Happy Birthday Sylvia!

Here's to Sylvia!!!!!! Happy Birthday, Truly Getting Better--
All of Us Wishing You the Best Birthday--Best Year!!!

Love you,

Gayle McCloud

Thanks to Alief ISD!

January has been deemed “School Board Recognition Month” in Alief Independent School District, and CIS Houston would like to join in by sending out a big “thank you” to everyone in AISD!

Communities In Schools programs are now in 17 schools in Alief ISD. During the 2005/2006 schools year, more than 15,000 at-risk students received services through their CIS office on Alief campuses. Alief ISD was the site of the pilot project Houston’s Kids, a collaborative effort of Alief ISD, the Houston YMCA, the United Way, the Houston Children’s Museum, and CIS. Through this program, more than 500 evacuee and non-evacuee students participated in summer activities, and continue to receive services through Houston’s Kids after school.

The staff at Alief ISD has worked tirelessly to ensure that ALL of its students receive a quality education and the social services necessary to keep kids in school and prepare them for life. CIS salutes the staff and board members in Alief ISD for their commitment to kids!
by Melissa Simon, CIS Development Director

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you from Communities In Schools Houston! I know we all enjoyed our time away with our families and friends, and are ready to start a new year. 2006 went out with a bang here at CIS. Thanks to Doug and Linda Manner, some 80 families from 41 CIS schools received help this Christmas. Thanks to the Community Volunteer Fire Department in Alief, the Friends of CIS (FOCIS), and many other generous donors, more than $6,000 was raised to help us reach our goal of filling 2,000 Santa Sacks for CIS caseload students.

The list goes on and on, and we hope that if you haven’t already signed up for our monthly e-newsletter, you will now so you can see the January Newsletter, devoted to the special things that happened during the holiday season for our CIS students.

Houstonians are generous, and your generosity helped CIS touch the lives of its at-risk students again this year. We are truly grateful to you all, and look forward to a wonderful 2007!

by Melissa Simon, CIS Development Director