About NCS Connects
Holiday Assistance
NCS offers holiday assistance in the form of meal kits for Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as basic need Christmas gifts for families. In partnership with local community organizations and establishments NCS has been able to provide this service for more than 100 children in the City of Newport. Thank you to all that have helped and supported this program over the years! If you are interested in assisting NCS with this program please contact the NCS staff.
In 2009, NCS broadened its successful full-service community school model to include programming that provides access to wellness, health and family support services. The program expansion, known as NCS Connects, grew out of a local call to better meet the essential needs of students, specifically secondary students.
NCS Connects is based on the premise that family involvement, wellness and health are central to student success and that school/family collaboration is integral to a child’s education. The services provided through NCS Connects focus on increasing family supports, improving student social/emotional competencies and development of health habits as they link to a student’s overall academic performance.
NCS Connects overarching goals are to provide a continuum of services and to ensure there are no gaps in these vital offerings for youth and families. The programs and activities conducted under the NCS Connects program will yield social/emotional and health specific benefits and outcomes among middle school students including:
- increased and enhanced mutual collaboration between families, schools and community-based organizations;
- enhanced availability of crisis intervention services and appropriate referrals of provision of services for students and families in need of specialized interventions;
- improved access to prevention, intervention and recovery support services related to risky behaviors among students.
Intervention, Prevention, Health/Wellness Programs: Prevention/intervention programs provide participating students with the opportunity to engage in structured, evidence-based programs designed to address issues before they become a problem and/or a risk to the student’s overall social/emotional growth, health and well-being.
Social Skills Programs: Social skills programs provide participating students with the opportunity to engage in structured evidence-based programs to gain communication skills/knowing what to say, how to make good choices and how to behave in diverse situations.
Extended Learning Opportunities: Facilitated and staffed by community partners – local community-based organizations, certified teachers, retired executives and other community stakeholders – an extensive range of social/emotional and health related learning experiences will be presented to participating students. Students are provided the opportunity to engage in hands-on, inquiry-based programs promoting social skills, healthy habits and teamwork that put students in control of what they learn.
Grade Transition Programming: The NCS Connects program operates three different grade level transition programs to Newport’s middle and high school populations, with the following goals: 1) improved and/or maintained academic knowledge, skills and measurable performance growth; 2) increased social supports (i.e. goal setting, time management and organization); 3) increased outreach to parents to encourage ongoing parental involvement.
Read about NCS Connects in the Newport Daily News (January, 2018)
NCS Connects Program Coordinator
Alyssa Hirsbrunner
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55 Broadway, Newport, RI 02840