Connecting Community in Rome, N.Y., and Beyond

This case study will focus on the community schools initiative launched in Rome, N.Y., and expanded regionally with support from the AFT Innovation Fund. The fund was created in 2009 to identify, nurture and bring to scale union- and educator-led innovations in public education. Since then, the Innovation Fund has made more than 80 investments across the country to support transformations in education—both large and small. The Innovation Fund’s work is fundamental to AFT’s efforts in ensuring that each child has a powerful and purposeful public education by promoting children’s well-being, supporting powerful learning, building teacher capacity and fostering cultures of collaboration.