Advancing Equity: Inclusive Attendance Strategies

PRESENTER BIOS

Jorge Blau
Client Engagement Associate, National Center For Community Schools
Twitter: @natcenterforcs

Jorge Blau is a Client Engagement Associate at the National Center for Community Schools (NCCS) at Children’s Aid in New York City. He provides training and technical assistance on the community school strategy to a range of partners. Before joining NCCS, he served as the Community School Director at CS 211 in the South Bronx, the most impoverished congressional district in the country, and coordinated efforts that reduced chronic absenteeism by 30 percentage points in 5 years.

Jorge started his tenure at Children’s Aid in the Washington Heights community – first as an Educational Coordinator at PS 5 and then as Program Director of the after-school program at the Salome Urefia Campus. He then played several roles in Bronx community schools, including Assistant Community School Director of CS 211 and at the Fairmont- Samara Campus before being named Community School Director at CS 211. He has significant experience and expertise in addressing chronic absenteeism and developing and implementing systemic approaches to resource coordination, behavioral & academic support, parent engagement, and mental health services.

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Ronald Cope
Deputy Director, Bronx Community Schools, Children’s Aid
Twitter: @natcenterforcs

Ronald Cope is the Deputy Director for the Bronx Community Schools at Children’s Aid. He previously was the Program Manager, where he led and supervised the implementation of Boston College’s City Connects student support model in Community Schools in Washington Heights, the Bronx, Harlem, and Staten Island. Before coming to Children’s Aid, Ronald led a diverse range of educational initiatives. Those initiatives include preschool education, community schools, parent education, teen school-based programming, and community and university partnerships.

Ronald works to engage school communities, city agencies, community organizations, teachers, and families to create interactive and safe environments in which children can learn and grow. This work is done by effectively assessing students’ needs and working closely with school personnel and community partners to provide services that support those students’ academic achievement and healthy development.

Ronald has devoted his time to mentoring high school and college-aged young men of color. He works to develop strong relationships grounded in trust, advocacy, and education. Ronald strives to instill the belief that once one succeeds, he must identify and assist those who need him in each mentee. Ronald has a Masters in Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a BA in Sociology from Hampton University.