Surprisingly, the city of Coatesville (population 23,500; with surrounding communities, 45,000) entered the winner's circle in 2011 with its very first try in the 100 Best Communities for Young People national competition sponsored by Americas Promise Alliance and the ING Foundation.

In a 3-year effort called the Coatesville Youth Initiative, the town put together an action program that focused on four key areas:

• Improving graduation rates and post-graduate readiness;

• Engaging parents;

• Creating more and better mentoring opportunities; and

• Improving program coordination.

The 100 Best application was made by a community foundation called Coatesville Community Education Foundation CCEF) that recruited teachers, community educators, and volunteers to work in after school programs. The main goal was to provide enrichment for out-of-school time activities. Its other missions include: mini-grants to teachers, scholarships, and summer programs.

"The big news," said John Hall, a school psychologist in Coatesville who also serves as vice president of the CCEF, "is that kids who come to after school programs consistently do better in terms of improved attendance and achievement. With higher achievement more students, especially minority students, are taking AP courses in high school and the District benchmark tests results have improved for the last six years."

Leveraging the Award Through Smart Scorekeeping and Spreading the Word.

Among the most visible outcomes of the 100 Best award, says Hall, has been getting the message out about Coatesville's good news. "The award," he says, "has helped to get a lot of the community players on the same team."

Coatesville sees the 100 Best award as a huge step toward a new image for the city. "This award," says Hall, "has given us new stature in the community so we can bring more attention to being creative about what we do next."

In fact, says Hall, when the award was announced, one woman approached him and said, "I'm a teacher in another school district; people are always being negative about Coatesville but now you're getting the recognition you deserve."

Educational Impact of Program on Conservation, Environment, Art Culture

The Coatesville Educational Foundation,, according to Hall, takes a "thematic approach" to the after-school initiative. "You can't just throw money at the programs,' he says; "we have been successful at getting mini-grants from organizations like NASA because we have shown results."

Last August, the NASA grant resulted in a four-day NASA Summer Program for students entering Grades 4-10. Students enjoyed experiences with robots, toured a helicopter factory and a planetarium, and more. The grant helped CCEF to" build local partnerships with industry and education groups; expand NASA's curriculum in local schools; and began a discussion of the role of aerospace and mechanical engineering training programs".

Hall says there are two high-profile initiatives that demonstrate the creativity CCEF has been able to generate:

• An Energizing Education program that is leading local efforts to educate children about CO2 emissions, the importance of building Green Schools and the Greening of existing schools.
• Art of Hope: A broad-based effort to infuse art into the life and culture of Coatesville's young people.

CCEF is supporting the District's energy conservation efforts and will be holding an energy showcase event that features the Rainbow Elementary School, a LEED certified building completed in 2008. Rainbow Elementary is being nominated for the Green Ribbon School Competition held by the U.S. Department of Education.

The centerpiece of Art of Hope are summer art workshops held at an animal sanctuary. There, says Hall, children go through a process of self discovery. "The process has been so transformative for them," says Hall, "that their artwork has captured the eye of a local art historian who is doing a documentary on it."

The program offers children's art workshops, gallery showing and the opportunity to paint murals in municipal areas.

To learn more about Coatesville efforts, see: http://www.coatesvillefoundation.org