Elkhart Community Schools is one of 42 agencies in the country awarded with a U.S. Department of Education Full-Service Community Grant. The five-year grant will award the district just over $1.9 million per year, for a five-year total of over $9.5 million. The grant will serve six ECS schools – Mary Beck Elementary, Mary Daly Elementary, Monger Elementary, Beardsley Elementary, Roosevelt STEAM Academy and Pierre Moran Middle School, as well as two Concord Community Schools schools – South Side Elementary and West Side Elementary.

The Full-Service Community Grant provides funding for schools to enhance their normal school day by offering additional afterschool programs, encouraging family outreach and assistance in areas of need like financial literacy and nutrition, promoting a strong school-home relationship, and establishing easier transitions between grade levels and schools. The grant also provides funding for a site coordinator at each location who will focus on achieving the goals of the grant.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, community schools meet the unique needs of the neighborhoods they serve by leveraging local non-profit, private sector, and agency partnerships to bring services into school buildings. This includes services such as high-quality tutoring, health, mental health and nutrition services, as well as high-quality early learning programs, among others, for students and the community.

This year’s grant competition received the largest number of applications in the history of the program, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Elkhart Community Schools is one of three agencies in the state of Indiana to receive the award, along with Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation and Marian University.