School&main Institute

We are a not-for-profit organization that specializes in developing collaborative responses to issues in education, workforce, youth and community development. Bottom line: We help organizations work together – across institutional lines or in “uncommon coalitions” – to improve their communities and the lives of young people living in them. As former Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders put it years ago: Collaboration is "an unnatural act between non-consenting adults.” We’ve spent 27 years developing methods that help people get natural about collaboration. We do it because we firmly believe that the most deeply-rooted issues affecting youth and community life require us to work together across organizations. Our projects and services are tailored to each client and community. On any given day, you might find us-Leading a training or strategic planning session -Facilitating a meeting of community leaders -Organizing a peer exchange conference or training institute -Helping staff in key positions navigate collaborative project management -Conducting program evaluation activities -Working with a client and partners to design a sustainable response to a youth-related issue like dropout prevention, youth transition, parent involvement, or wraparound support models