Article written by Communities In Schools National When Communities In Schools® of Appalachian Highlands (CIS-AH) opened its doors in 2012, it served just two schools in Bristol, Virginia. Today, it proudly stands beside more than 115 schools across 17 districts in Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. What started as one of the smaller affiliates in the CIS Network...

Article written by Smyth County Community Foundation and Smyth County Charitable Fund  Pathways Newsletter 2026; Reporter, Linda Card One of our major grant awards was to Communities in Schools of Appalachian Highlands. The Communities In Schools (CIS) program operates nationwide and was initiated in 1977. Based in Bristol, Va., the Appalachian Highlands affiliate organization (CIS-AH)...

Communities In Schools of Southwest Virginia is excited to announce its new name, Communities In Schools of Appalachian Highlands, as our organization expands across the state line into Northeast Tennessee to serve the entire Appalachian Highlands region. Our mission is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and...

Op-Ed by George F. Allen and Mark R. Warner in the Richmond Times Dispatch While we may not always have had the same views throughout our political careers, there is one thing we always have agreed on: Every child deserves access to a world-class education, and that starts with ensuring every student and family has...

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for students and families, including experiences of social isolation, economic crisis, stress, and trauma. A May 2020 survey by Echelon Insights found that nearly 30 percent of parents believed their children experienced higher anxiety and more mental health challenges, including depression, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic....