Building on Success

COIN’s initial pilot cohort was built with six community-based organizations (CBOs) from among NWF grantee’s. These CBOs–rooted in communities in California, Florida, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia–demonstrated a commitment to youth development in their localities and a readiness to strengthen academic skills, enhance social emotional learning, develop leadership training and civic education in coordination with local and national COIN support teams. Each organization extended these supports and provided paid internship placements with NWF funds to a cluster of low-income high school juniors, collectively involving 32 Scholars in the program’s pilot cohort. The original COIN scholars eventually gained tuition-free access to one of twenty-two participating colleges and universities (to see a full list of colleges and universities COIN students attend, click here). Currently college juniors, these scholars have generally succeeded in their coursework and persisted in their undergraduate education. These scholars continue to engage in community-based paid internships and benefit from a number of services provided through the program. Participating community-based organizations have also benefited through increased capacity and visibility in their communities thereby strengthening their overall capacity for local effectiveness.

81% percent of COIN scholars who entered the program as high school juniors are still involved as college juniors. This is a retention rate at the college level that is 3 times the national average for this population. 46% of these students have earned overall GPAs of 3.0 or above.

Programs & Partnerships

Building on this experience, COIN has expanded into a range of additional initiatives–taking COIN from project to program at NWF. COIN has increased its scale and inspired new programs to take root at the local level. So far, more than 1,200 students have been served by this expansive programming.

COIN Summer Service Corps

COIN piloted a Summer Service Corps in New York City in 2011, providing summer opportunities that complement the national cohort of COIN. Through summer service fellowships, low-income college and university students are provided stipends to take part in community-based internships in their home communities. Complementing their field work, students attend weekly training seminars focusing on academic and leadership training, civic engagement, and policy writing and implementation. The Summer Service Corps addresses the severe summer learning loss that frequently dogs first-generation college students, while also exposing students to the transformative role of civic leadership in community development by providing training and immersion in the work of community-based organizations. Key COIN partners in the COIN Summer Service Corps include:

• New York City’s Department of Youth and Community Development
• New York City Department of Probation
• Skidmore College
• The Roosevelt Institute|Summer Academy

 

 

 

 

 

Inter-Organizational Collaborations

COIN is an evolving model that is flexible and adaptive. We aim to impact both local opportunities and national policy. To do this, we have established a strong network of collaborations and we are in the process of further expanding our partnerships with colleges and universities, community-based organizations, and community-based foundations.