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) serves 17 school districts in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, including Smyth County. I met with Kayla Phillips, the Director of Development and Institutional Giving, along with Jonathan Arnold and Abbie Krackow, Regional Directors of Programming and Community Schools for Smyth and Grayson Counties. They shared their enthusiasm and passion for CIS-AH, helping the children and families of our communities. They also expressed appreciation for the funding provided by the FUND. According to Kayla, “The grants we received from the Charitable Fund are very significant. These funds support our presence in the middle and high schools of Smyth County and recently enabled us to expand to the elementary schools. We now have Student Support Coordinators (Coordinators) in every school in Smyth County, with funding provided for three years. We are very grateful.”
CIS-AH focuses on three major areas: attendance, behavior, and performance. Using various in-school competitions, activities and events, the Coordinators encourage school attendance to reduce truancy. And it works- in 2025, 84% of schools showed improved whole-school attendance. The Coordinators identify students who need support due to behavior problems, and provide Social, Emotional Learning (SEL) to teach them the skills they need to build relationships, develop trust and make good decisions, resulting in 86% of students showing progress. They also help with homework, mentoring, college applications and involve the family to improve grades and test scores, with 99% of K-11 grade students promoted to the next grade in 2025.
“Most of our Student Support Coordinators live where they work and went to the schools, so they really know the people and the community,” Abbie explains. “They are familiar with the problems affecting the children in their community, they build trust and make it easier for the parents to be involved.” The Coordinators engage with school staff to identify specific issues affecting their students, and act as the “point person” to find solutions to these issues, both in school and at home. Jonathan shared some examples. “One of our Coordinators found a washer and dryer for a family that needed one, and arranged funding to pay for it. When a family couldn’t pay their electric bill and had no heat, the Coordinator intervened to get their power back on,” he says. Abbie adds, “All of our Coordinators keep a current file of resources available to help with basic needs such as food, clothing, utilities or transportation. Many times, families are unaware of these resources and turn to our Coordinators, who regularly go above and beyond for their kids.”
The CIS program embodies the mission of the Charitable Fund, “to build pathways for a stronger community by creating opportunities and giving hope for a brighter future.” The CIS-AH organization is dedicated to improving the education, health, and well-being of our neighbors with their presence in our schools. Kayla shares, “Having our CIS-AH staff present in every school in Smyth County, K-12, is an enormous advantage. We provide a continuum of support, and the longer we are present in a school district, the greater impact we have on the students and their families. We couldn’t do this without the generous support of the Charitable Fund, and we are very grateful.”