Welcome to the Community Center!

Thank you to all those who came out for Open House last night! It was exciting to meet so many parents and students who will be coming to Cunha next year. It felt great to be able to welcome you to the new Community Center so that you can see how it is developing. Certainly having this physical space is a great way to further our efforts as we move toward a full-service community school model at Cunha. The opening of the Community Center is symbolic of the larger vision we are aiming to achieve.

Like the Community Center we want the school to continue to become a central hub of the greater Coastside community. The Community Center is a vibrant place filled with energy. It is open before and after school, during break, and during lunch. The Community Center is a welcoming and safe place. We want it to be a place open to all students, staff and parents and to meet a variety of needs and interests. Students come to play games, work on projects, do art, or just hang out on the couches and chat with friends. Students and staff intermingle to talk about their day or share concerns.

The Community Center is a work space and a central place for coordination. We hold meetings with community partners, meet with service providers, brainstorm ideas and strategize about the development of Cunha as a full-service community school. On the wall we have the image of a tree created by participants in last week’s World Café. This tree “rooted” in our four areas of program focus: Youth Development, Social Services, Community Involvement, and Parent Engagement. Our programs growing out of those areas provide a solid base on which we can build. We can see the support we receive when we “branch” out to the community: parents, teachers, students, service providers and school staff. And finally, from those branches come all of the creative ideas for programs, partnerships, and positive changes we are working toward for Cunha as a full-service community school.

We welcome and invite you to join us at the Community Center. We are looking for parents to help with supervision during high activity times of break and lunch. If you have creative ideas for programs or projects for students to work, please let us know. If you would like to help us develop the parent resource library, we would appreciate any time or resource you can offer.

The greater Community School Initiative will continue to grow and take shape. The Community Center has given a venue to manifest the values that drive our vision for the overarching initiative. We hope that you will continue to be a part of this process. You, and that means YOU, are a vital part of this school and community. Your involvement is essential so that we develop into a school that meets the diverse needs and interests of our greater Coastside community. We look forward to partnering with you to strengthen our school and community.