Our Work
School & Main Institute is a nationally recognized training and partnership development organization. We help people and organizations work together across institutional lines and in “uncommon” coalitions to improve their communities and the lives of young people living in them.
Just as our name suggests (think: School & Main streets ), we love "intersections"-- the places where lines meet. Policy and practice. Rhetoric and reality. Converging interests.
The services School & Main Institute provides take many shapes and forms:
- Comprehensive technical assistance programs for state, regional or community-based teams engaged in education, youth development, or workforce development efforts – particularly those requiring interagency or community collaboration
- Summits, forums, training institutes, peer learning exchanges, and skill-building workshops
- Collaborative services design, e.g., the Springfield Parent Academy and Rhode Island Collaborative Case Management model
- Strategic planning for partnerships and organizations
- Facilitated meetings and strategy sessions
- Program evaluation and sustainability studies
- Individual and team coaching
- Organizational development
- Project management
Not matter what form, you'll quickly experience what sets SMI apart:
- Collaborative approach where SMI is not only your intellectual partner but is hands-on and ready to help with the heavy lifting
- Proven methodologies for developing and managing strong collaborative efforts
- Nationally recognized expertise with interagency and public-private sector collaboration
- Deep experience in the fields of education, youth development, workforce and college transition, health and other community issues
- Intensive, high-quality training methodology
- Profound commitment to personal and community capacity building
- Keen focus on results - collaboration as more than "proposal partnerships" and meetings!
School & Main Institute staff and faculty have years of expertise as organizational leaders, program developers, trainers, and facilitators working at the intersections of community life, where the systems that support young people connect - or should. We have experienced the rhetoric of community change initiatives and know how to help people who manage the reality of them.
Over the years, SMI has been recognized for the extraordinary effectiveness of our work in communities by a variety of national organizations, including FORTUNE Magazine, the US Chamber of Commerce's Center for Workforce Preparation, the Council on Aid to Education and the American Youth Policy Forum.
Examples of SMI Clients & Projects
- Better Together Family School Partnership Summit
- Better Together Family, School, and Community Partnership Fundamentals Online Training Module
- Massachusetts Family School Partnership Initiative (district leadership team coaching)
- State-appointed chronically underperforming school receiver for Parker Elementary (New Bedford) and Dever Elementary (Boston)
- MTSS Leadership Institute and Regional Planning Institutes
- Leading with Access and Equity Conference
- Massachusetts Wraparound Zone Initiative and Wraparound Replication Cookbook
- Urban Leaders Network for School Culture & Student Support and Systems for Student Success Districts
- Turnaround Leadership Teams Development
- Mass Tools for Schools Resource Clearinghouse
- MassGrad Initiative and Community Coalition Challenge (Federal High School Graduation Initiative)
- Online Learning Initiative for At-Risk Youth
- Alternative Program Network
Annie E. Casey Foundation
- National Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential Initiative (postsecondary and employment pathways for opportunity youth)
- Re-Imagining Juvenile Justice Initiative, Tuscon, AZ
- Re-Imagining Juvenile Justice Certificate Program Pilot
- Learning Brief: Making Education and Career Pathways Work for Justice-Involved Youth
- Somerville Learning 2030 Future Visioning, Somerville, MA
- Federal Shared Youth Vision Partnership Development: U.S. Department(s) of Labor, Education, Justice, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Corporation for National and Community Service, Social Security Administration
- Statewide Efforts: New Hampshire, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, Rhode Island, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Utah, Arkansas, Vermont, Ohio, Louisiana, Maine, North Carolina, Kansas, Delaware, New Mexico
- Collaborative Case Management Initiative
- World of Work Initiative
- Confab on Adult Education Partnerships
- Work-Based Learning Manual
- Strategic Partnering - Systems of Care Committees
- Organizational Development - Parent and Community Engagement Office
- Springfield Parent Academy
- Training/Technical Assistance (retreats, coaching, content sessions) for all 28 Workforce Boards across the state
- Development of 12 Training Guides
- Reorganization of Leadership Team
- Department-Wide Planning Summit
- Westerly Parent Academy
- New England Young Adults Confab
- Youth Investment Summit
- Peer to Peer Learning Exchange
- Youth Investment Summit
- Strategic Planning – Career Academy Development Process
- Statewide Career Academy Institute
- Partnership Development Series
- Statewide Training Institute
Other examples:
- Schools for the Future Secondary School Redesign
- Boston Compact Case Study
- Fall River Public Schools Fall River Parent Academy and Preschool Early Education Grant
- Roxbury Network, Boston, MA
- Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing
- Boston Campaign for Proficiency
- Minnesota Department of Children and Families
- Center for Workforce Development, Birmingham, AL
- Worcester Public Schools, MA
- National Center on Secondary Education and Transition