Full-Service Schools Roundtable, Boston MA

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Established in 2000, the Full-service Schools Roundtable (the Roundtable) is a city-wide coalition working to advance the healthy development and academic success of Boston students through integrated school-community partnerships. Building on the work of several successful initiatives in Boston, the Roundtable has worked to bring the full-service school model to scale in Boston - and Massachusetts - through convenings, training and technical assistance, commissioning studies and sharing resources.

In order to affect systems change, the Roundtable is utilizing a multi-faceted strategy that includes:

Developing and disseminating resources designed to support those who are implementing (or planning to implement) school-connected services;
Convening stakeholders – including school-based personnel, community agencies and policy makers – to share challenges and successes, strategies and solutions and to build alliances; and
Advocating at the local, state, and national policy levels for an increase in awareness of and support for school-linked services.

History

The Roundtable was catalyzed by a series of national conferences on full-service schools at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2000. For several years, the Roundtable represented an informal group of committed volunteers determined to bring attention to the full-service schools notion in Boston. In 2004, The Boston Foundation, the Herman and Frieda L. Miller Foundation, and an anonymous foundation provided seed funding that enabled the Roundtable to hire a full-time Executive Director for the first time. The Roundtable has grown into a coalition of more than 150 public and private organizations representing local and state health, mental health, education, higher education, out-of-school time, and family support stakeholders.