Community Schools in Lynwood Unified - Building Capacity for Districtwide Implementation

Oct 15, 2026

Report examines how community schools can be implemented across an entire district in Lynwood Unified. It details the district’s community schools initiative, infrastructure supports, and strategies for serving students and families. Emphasis is placed on setting up community school coordinators, district leadership staffing, and sustained capacity through structured weekly professional learning and external development. It synthesizes lessons learned on collaboration, coherence, and strengthening coordinator effectiveness.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages49

Reading Time2 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

Introduction

What Are Community Schools?

This Study

Lynwood’s Community Schools Initiative

History and Initiative Priorities

A Community Schools District Built on a Strong Foundation

District Infrastructure to Support Community Schools

Serving the Needs of Students and Families

Setting up Community School Coordinators for Success

District Leadership With a Strong Vision for Community Schools Staffing

Building Capacity Through a Structured Weekly Professional Learning Committee

Outside Professional Development Opportunities

Sustaining the Work

Cultivating a Community That Capitalizes on Everyone’s Strengths

Strengthening Collaboration and Embracing Leadership

Lessons Learned on Building Coherence and Developing Strong Coordinators

Appendix: Methodology

Endnotes

About the Authors

List of Figures and Tables

Community Schools in Lynwood Unified Building Capacity for Districtwide Implementation Emily Germain, Sarah Klevan, and Daniel Espinoza APRIL 2026 Acknowledgments The authors thank the district administrators and community school coordinators in Lynwood Unified School District, without whom this study would not have been possible. They are especially grateful to Dawn Green for graciously sharing her time, resources, and thought partnership throughout the research process. The authors thank everyone at Hosler Middle School and Helen Keller Elementary for opening their doors and sharing the community schools work happening on their campuses. The authors also thank our Learning Policy Institute (LPI) colleagues Linda Darling-Hammond, Stacy Loewe, Efrain Mercado, and Tiffany Miller for their thoughtful feedback on this report. In addition, we thank the members of the LPI Communications team for their invaluable support in designing, producing, and disseminating this report. This research was supported by the Stuart Foundation. Core operating support for LPI is provided by the Heising-Simons Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Raikes Foundation, Sandler Foundation, Skyline Foundation, and MacKenzie Scott. We are grateful to them for their generous support. The ideas voiced here are those of the authors and not those of our funders. External Reviewers This report benefited from the insights and expertise of two external reviewers: Catherine Bornhorst, Chief Executive Officer of Born Ingenuity, and Stacey Campo, Senior Research Advisor at the National Center for Community Schools. We thank them for the care and attention they gave the report. Suggested citation: Germain, E., Klevan, S., & Espinoza, D. (2026) . Community schools in Lynwood Unified: Building capacity for districtwide implementation. Learning Policy Institute. [https://doi.org/10.54300/947.934](https://doi.org/10.54300/947.934) This report can be found online at [https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/ca-community-schools-lynwood-unified](https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/ca-community-schools-lynwood-unified). Cover photo provided by Lynwood Unified School District. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Document last revised April 1, 2026 Table of Contents Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................................... iii Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................1 What Are Community Schools?............................................................................................................... 2 This Study ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Lynwood’s Community Schools Initiative.......................................................................................................5 History and Initiative Priorities ................................................................................................................ 6 A Community Schools District Built on a Strong Foundation ................................................................ 8 District Infrastructure to Support Community Schools ......................................................................... 9 Serving the Needs of Students and Families....................................................................................... 11 Setting up Community School Coordinators for Success......................................................................... 14 District Leadership With a Strong

FAQs

What does the report focus on regarding community schools in Lynwood Unified?

The report focuses on building districtwide capacity for implementing community schools in Lynwood Unified, including the initiative’s structure, supports, and leadership and learning systems.

How does the report describe the role of community school coordinators?

It explains how to set up community school coordinators for success and how district leadership and staffing support coordinator effectiveness.

What learning and development mechanisms does the report highlight to sustain the work?

It highlights structured weekly professional learning committee processes as well as outside professional development opportunities to sustain implementation.

Oct 15, 2026

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