Carbondale Community Cabinet for Children and Youth

Working together, community members can better address the well-being, development, and education of children and youth living in the greater Carbondale community.

The Carbondale Community Cabinet for Children and Youth is a collaborative partnership between the greater community and the City of Carbondale with support from the Southern Illinois Coalition for Children and Families and the partnership for Resilience/Resilient SI

“We Can No Longer Rely On Schools Alone To Do The Entire Job Of Delivering On Our Communities’ Social Contract To Nurture Children.” We Need To Work As A Community To Meet Our Children/ Students” Where They Are And Offer Them The Support And Opportunities They Need To Become Successful Adults. Our Future Depends Upon It.”

-Paul Reville, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Founding Director of Harvard’s EdRedesign

We believe that ALL Children and youth in the Carbondale community should have the opportunity to thrive.

Our Values:

Children and families come first and are the principal focus of the Cabinet.

We respect the strengths, needs, values, languages, cultures, and communities of ALL children and families in the Carbondale community.

The definition of “family” is broadly defined. We value family members as key informants, decision-makers, and leaders.

Parents are their child first and most important teacher and their opinions and input is of high value and should be considered in all design, development and implementation.

The Cabinet will be organized to address the needs of the “whole child” with a balanced approach to addressing different areas of development.

The Cabinet/Council‘s focus area will be inclusive of all children and families living within, and just surrounding the city limits, including those attending the "High School’s“ feeder schools.

Equity must be an overarching lens in identifying and implementing the Cabinet’s strategies.

The Cabinet will implement a full-service community approach, supporting the full services community schools' unfunded mandate.

The Cabinet will build on strengths, creating strategies to maximize existing resources and help create new ones, while helping to ensure sustainability and continuity of services along a continuum from the prenatal period through high school.

The work of the cabinet will align with the city’s strategic plan, with a structure that promotes strong public/private partnerships and a high level of accountability.

Schools, families, and early childhood providers should have access to the resources they need to help children succeed.

Pillars of Our Work

In addition to a broader list of values adopted by the Cabinet, three core pillars guide the Cabinet’s decisions and actions.

Learn More About the Cabinet

We want the Carbondale community to be the best place possible for children/students to grow, learn and succeed.

Mapping out an ideal cradle-to-career pipeline designed to assure the success of their young people.
Conducting a gap analysis: What’s missing? Where do services, supports, and opportunities fall short?
Identifying available and potential assets to fill those gaps.
Selecting and implementing strategies for closing the gaps, and points of entry for building a stronger children’s system like more access to high-quality early childhood education or more access to mental health counseling.

Partnering with Our Schools

Working to ensure that a well-coordinated, full continuum of programs and services is available.

By working together and partnering with the community’s five school districts, Cabinet members can help ensure that a well-coordinated, full continuum of programs and services is available to meet the changing needs of children, students and their families.

The Cabinet's Partner School Districts include;

Ensuring a cradle-to-career system of services, supports and opportunities are available to all children regardless of race, ethnicity, economics, or circumstance.