Council on At-Risk Youth (CARY)

CARY’s Youth Advisers work directly with students and families to reduce youth violence and crime. School disciplinary acts are powerful predictors of future delinquency and criminality. CARY works with youth at a stage when intervention is most successful and the student’s school and learning experience can be turned around.

Community in Schools (CIS)

What Our Students Achieve

• Improved grades, attendance, and behavior
• Stay in school
• Make Better Choices: Students involved with Communities In Schools report that they feel better about school, are happier with themselves, and have learned skills that help them resolve problems--both in school and in life.

What We Do

Every child is unique and Communities In Schools offers a variety of programs to help each individual student. Our services include:

• Fun learning activities
• Individual and group support
• Basic needs assistance for students and their families
• Connecting students to tutors and mentors for extra academic and emotional support
• Career exploration

Parents, teachers, school staff, and students themselves may request Communities In Schools services. Services are free, voluntary, and confidential.

Con Mi Madre 

Con Mi MADRE supports Latina students and their mothers from 6th grade through college graduation. Our programming combines in-school learning with bilingual, out-of-school experiences designed to engage mothers and daughters together. Services and support are at no cost for families.

Literacy First 

Literacy First makes sure that children in Central Texas develop the reading skills that allow them to realize their full potential with regard to education, economic opportunity, civic engagement, and personal development.

Our tutors work one-to-one with every student for 20-30 minutes daily, using research-based curriculum to develop skills that predict reading success – phonological awareness, letter knowledge, phonics, and oral reading fluency.

We deploy our early literacy interventions via two models.

AmeriCorps Model: Literacy First hires and trains AmeriCorps members dedicating a year of service to the community.

Capacity Building Model: Literacy First trains school district staff (full-time tutors and instructional coaches) to deliver the Literacy First program, with the goal of building community capacity over time.

Seedling Foundation

The Seedling Mentor Program is designed to provide children with a long-term, positive relationship that helps them navigate the challenges experienced during an extended period of family separation due to parental incarceration and help children develop or maintain positive attitudes towards education.

UT Project Males

Mentors, who are University of Texas at Austin undergraduate students, mentor high school and middle school students every week to discuss various topics, ranging from college preparation to financial literacy to the skills needed to succeed in college and beyond.