Colorado Springs keeps moving east. New neighborhoods, new families, schools stretching to keep up. The east side is one of the fastest-growing parts of the city—and the schools here are serving that growth every day.
Those schools aren’t insulated from the same pressures you see elsewhere in Colorado Springs. Needs show up at school doors here the same way they do across the city. Schools are a portal into the lives of families—and that’s as true here as it is anywhere else.
COSILoveYou and School Connect have worked alongside District 49 for several years—through things like City Summit, Backpack Bash, and CityServe Days. D49 has been a steady partner in this work. Inside these schools, community infrastructure is already being built by the staff and the district’s community liaisons, who have been connecting students, families, and educators to local resources.
This is a continuation of that work, not a new program landing from the outside.
14 schools join the village building process
This year, we were invited to come alongside 14 D49 schools to help build villages around each of them—local networks of partners who can support the priorities of a school and its leadership.
In June, principals from the Sand Creek zone and the Falcon zone gathered for the first Principal Prep. It was a working session: school leaders getting clear on what they need, who they need in their corner, and what it would take to start moving.
CAFEs will follow. A CAFE is a roundtable where a principal and community partners sit down together—businesses, nonprofits, churches, neighbors—and build a plan around what the school is working toward.
How you can be part of this
What we need now are community partners willing to show up for D49 schools—organizations, businesses, and faith communities who are open to building something with a school over time.
If you’re interested in participating, or especially if you’re interested in sponsoring this work, reach out. CAFEs for these 14 schools are coming this fall, and there’s a seat at the table for you.