Community Investment Accelerator
Strategic budgeting to transform schools alongside stakeholders
School systems want to do big things when it comes to instruction, staffing, wellness, and facilities. The research compels leaders to act, but district leaders feel handcuffed by the complexities of school finance and the challenges of navigating it alongside stakeholders. For many systems this is compounded by the end of ESSER and hold harmless, declining enrollment, unfunded mandates, and other factors. Rather than funding their big ideas for the future, systems are squeezing to keep the lights on to maintain existing programming and staffing. We launched CRISPB to facilitate new ways of thinking about how school finance is planned and communicated.
Is the Community Investment Accelerator right for you?
We partner with school systems to help them think through their big ideas and how to bring them to life in a sustainable way. Areas of interest include:
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opening more school-based community centers
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shifting elementary schools to a strategic staffing model
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supporting and sustain a diverse workforce
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focusing the 'bloated' reading classroom, looking at all instruction, curriculum, interventions, and assessment from a lens of coherence
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closing or merging schools, or opening new schools
The process across five phases
Phase 1: Starting with the Investment Canvas
We will help your community to visualize what is possible. CRISPB provides systems with a compilation of evidence, estimate of costs and timeline, and a proposed process for stakeholder engagement.
When advancing a complex strategic investment, we believe that a healthy school system needs to:
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Begin with comprehensive and strategic inquiry on all relevant context around the proposed initiative.
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Effectively synthesize the breadth of information relevant to the initiative in order to develop a focused approach.
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Advance a plan for budgeting and stakeholder engagement that considers and integrates all perspectives across a community.
The Investment Canvas is a 1-3 month process that compiles the above information to describe your idea, by employing the following process alongside your org:
Phase 2: Deepening Stakeholder Interest and Understanding
Now the school system has a fully completed Investment Canvas. If the idea is viable, it is recommended to engage in the Stakeholder Capacity-Building phase. This period is about supporting parents, youth, teachers, and leaders to build a core understanding of the initiative and speaking the same common language.
Phases 3-5 of the Accelerator are still being built out.