Citizens of the World 2020 Annual Campaign

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A nonprofit fundraiser supporting

Citizens of the World - Kansas City
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By donating, you're creating a brighter future for our school, our students, and Kansas City.

$44,444

raised by 68 people

$50,000 goal

Citizens of the World - Kansas City’s story is unique in the educational ecosystem of Kansas City, Missouri. The school was born out of a grassroots effort led by Midtown Kansas City families, known as the Midtown Community School Initiative (MCSI). This process, which started as a neighborhood book club, grew into an organized movement of several hundred families seeking to bring a new and unique educational option to Midtown Kansas City. This effort was inclusive, parent driven, and focused on finding a partner who could drive academic achievement while supporting the parents’ desire for inclusion, diversity, and a strong social-emotional learning component to the school.

Inspired by the passion of the MCSI families, Citizens of the World Charter Schools (CWC Schools) connected with MCSI and submitted a partnership proposal that closely aligned with the vision of Kansas City parents. The school would operate with three main philosophical foundations:

  • Understanding.  CWC schools believe that learning best occurs when students construct their own understandings, under the guidance of a teacher who offers varying levels of support, which are reflective of students’ current abilities and needs. The theory of learning is comprised of three building blocks: Constructivism, gradual release of responsibility, and data-driven instruction.
  • Connection.  CWC schools feature an academic model that supports and depends upon connections with self, one’s community, and the world. This supports the student’s development through social emotional development (SED), which we believe to be as integral to an excellent education as traditional academic subjects and, moreover, is necessary for the world that we live in.
  • Diversity.  Finally, CWC schools believe that the diversity of our communities, and of the world at large, is a great strength. Through targeted outreach and recruitment, our schools are intentionally designed to reflect their surrounding communities and the larger society in terms of race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. By learning, interacting, and growing in a diverse setting, our students are preparing to thrive in the pluralistic society they will soon join.

The detailed school plan, the aligned values, and the opportunity to utilize support and expertise from a broad network of educational professionals proved to be the deciding factor in MCSI’s decision to partner with CWC. Citizens of the World Kansas City opened its doors to Grades K-1 on its new Broadway campus in Midtown Kansas City in the fall of 2016. Each successive year, the school added an additional grade and, in the fall of 2019, launched the CWC Middle School. Currently, there are more than 430 students enrolled at CWC. By 2021, the school will be fully enrolled Pre-K-8th grade with more than 650 students.

Over the past five years the partnership has fulfilled the original vision. During the fall of 2019, CWC spent time talking with our parents regarding their choice of CWC and, perhaps more specifically, the things that make CWC such a unique place for families. There were four key responses that support the vision of MCSI and make clear that the decision to partner with CWC was the right call for Kansas City families. These responses are best described in these four ways:

  • Children can discover their own brilliance. At Citizens of the World our model of personalized instruction, project-based learning, inclusive classrooms, and social-emotional development creates space for your child to find his or her own place in the world.
  • Our differences make us stronger. It’s one thing to talk about diversity, but it’s another thing to place it at the forefront of a learning model which values diversity in its fullest expressions. Citizens of the World is committed to educating children in an equitable and inclusive learning environment where they grow to understand themselves both as individuals and members of a community.
  • Core values matter.  At Citizens of the World we spend time every day discovering ways to embody and practice our school’s core values. This foundation of values empowers our students to encounter complex problems and advocate for positive impact.
  • Your child’s education goes beyond test scores. Citizens of the World KC believes what helps your child learn and thrive is far richer than test scores can tell. Our classrooms focus on the development of the whole child.

We are so proud of our school. From the foundational values and the tenacity of our founding families to the culture, inclusion, and collaborative approach CWC exhibits daily, CWC is unique. We are also encouraged by more traditional metrics of school success--increasing enrollment and academic assessment success as our school has increased enrollment each of the past three years and ranks among the highest performing local schools on Missouri's MAP assessment. We'd love to host you for a visit-please email Jon Hile, our Executive Director, at jon.hile@cwckansascity.org .

This fundraiser supports

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Citizens of the World - Kansas City

Organized By Jon Hile

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