good sunday morning. summer passing so quickly. soon it will be time to send the children back to school. this summer nbc 4 is bringing backpacks for kids back and adding an additional element called supporting our schools. they're coordinated efforts to make sure that our students are ready when it's time to start again and you can help. we'll tell you how over the next two minutes and take a look at what three local school systems are doing right now to help the needy students succeed in the classroom. our guests are ellen london that's executive director of the group and kathie ryan is communications support specialist with the

partnership officer with the prince george's county public school. she is in the office of strategic and external affairs. very long title and appropriate because you all do a lot of work. thank you. >> so while the kids are at the beach or camp and the parents are enjoying summer you all are very, very busy. this is one of the busiest times of the year for you. >> yes. this is our busiest time working with our business and community and to raise funds for school supplies and create backpacks for students in need. >> barbara you and ellen are doing the same thing. >> we are. we're very kpietd to be here but most importantly that we can share what we're doing for the students of prince george's college and county i should say. we have our back to school

we're trying to raise money and donations for 10,000 backpacks. we're excited to move forward with that as well. >> that's more. >> that's probably trim. yes, yes. so we changed the venue to the stadium. we have some amazing spontaneous source and partners, hall of fame is one of our great sponsors so we're moving toward making a difference so the students can start a successful school year from day one. >> tell whaus it does. >> communities and schools we're the local affiliate of the nation's largest drop out prevention program. we partner with a school, we're in 11 public schools and we work with the principle and parents and kids to identify their needs and put a plan in to address them year around and we work to remove all the barriers that can get in the way of going

school or learning once they're there. >> kathie, how do you begin, how many students are you working with? the fairfax county school system is one of the largest in the region. >> it is. >> it's also one of the wealthiest. >> it is. we have over 50,000 students in fairfax county public schools that receive meals assistance so we work over the summer months to get backpacks and school supplies for those kids to start the first day of school just like everybody else. >> the need goes beyond just backpacks. >> it's backpacks. it's school supplies. we work with businesses and community groups to have coat drives and shoe drives and those are throughout the year. it comes from a cty

>> it's getting greater and greater. so this is the 7th annual back to school fair. driving here today we just received an announcement that we're getting 2,000 backpacks from the educational systems federal credit union so working from a small business owner to a faith based organization to national companies they realized the need to help our students. our students are our future generation. >> you said the need is greater. >> it is greater. >> in the county we realize very similar to fairfax county a lot of people will see us as some what of a wealthy county but we have about 50,000 students part of the title 1 program so we don't look at that as is there a need but there is a need. even past supplies there's a need for mentoring and tutoring and a way to give back so we can partner with the business organizations. we can make a difference. that's our

business partner in every one of our schools and we can do that. >> ellen do you work with businesses? do your businesses a don't schools in the district? >> yeah we have some partnerships with a number of businesses and the strength of our program is that we can build a partnership with gap and banana republic that can benefit our schools. it's all relationship based. when you can start a relationship with an organization or business it can benefit not just one school but help address a lot of issues. they do holiday drives and some businesses where the work force has flexible hours then they can do more things maybe during the after school program. >> we're going to take a break and we'll continue our talk about supporting our schools and backpacks for kids in just a moment. stay with us.

welcome back. we're talking about getting kids ready for school. you have title one. what does that mean in fairfax county schools? >> part of the title one is free and reduced lunch. so in fairfax county it's elementary school only and of our 140 elementary schools 45 are title one but we also have high poverty rates as well. >> the numbers are a little different in prince georges. >> just a tad. we have about 70 something schools and about 46,000 students that are part of the title one receiving the free and reduced lunch and breakfast program but they have a need for parent volunteers. a need for

or tablets. i just received a call from a company that's going to donate 80 computers to one of our schools. that's exciting to know that our business partners want to work with particular schools and make a difference as well. >> title one schools are elementary, middle and high school? >> yeah it's about 78% of the schools are title 1. >> and you are not only working with businesses but you encourage parents to work with those title one schools? >> definitely. there are always things that can be done and as you said we have a site coordinator so we have a venue, an avenue into the school to provide meaningful engagement for volunteers and businesses working with the principles ability to find what that particular principle is looking for. it could be as i said college, career expiration programs. field trips. a lot

in getting kids to see a different part of their own city. >> do you all find that most people that don't have children in the school system really don't take that much of an interest in how the schools are doing or what the schools may need? like a copier or to get the grass cut or to get supplies for the children? do most people just not think about it or do you find that most people are plugged into their schools. >> in fairfax county i do believe that they are plugged in. they do understand what it takes to run the schools. there's a lot that runs a school and as a large school system it takes alot but i do believe they understand. >> people depend on the full system. they depend on your budget. they depend on the government to give the schools what they need but do he recall one of our neighborhood schools started a community drive to get a copier and i thought you all don't have a

copier and residents in the community pulled together and collected and poold their resources to buy the school a copier because they really needed something like that and i think sometimes people take for granted that the schools have what they need when they don't. >> they don't. i'm glad you shared that because often times someone just wants to be asked. so when we ask the business owner or the auntie or uncle on the corner that says i didn't know now we're engaging the community and it's not just the large corporations. we're engaging the neighbors and that's what we want to do at prince george's county public schools we want to make sure that we engage everyone from the faith based to the large corporation to the auntie to the uncle to the grandfather, everyone because the schools need us. >> they really appreciate it. >> they do. >> to see the look on a principal's face when someone wal

of copy paper or pens or pencils. it makes them so happy. >> it does. one of our largest faith based organization adopted over 20 schools and they give financially but also times. mentors, tutoring, supplies. we had a great, great relationship in the community but now we want to expand it. >> ellen you'll be working with what you call the abcs with heavy concentration on 7 and 8. what are the abcs and tell us about it. >> our abcs are attendance, behavior and course work. these are frequently the things that rise to the top when our principals ask them to plan what the year is going to be. attendance is always a challenge. we d

competition among certain home rooms or grades to see who got the best attendance for the week. there's more we can do and that sometimes involves a home visit and get engaged with the parent and see what's the reason the kids aren't coming. it can be uniforms that we talk about or hygiene or food insecurity so attendance say big one and if we can't tackle that they're not there for the learning. the behavior can be office or suspensions and the site coordinator can intervene and people can get involved and say i'd love to do something during lunchtime where i can talk to kids about self-esteem. >> and you have a site coordinator or partner inac

school that you work with. >> exactly. >> they're volunteers. >> they're paid. >> they're employees and they have a lot of training in working with kids. they have a social work background. it's part of the selection process. they're part of a school and they get to work with kids every day but also the parents and the community and the longer we can keep them at the school the better the we lagsships and more meaningful the work. >> we'll continue our talk right after this. stay with us.

welcome back. schools really need businesses and community groups to dive in with both feet and help. >> yes ther

businesses and faith based organizations we'd love to have as partners with our schools. have a partner with every school and we aren't there yet so get involved. call us. let us know where you'd like to help. we will pair you with the school or program or something. mentoring, tutoring, lots of different partnership opportunities for groups from fairfax. >> do you think it's difficult because they don't know or because they haven't been asked? >> both. they don't know what to ask or how to help. if you're interested let us know. >> they should just say hey i run an it company. >> yes, please

>> and we have lots of ideas of what they can do. >> barbara do you have the same difficulties and challenges? getting businesses to come to the table or just step up and volunteer and say is there a need? what is the need and how can we fulfill it? >> it's interesting. we do have people, just this past week has been amazing. i've had over five calls from an i.t. organization i never heard of and their president says they have to give back as part of their corporate responsibility and i said i have amazing opportunities for you to give back so it makes a difference. i had lunch with a small church and we talked about the back to school fair and i said i want a commitment from 2,500 backpacks from faith based organizations. he said i'll give you 250

are key. have lunch, have breakfast, share what you want. share what you need and it will make a difference because attend of the day they see these students are in their neighborhoods, the students are in their faith based organizations and they will be the future of our generation and we want to do what we can now. >> the stronger of communities are and more support our students and schools get the stronger the environment and better environment for the businesses. >> it is. >> you have an interesting relationsh relationship. >> yeah. >> city year is remarkable organization also national but a strong footprint here in d.c. and i think just your volunteers, i think kids out of college or in their college years and they'll spend a year out of school and volunteer to go into the classrooms. sometimes they'll just sit with

the kids out and then help with their school work and they do a lot of the emotional support as well for the kids. we're in four or five of the same schools and we work well with them and they're even in the same office. >> that's part of it. >> that's part of it. exactly. they know what we're doing with the kids on our case load and what they're doing with their kids and we support each others events and a great need to do a lot of events in schools that gets kids to love their school and feel like they belong and get excited so whenever we can collaborate we do that to lift up the students every day. >> you want kids to want to go to school. >> this is a big part of you're talking about they want to feel like their peers. not their support of supplies or their uniforms are frayed. you want them to feel welcome and their schools

they want to go so this is made easier by making the culture and the climate of the school welcoming. >> we'll be right back. stay with us.

get involved. we have a website called collect for kids. on it lists all the different ways that community groups can support our efforts we can buy school supplies in bulk, backpacks and calculators so we can build it up in our high schools and middle schools. >> you need more of those than pencils and paper. >> well the cash helps us buy school supplies in bulk. w

our community partners and so cash helps a lot. >> barbara. >> saturday august 26th is our book to school fair. 7th annual at the stadium and we're doing something more different. we're asking our students and family to register and we want to find out where the need is and they will go online and register with their name and information and of course they'll get their backpack on saturday august 26th. attend a car show, a free car show and a baseball game so it's not just about backpacks that day. it's a family event day on saturday august 26th. >> you'd like them to register but is registration required get the backpack? >> no. we will have them available for elementary middle and high school students. >> you mention this baseball game. >> now that's partnership at its finest. we looked around the different venue to have

was the best place for us but it was a great connection to be able to give out tickets so now when you come to the game to the event you will have a free ticket. 5,000 tickets to donate to the students in prince george's county. >> backpacks and baseball together. >> i love it. >> what can people do. >> we love back pax. it's a great way to welcome kids back and we start august 14th and 21st. we love the backpacks but if we can get people to our website we have a amazon wish list when kids need to be in middle school and high school they need hygiene products as well and we'll have them all year because it is a constant need but we would love to get people engage

and school supplies during events that are coming up and you can donate money securely online or mail a check. there's so many ways to help all of us help our students. we want to make sure that students and teachers get exactly what they need. everything from tumbling mats for cheerleaders to fen sils and the paper. to more information on backpacks for kids and that campaign or any discussion you've seen this morning go to nbc washington.com and search community and that's news 4 your sunday. news 4 today is next.

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