How we got here:
In November 2018, United Way– in partnership with Lincoln Public Schools, Nebraska Department of Education, and Nebraska Children and Families Foundation– convened stakeholders across the community to explore how challenges families face in the Lincoln community contribute to chronic absenteeism. Through this conversation, not only did we identify challenges, but also solutions that work.
Our goal is to bring new programs and expand existing programs for the benefits of students in our community.
Funds raised through Stable. Strong. Successful. will combat chronic absenteeism in the following ways:
Our primary goal is to expand the scope of Community Response, so that all students and families in need will have access to the supports this program provides. Community Response is a local collaborative of human service providers delivering an evidence-based program that increases family’s protective factors, providing them with resources and tools to prevent child neglect, including chronic absenteeism.
One of the many challenges families and students face is accessing mental health care. We plan to expand the number of school-based mental health services in Lincoln.
To alleviate the impact of chronic absenteeism, the entire community needs to have the tools to identify it and provide the necessary supports to families to address it. By increasing the number of trainings that give providers the tools they need to work with families, we’ll be creating system-level change and infrastructure to address chronic absenteeism from a long-term perspective.
A student who misses an average of two days of school per month, or 18 days a year, is considered chronically absent. Chronic absenteeism can be devastating for a child’s overall success in school. For example, children who are chronically absent in both kindergarten and first grade are much less likely to be reading at grade level by third grade, and students who are not reading at grade level by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school. Fostering and sustaining stable and consistent attendance is paramount for students’ achievement in school-and later in life.
For students to be successful, they need to find stability and strength at home. The Lincoln community is tackling chronic absenteeism, and you can help by supporting Stable. Strong. Successful. Through Stable. Strong. Successful. families will receive the support they need to face life’s many challenges and set the young students in their family up for success along the way.
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