Marian expanding City Connects program
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Marian University in Indianapolis is expanding its City Connects program to nearly three dozen schools across the state. The program is designed to provide K-12 students with a plan to address issues they may be facing outside of the classroom, such as housing instability, food insecurity, or access to healthcare.
Marian launched City Connects as a pilot in 34 schools in South Bend, Gary, Muncie and Indianapolis last year. The program now serves more than 26,000 students in 79 schools in cities including Anderson, Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Muncie and North Judson.
The program is run out of Marian’s Center for Vibrant Schools. Each school has a site coordinator who conducts a “whole class review” in the first semester where they meet with teachers to discuss each student.
“During that process, all of those individualized students’ support plans are created and established,” City Connects Director Jillian Lain said in written remarks. “We’re in the information-gathering stage, so come the second semester of the school year, we’ll likely see a lot more information about the strengths and needs of the students and then be able to then assess the types of interventions that will come along side that.”
Marian is currently looking for site coordinators at 15 schools in eight Indiana cities. You can find the full list and learn more about City Connects by clicking here.
Expansion of the program was always a goal for Marian. In a September 2021 interview with Inside INdiana Business, Marian Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management Jessica Morales Maust said they not only wanted to expand throughout the state, but also to schools in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The full list of new schools participating in City Connects includes:
- Aboite Christian School
- Ambassador Christian Academy
- Apogee School for the Gifted
- Bishop Noll Institute
- Calumet Christian Schools, Inc.
- Calvary Lutheran School
- Central Catholic School
- Central Lutheran School
- Charles Warren Fairbanks Sch 105
- Circle City Prep Charter School
- Clear Creek Christian School
- Eman Schools
- George S Buck School 94
- Holy Cross Central School
- Indiana Horizon Academy
- James & Rosemary Phalen Leadership High School
- James and Rosemary Phalen Leadership Middle School
- Lutheran High School of Indianapolis
- MU Prep
- Our Sheperd Lutheran School
- Phalen Leadership Academy at Francis Scott Key 103
- PLA at George H Fisher School 93
- Promise Prep
- Rooted School Indianapolis
- Saint Joseph Hessen Cassel
- Saint Susanna School
- Sankofa School of Success @ Arlington Woods School 99
- Scecina Memorial High School
- Shepherd Community Academy
- St. Adalbert School
- St. Boniface School
- St. John Bosco
- St. John Ev Lutheran School
- St. Joseph Catholic School
- St. Mary Cathedral School
- St. Michael Catholic School
- St. Monica School
- St. Peter Lutheran School
- St. Philip Neri School
- St. Rose of Lima Catholic School
- St. Stanislaus School
- Stonybrook Intermediate Middle School
- The Crossing- Hammond Campus
- The Crossing-Anderson Campus
- The Crossing-Fort Wayne Campus
- Trinity Lutheran School