Summary
During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools provided essential services to students and their families, including food backpacks and housing grants. Because they remained in operation and continued to have touchpoints with families, schools were uniquely positioned to provide front-line support, particularly in under-resourced communities. Schools that facilitate resource access to students and communities are commonly called wrap-around or community schools. In this guide, we present a practice we call social health, which is an extension of the wrap-around model.
In a social health model, schools provide students and families with access to material resources in combination with one-on-one coaching. Coaching helps build relationships, skills, and knowledge that students and families can use long into the future. Through coaching, school community members expand not only their knowledge of local resources, but also their skills in navigating them. When schools move beyond just resource access, they transform their school into a health-cultivating system: They become an engine of social health.
Strong social health enhances an individual’s ability to meet basic needs and improve life-long outcomes like economic security. Schools are well-placed to promote social health because they are embedded within communities and play a central role in many families' lives.
Download our guide to learn more about how to implement a social health initiative in your school or district.