National Center for Community Schools

Children’s Aid is an independent, not-for-profit organization established to serve the children of New York City. Our mission is to help children in poverty to succeed and thrive. Founded in 1853, Children's Aid has played an important leadership role in improving services and outcomes for the most vulnerable children. In 1992, Children's Aid launched its first community school, an innovative model that brings the expertise of our organization into deep, long-term partnership with selected New York City public schools. Two years later, Children's Aid created the National Center for Community Schools in response to the tremendous interest generated in this new comprehensive and integrated approach to promoting children's learning and development. Since 1994, we have provided training, consultation and other forms of technical assistance to nearly all of the major national and international community school initiatives.