Dominique Lee is the CEO of BRICK Education Network, a pre-cradle-to-career non-profit that focuses on improving the social and economic mobility of children and families.

Systemic racism and generational poverty have proven to be long-established and formidable barriers, disproportionately burdening parents of color and impeding their socioeconomic advancement. These systems impose additional challenges on their lives, hindering their aspirations for upward economic mobility. Despite the efforts of public and private initiatives over the years to alleviate some of the symptoms associated with poverty, they have often failed to address its root causes effectively.

Studies show that education organizations that prioritize holistic support for parents and teachers greatly improve outcomes for students. When schools, parents, families, and communities work together to support learning, students tend to earn higher grades, attend more regularly, stay in school longer, and enroll in higher-level programs. As leaders, we have a responsibility to strengthen our community by developing spaces that support the holistic well-being of our students. This includes investing in the overall health of our community, which will help bring the changes needed to create equitable education opportunities.

To achieve this, we must think outside the box about how partnership builds the overall health of the communities we serve.  For equitable education opportunities, our students will need access to a diverse educator workforce, culturally sustaining curricula,  updated technology, and early learning programs. However, other factors contribute to leveling the playing field for all children. We must examine and support strengthening programs our community offers parents and students that allow them to show up at school as their best selves.

Recognizing the insufficiency of gradual approaches, BRICK Education Network has championed more holistic strategies to confront and dismantle the multifaceted drivers of poverty. At BRICK, we acknowledge that education alone cannot break the cycle of generational poverty for our students. We’re on a mission to create pathways to economic mobility and prosperity for children and families by adopting comprehensive approaches aimed at eradicating academic achievement gaps, housing insecurity, lack of economic mobility, hunger, and health inequity.

High healthcare costs disproportionately affect uninsured adults, including Black and Hispanic adults and those with lower incomes. Additionally, low-income families often face many challenges in accessing adequate health care. The stress of poverty, inadequate healthcare access, and limited financial resources for treatment further exacerbate health conditions and make parenting even more challenging. There’s no doubt that these hardships impact students in a variety of ways within K–12 education and beyond. Schools can help bridge this gap for families and help remove these burdens that our parents face daily.

We partner with local health and wellness organizations to provide essential healthcare services through our partnership with St. James Health at the South Ward Wellness Center. By providing these services in our community and making healthcare accessible to our student’s families,  we are impacting educational outcomes on a daily basis at Gateway Academy, our K-12 continuum, and all the schools in the neighborhood.  I am proud to say that we have been able to create these opportunities in partnership with the families we serve. 

There are also opportunities to explore prenatal care for parents, adopt a school wellness program, or apply for grants that fund and support under-resourced public schools to implement and expand access to quality behavioral health and general pediatric services on school campuses. These programs help students stay in school, improving their chances for academic success.

In addition to physical health, mental health is a growing concern among parents. In a recent survey, 40 percent of parents of children younger than 18 reported being very worried about their child struggling with anxiety or depression. More than three-quarters of parents were at least somewhat worried about this. While significant shares of parents across racial groups had worries about their children’s mental health, 43 percent of Hispanic moms voiced this concern deeper than any other racial group.

School-community partnerships, in which hospitals, universities, or community organizations work with school districts to bolster the mental health services they provide to students, can help lessen these alarming statistics. 

As education and nonprofit leaders, we have a responsibility to help cultivate the communities we are part of. This not only includes being an educational resource, but it also means ensuring our community members have access to support that will set students up for success and help students achieve their best possible physical and mental health status. Together these connections will help to create a more equitable educational experience for students.