Communities of Practice

OSP convenes and develops “communities of practice” (CoP) – small groups of practitioners who share similar roles and functions in our schools. Four CoPs have been meeting regularly for partners who are focused on 1) mentoring, 2) college and career readiness, 3) volunteer coordinators, and 4) strengthening and expanding services.

Communities of practice meet consistently to share knowledge and resources, and engage in problem solving. Through these meetings, OSP has a place to hear partner perspectives while learning more about their accomplishments and challenges. As partners build relationships with each other and our Office, trust naturally develops in ways that support further collaboration leading to robust school communities.

Partnership Coordinators

This is a quarterly gathering of District, Community School, and AmeriCorps VISTA partnership coordinators. Coordinators led school visits to Gompers and Dunbar to showcase their partnership work and shared best practices and strategies for overcoming common challenges.

Mentoring

This community recognizes the widespread need for mentoring for students across the city and District and is committed to working together to share best practices, equitably expand to reach more students, and support joint initiatives to raise awareness, money, and support for mentoring. The group is close-knit, collaborative, and enthusiastic about the work as they have gathered monthly for four years led by OSP and partner co-leads.

Highlights:

  • We compiled program data across organizations to map mentoring programs across SDP. When expanding their programs to new District school sites, these organizations seek to do so equitably and partner with schools that have expressed a need for mentoring but have no current programs.
  • In March, this community collaboratively hosted a walk/run for mentees and mentors from all five organizations. It was a great success and led partners to continue broadening event invitations to their fellow organizations and mentees.

Volunteer Coordinators

OSP, in collaboration with PHENND (Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development), jointly launched the Volunteer Coordinator Community of Practice (CoP). Over the years, our offices have found thematic partner convenings to be productive, generative and essential to moving the work forward. The Volunteer Coordinator CoP is a space for Volunteer Coordinators and conveners to: 1) receive relevant District and training opportunity updates, 2) share information and resources, 3) discuss best practices and approaches to the work, and 4) explore opportunities to collaborate.

Highlights:

  • Volunteer coordinators joined a virtual training facilitated by MENTOR Independence Region to develop a mentoring mindset, examine power dynamics in mentoring, practice strategies to empower youth, and explore setting and maintaining healthy boundaries.
  • The Volunteer Coordinator Dashboard was created as a resource for our group to understand where academic support programs are located in schools, the total number of academic support volunteers, and schools indicating a need for academic support.

College & Career Readiness

The College and Career Readiness Community of Practice provides a space for well established partners in the college and career readiness/access arena to: 1) receive updates and relevant information from District offices, 2) share program data, strategies and best practices to encourage increased collaboration and effective program delivery, and 3) identify opportunities to further align programming with District goals and initiatives.

Highlights:

  • As part of these convenings, representatives from CCR partner organizations compiled program data across organizations to map the schools where CCR programs operate.
  • Partner collaboration teams were developed at three schools found to have a high number of college and career readiness programs, where partners have identified opportunities for cross-collaboration, and strategic alignment to school CCR goals, and discussed shared challenges and best practices.