Community Builders 📍 Region 6

Roanoke City’s Community Builders program identified a need to move critical data points at the city’s five middle schools. The program is working toward a reduction in chronic absenteeism, suspension days, and report card failures, alongside a reduction in juvenile gun violence incidents across the city. The division hired dedicated staff at each school and built year-round programming designed to reach beyond the school building through partnerships with community organizations — career conferences at local universities, cultural celebrations with local partners, and civic events where students present alongside city leadership.

The program’s reach is already visible, from the 21 community partnerships established across the city to former participants returning as high school mentors. City leadership has taken notice. The mayor and school board members have spent evenings in the schools, but rather than their typical guest capacity, they spent an evening at Lucy Addison Middle sitting across from students over a game of Jenga.