C.B. Community Schools

The system is failing the most vulnerable young people of color who are vastly overrepresented in Philadelphia's child welfare system. 47% of youth ages 14-21 are placed in residential care in Pennsylvania. 60% of CB students have spent time at residential placements in Pennsylvania, many of which have been shut down due to abusive practices. Students aging out of the system face local high school graduation rates of 44% for foster youth and 36% for justice-involved youth. Dismally low postsecondary success rates, high rates of homelessness and unemployment face our young people who age out at 21. The pandemic further exposes an urgent need for small, healing-centered schools to provide youth in child welfare with the safe, loving schools they deserve. C.B. Community School (CB) is a small, private high school in Philadelphia, PA, created in 2015 to serve vulnerable young people in the system--students who are at risk of institutional placement, young parents, involved in the justice system, or at risk of dropping out. Our 70 resilient students, ages 14-21, deal with the emotional scars left by years of abuse and neglect. At CB, every student receives a fully paid scholarship to attend. Our students come from every neighborhood in Philadelphia, living below the poverty line in communities with high rates of violence. 98% of our students are BIPOC. When they reach CB, housing and educational transitions have left our students undereducated, discouraged and feeling a lack of agency in their lives. Coming from the understanding that trauma does impact learning, CB uses a healing-centered model based on a peace and justice framework. Competency-Based academics integrated with full social and emotional learning (SEL) services ensure that our students are prepared for graduation and have a clear path forward toward independence. CB delivers both regular education and special education services. Using competency-based learning, we empower students to progress by demonstrating measurable skills and content, not age, or time in a seat. At the core of CB is our Plan for Peace and Justice comprised of thirteen commitments that build positive behavior and are kept by our entire community. Through student-centered interventions, the SEL team addresses student needs to support learning and growth. CB eliminates barriers to wellness. We provide an onsite outpatient mental health clinic and a school-based health center. We have 50 community partners providing services to our students including: the CB Postsecondary Fair, grief counseling, parenting, a legal clinic and more! Our eligible graduates take postsecondary electives, receive postsecondary counseling and are connected to mentors. CB continues to support our alumni beyond graduation through our alumni center. Working with over 200 caregivers and child welfare workers, we support our students through a collaborative model inclusive of all caring persons in our students' lives helping students build agency and healthy relationships. Through court advocacy and collaboration with system partners, CB advocates for city wide child welfare system reform. With a 90% graduation rate, CB has far surpassed the 65% national rate for kids in foster care. We have doubled the local rate for foster youth and nearly tripled the local rate for justice-involved youth. CB has an 83% average attendance rate and 100% of graduates are connected to postsecondary opportunities! In showing our students that they matter and helping them to develop agency, CB provides students with the resources they need to succeed educationally as a caring, confident, competent citizens of the world!