University-Assisted Community Schools National Network
The Netter Center creates and supports local, regional, national, and international higher education networks that advance democratic partnerships between universities and their local schools and communities. In 2015, with the increasing number of colleges and universities developing university-assisted community schools (UACS) and innovative university-school-community partnerships, the Netter Center, in collaboration with the Coalition for Community Schools, organized the University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) National Network. In UACS, colleges and universities serve as lead partners providing broadly based, sustained support to community schools, which educate, engage, empower, and serve public school students, families, and all community members in the school’s neighborhood.
The UACS National Network has led to the development of UACS nationally. As of 2025, over 1,200 members representing about 300 higher education institutions are part of this professional learning community that includes not only higher education leaders, faculty and staff, but also community school partners, including schools and districts, teachers unions, community organizations, government agencies, and foundations.
The network fosters the exchange of resources and practices that help advance UACS partnerships. Activities include
- Hosting and co-hosting virtual meetings and in-person conferences;
- Providing technical assistance and resources for university, school and community partners seeking to build and/or strengthen UACS programs; and
- Hosting site visits by request. For example, the Netter Center regularly hosts site visits for colleagues from around the country and globe who are interested in learning from and adapting the Center’s work.
Topics of conversations include but are not limited to
- How can leaders of UACS from across the country best share different strategies and practices and most effectively learn from each other and collaborate;
- How all components of colleges and universities can be mobilized in mutually beneficial and mutually transformational partnerships with UACS; this includes all schools (Penn has 12, for example), all co-curricular departments (e.g., civic engagement offices, athletics, libraries, dining services, etc.), and all corporate/business offices (e.g., facilities, human resources, development and alumni relations, etc.);
- How to mobilize and coordinate the wide variety of higher education faculty, administrators, staff, undergraduate and graduate students, and alumni working with school and community partners to share and adapt UACS practices around shared values;
- How to connect university research, teaching, and learning with K12 teaching and learning, including through school day, after school, and summer programming; this often includes academically based community service (ABCS) and service learning courses as well as other forms of community-engaged scholarship;
- How can a university best fulfill the roles of lead partner, intermediary, or initiative leader in a community school;
- How leveraging braiding and blending funding can support comprehensive community school programming;
- How researching and evaluating different models of UACS can inform practice;
- How to position UACS in the policy and reform landscape, and within current education initiatives, from K-16+.
Interested in learning more about the UACS National Network? Contact Cory Bowman, Director of the UACS National Network and UACS Regional Training Centers programs, and Associate Director of the Netter Center (bowman@upenn.edu) and Naorah Rimkunas, Associate Director of the UACS National Network and Assistant Professor of Community Schools Binghamton University–SUNY, (rimkunas@binghamton.edu).
Sign up for the UACS Network Newsletter
Read issues of the Universities and Community Schools journal.
Learn more about UACS Regional Training Centers.
Access recordings and additional materials from recent national zoom calls. These can be found in this Google Drive folder: UACS National Network Calls - Partnership Examples and Resources
Access slide presentations from the November 2024 Community Schools and University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS): Partnerships that Change Schools, Communities, and Universities for the Better Conference. These can be found in this Google Drive folder: Conference Presentation Materials.
,
,
