City Connects

In high-poverty urban school districts across America, many children face challenges outside of school that present persistent and severe barriers to their academic success.

For these students, we created City Connects—an innovative and proven school-based intervention that revitalizes student support in elementary schools. City Connects (CCNX), formerly Boston Connects, collaborates with teachers to identify the strengths and needs of every child and then links each student to a uniquely tailored set of intervention, prevention, and enrichment services located in the community.

Rooted in evidence-based practice, CCNX serves as a hub for student support activities in schools. By leveraging the community's resources and working within the existing framework of schools, City Connects is a cost-effective intervention that efficiently addresses a child's academic, social-emotional, family, and physical well-being.

Our data show that this systematic and scalable approach to meeting the needs of urban students helps children thrive in school, improves academic performance, and significantly narrows the achievement gap.