. In other words, schools in resource-rich communities often get better academic outcomes. This means disparities across different communities, within the same city, county, state, or across the nation, often translate into academic disparities.
The FSCS model is designed to inject more resources into the lives of disadvantaged students in predominantly underresourced communities in order to reduce academic disparities and improve learning outcomes for the most at-risk students.
“At present, more than 25 million students in America’s public schools live in under-resourced households, the highest proportion in generations. More and more students are coming to school hungry, many face unstable housing situations or move frequently, and many do not have access to regular pediatric well-visits.”
It turns out that the familiar adage tell me your zip code and I’ll tell you your test scores offers a big grain of truth, pointing to disparities impacting millions of children and teens nationwide.
For a long time educators often resigned themselves to the fact that many forces outside the school walls that impacted their students and school were simply beyond the reach of their control.
But over time this amounted to a self-fulfilling prophecy which engendered a feeling of powerlessness rather than visions for new models that would help students thrive and educators succeed.
For example, in the case of more disadvantaged or underrepresented communities, external factors impacting the community would often thwart otherwise constructive efforts in the school aimed at addressing school climate, student learning, graduation rates, and academic inequities… Impacts from external forces would slowly chip away at educators’ ideals and aspirations, turning hoped for gratification into repeated frustration — harming staff morale and accelerating the school’s downward spiral…
The Community Schools model is rooted in the notion that — with robust funding and partnerships — schools are ideally situated to serve as resource hubs in underresourced communities, connecting service agencies and educators with one another, and with students and their family units, and by extension the wider community — to improve student welfare, foster school readiness and engagement, and strengthen relational partnerships, referral networks, and collaborative approaches between schools, service providers, advocates, individual households, and the larger community.
For this reason, FSCS models reflect an intentionally broad mandate for schools. Likewise, FSCS funding appropriations signal deeper adoption which means wider efforts to ensure the mandate gets funded.
In this way, schools in underresourced communities can expand their menu of supports and interventions, benefit from research-driven designs and other trailblazers to guide their efforts, and have been able to rely on robust FSCS funding commitments from Congress and from many state governments.
For deeper dive into more of the history behind the evolving Community School approach, check out: "Community Schools: A Promising Foundation for Progress".
From “Wrap Around Services” to “(Full-Service) Community Schools”
One of the ways policymakers sought to help students in underserved communities was by making schools a focal point for the delivery of important community resources. In the 1980s this approach, based primarily on recommendations from physicians and mental health professionals, first gave rise to the term "wrap-around services".
The thinking behind the wrap around services model was fairly simple: in communities where children and families were underserved or socially or economically disadvantaged, schools were convenient conduits for connecting at-risk youth with direct access to a wide range of social support resources and interventions. These resources, typically offered on a free or sliding-scale basis, could include:
health services
vision and hearing screening
mental health screening and interventions
behavioral counseling
food and housing interventions,
vocational training opportunities
legal aid
social and academic mentoring
All of which provided new opportunities for building resilient community bonds and networks, and so forth…
This wrap-around services model, however, might only indirectly involve educators and was often implemented primarily through the initiative of various community nonprofits and health and welfare service providers.
Finally, by anchoring wrap-around services programming within the immediate community, as opposed to relying on large state or regional partners, the odds are far better programming will prove culturally responsive and better aligned with the evolving needs of the local community.
Over the course of many years the wrap around services model evolved into the more robust and widely recognized Community School and Full Service Community School models:
Today’s community schools build partnerships between the school and other local entities — higher education institutions, government health and social service agencies, community-based nonprofits, and faith-based organizations. These partnerships intentionally create structures, strategies, and relationships to provide the learning conditions and opportunities — both in school and out — that are enjoyed by students in better-resourced schools, where the schools’ work is supplemented by high-capacity communities and families. Like much of American education, today’s community schools focus more on meeting the individual needs of students and families (in terms of health, social welfare, and academics) than the earlier emphasis on strengthening communities or civil society more generally. However, the most comprehensive community schools today also seek to be social centers where neighbors come together to work for the common good.
Anna Maier, Julia Daniel, Jeannie Oakes, Livia Lam. "Community Schools: A Promising Foundation for Progress." American Federation of Teachers, citing: Reuben Jacobson. Community Schools: A Place-Based Approach to Education and Neighborhood Change. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2016.
2. The (Full-Service) Community Schools Model and Educational Equity
Persistent disparities across communities have long translated into wide gaps in learning outcomes. Moverover, researchers have also found that disadvantaged communities often face a double burden: they not only encounter external barriers that make learning harder but also tend to receive less school funding to begin with. Growing and stubborn achievement gaps made it clear to policymakers that schools can’t close opportunity gaps on their own and added urgency to educators’ pleas for more support addressing the many community needs impinging on learning.
“[There’s] an increasing recognition that educational outcomes are strengthened when schools support the whole child and family, including educational, social, emotional, and physical aspects of learning, development, and wellness.”
Recognizing this, educators, policymakers, and community leaders began shifting their focus from isolated school reforms to more holistic solutions — like the Community School and Full-Service Community School models — that connect schools with health, social, and family supports to help students and their communities thrive together.
This shift in thinking led to the rise of Community School models designed to meet the full spectrum of student and community needs.
At their core, these models coordinate wraparound services — health care, counseling, family supports — with academic interventions and enrichment opportunities. They also emphasize shared leadership, and increased partnerships between educators and community nonprofits and service agencies, and greater community input — ensuring that schools, families, and local partners work together to shape priorities and solutions.
“Community schools provide quality wraparound services to students and their families, from access to health care and nutritional assistance, to tutoring and enrichment opportunities, to mental health supports and violence prevention programs... Full-Service Community Schools will help us meet the holistic needs of students... and pave the way to a more equitable future.”
When these elements are integrated into a single, responsive system, schools and communities see measurable improvements in:
School climate and sense of belonging
Teacher morale and retention
Student well-being and reductions in at-risk behaviors
Family engagement and leadership capacity
Equity in learning outcomes across student groups
Broader community health, safety, and opportunity
In short, the strength of the Community School model lies not in any single program but in how well its parts work together — creating a coordinated ecosystem that supports every child’s potential.
3. An Equity-Driven Framework
Community School designs and funding authorization typically target historically under-performing schools, based on indicators such as:
% of students achieving at or below basic competency on core math and literacy curriculum standards
below-average graduation rates
significant and persistent achievement gaps (based on measurable academic performance data disaggregated for race and ethnicity, gender, or socio-economic status…)
vulnerability indicators or similar survey data, such as Health Schools surveys, suspension and expulsion data…
This equity focus also means that funding opportunities for Community School initiatives will typically target underserved or underrepresented communities:
socio-economically disadvantaged communities
high-percentage BIPOC communities
communities impacted by elevated rates of absenteeism, unemployment, crime, incarceration…
communities impacted disproportionately by environmental health challenges, structural racism…
communities impacted by factors related to parent education level, home language status…
This 2025 LPI research brief based on California’s investments in Community Schools provides a detailed outline of specific outcomes, indicators, and benchmarks used to identify priority schools and communities.
The same factors used to identify target schools and communities can also be used as metrics for grant seekers, for identifying FSCS goals and objectives, and for evaluating impact — indicators such as: attendance rates, suspension rates, math and literacy proficiency rates, and also student health and wellbeing survey data.
The brief released by LPI this week, “Community Schools Impact on Student Outcomes: Evidence From California,” (PDF) shows that CCSPP-funded community schools improved attendance rates, reduced suspension, and improved academic achievement at higher rates compared to similar schools that did not implement a community schools strategy. On average, community schools showed a 30% greater reduction in chronic absenteeism than similar schools.
Likewise, school governance practices should also align with the FSCS model. Because the FSCS model emphasizes effective response-to-invervention practices and fostering community voice and engagement, advocates and program leaders should use equity-driven governance practices.
These practices should prioritize evidence-based and research-informed practice, robust lateral communication and collaboration between partners and stakeholders, and governance structures and norms that drive a culture of inclusive, participatory, and evidence-based decision making.
Action steps aligned with FSCS goals are likely to include:
identifying the most relevant and high-impact school and community goals and aspirations
engaging community interest, support, and commitments
using logic models or backwards design principles
committing to participatory and inclusive consensus-building norms and processes
identifying the kinds of initiatives that will address key obstacles or needs related to achieving the most high-impact goals for empowering students
coordinating programs and priorities to create mutually supporting systems and synergies
“In order to implement the practices effectively, enabling conditions must also be in place — such as trusting relationships, inclusive decision making, a shared vision, and actionable data, as well as a supportive infrastructure — such as professional learning opportunities and data systems”
4. A Community School Design Roadmap: The Four Programming Pillars
Department of Education guidance offers grant seekers critical insights into the kinds of programming and services to prioritize in their designs, highlighting alignment with four core FSCS design pillars:
All FSCS grantees provide comprehensive academic, social, and health services for students, students' family members, and community members that will result in improved educational outcomes for children. These pipeline services fall under the four pillars of community schools and include:
1. Integrated Student Supports
Social, health, nutrition, and mental health services and supports
Juvenile crime prevention and rehabilitation programs
2. Expanded and Enriched Learning Time and Opportunities
Early childhood education programs
Out-of-school-time programs
Support for a child's education transitions
Activities that support postsecondary and workforce readiness
3. Active Family and Community Engagement
Family and community engagement
Community-based support for students
4. Collaborative Leadership and Practices
Each community school tailors the chosen pipeline services to local needs. FSCS offers support for capacity building and development grants, multi-LEA grant, and State scaling grants
Want to learn more about Community Schools, the Four Pillars, and related research findings? Check out the following resources:
"Community Schools: A Promising Foundation for Progress"
"What Is A Community School (Institute for Educational Leadership)
“White House Toolkit: Federal Resources to Support Community Schools” (2023)
5. Community School Funding and Grants
If the money trail is any indicator, it seems that policymakers, state leaders, and the US Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) are lining up to support the expansion of Community Schools with robust federal funding authorizations that will translate into direct public funding and a variety of competitive grants supporting the Community School model.
Advocates originally set an audacious target of 25,000 schools by 2025 to highlight urgency and drive action.
That goal has not been reached but it is driving state-level whole-child policy, not just isolated "wrap around service” pilots.
State Funding for FSCS
When we published an earlier version of this post, back in 2022, we noted that
thirty-nine bills have been introduced in state legislatures for expanding Community Schools, including funding opportunities for both scaling and implementing new sites.
We also noted that California was leading the way among states, having just committed $3 billion for community schools. To date, that commitment has risen to more than $4.1B through the California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP), making it the largest community schools initiative in the country and reaching thousands of school sites. However, other states have also made sizeable commitments in the past few years.
According to NASBE findings, “states themselves are increasingly investing in community schools. Over 30 states have community schools work underway in some form (e.g., proposed legislation, local initiatives), while at least 8 states are directly funding community schools.”
Courtesy of: National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), January 2025
Federal Funding for Community Schools
In the past three years, federal funding for community schools has also soared.
Initially we shared in this post, in 2022, that Congress had approved ~$75 million for Full Service Community Schools and similar initiatives, and the Whte House (under President Biden) had requested $468 million. In just four years — from 2020 to 2024 — “federal funding for FSCS grant program has grown fivefold, from $25 million in fiscal year 2020 to $150 million in fiscal year 2024.”
Among the recipients of federal FSCS funding are: states, LEAs, and various community-based organizations and nonprofits, totaling some “91 federal community-school grantees” nationally, according to NASBE.
The bad news for federal funding of Community Schools going forward into 2026 is that President Trump has called for abolishing the US Department of Education. In addition, FSCS appropriations in their present form may soon be eliminated or slated for consolidation, under guidelines for a more simplified block funding approach:
The K-12 SFP merges 18 current competitive formula funding grant programs into one $2 billion formula grant program that the administration said will spur innovation and give states more decision-making power.
— “Education Department Eyes Program Cuts…” K-12 Dive News (2 June, 2025)
6. Getting a Community School Grant
Public funding — especially federal and state grants — is still the most powerful way to launch or scale a Community School model. These grants can fund planning, implementation, staffing (like a full-time Community School Coordinator), and wraparound services.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) program supports schools and districts in high-poverty communities (including rural areas) to coordinate academic supports, health and mental health services, family engagement, and community partnerships. In other words, it funds the actual infrastructure you need to run a true Community School.
Grant seekers should know two important things:
The FSCS program is intentionally broad. The federal guidance focuses on improving access, coordination, and effectiveness of services for students and families — but it leaves room for local priorities. You’re expected to align with the core “community school” pillars, but you can (and should) tailor the work to your community’s specific needs.
Reviewers expect you to show evidence. Strong applications clearly connect proposed activities to research-backed practices and demonstrate why those activities will move specific outcomes (school climate, attendance, well-being, academic growth, etc.). Drawing on published community schools research and best-practice reports strengthens your case.
If you’re preparing to apply, here’s how to set yourself up:
1. Check eligibility and alignment first.
Before you invest time, make sure:
You (or your district / lead partner) are actually eligible to apply.
Your highest-priority needs match what the grant is designed to fund (e.g. integrated student supports, family engagement, expanded learning time, mental health access).
Don’t chase a grant that doesn’t fit — competition is intense, and writing a strong proposal is real work.
2. Read the NIA.
For federal opportunities, look for the “Notice Inviting Applications” (NIA).
The NIA spells out the program purpose, scoring criteria, required attachments, and deadlines.
You can find NIAs in the Federal Register or through grants.gov.
This is the authoritative document. Treat it like the rubric.
3. Build a realistic proposal timeline.
Most competitive education grants require multiple moving parts: narrative, budget, letters of support, data, evidence of need, partner MOUs, sometimes an LOI (Letter of Intent) due before the full application.
Map deadlines backward.
Assign owners for each task.
Give yourself buffer time for approvals and signatures — especially from external partners.
4. Show credibility.
Your application should make it crystal clear that you can actually run what you’re proposing. Include:
Who will coordinate services (often a Community School Coordinator position).
Which partners are providing which supports (health, mental health, after-school, family engagement, etc.).
How you’ll track impact and report progress.
How you’ll sustain or braid funding after the grant period ends.
5. Stay current.
Federal education funding is politically volatile right now. Programs like FSCS are still active and awarding funds, but future funding levels and even program structure are being debated at the national level. That means you should also be tracking state-level community school grants (for example, in California) and local public funding streams, not relying on a single federal program.
For deeper guidance on long-term financing and braided funding (federal, state, local, philanthropy), see “Financing Community Schools: A Framework for Growth and Sustainability,” from Partnership for the Future of Learning.
Final Thoughts
Even as funding priorities evolve and risks to current funding streams emerge, the core vision behind Community Schools remains steady: connect educational design with the supports that make learning possible.
Stay informed through grants.gov and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) for the latest updates on Full-Service Community School (FSCS) and related grant programs. Be sure to monitor state funding appropriations and sources to find those that directly or indirectly align with FSCS designs.
In the end, securing a Community School grant isn’t just about funding...
The process of pursuing the grant can itself be the spark that helps education leaders gain valuable insights into new and effective approaches to school governance adapted to underresouced school communities — practices that deepen community partnerships, improve student interventions, and enhance family and student engagement. The gradual transformation of school culture these steps foster can turn the tide, including repairing long-standing achievement gaps.
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