Invited Speaker
Dr Jessica Shiller
Director of the Maryland Center for Community Schools
Towson University
The global pandemic was traumatic for everyone, and it revealed the vast inequity in public services to which people have access. Fortunately, community schools in the United States had been coordinating services to meet the needs of their families prior to the pandemic, and when schools closed in 2020, they kicked into high gear to provide for those needs. In this session, participants will learn about the concept of community schools and how their effort to meeting families’ basic needs (i.e. food, shelter, clothing) generated trusting relationships, producing social capital in their neighborhoods. This is especially important in racially and economically isolated neighborhoods which many community schools serve. In the end, this webinar will share examples of how community schools have worked in action and discuss their potential for converting the social capital they generate into further advocacy alongside the families with whom they work.
About the presenter:
Jessica T. Shiller, Ph.D., is a professor of education at Towson University in Maryland and the director of the Maryland Center for community schools. She is the author of many publications including “Preparing for democracy: How community-based organizations build civic engagement among urban youth,” and “The Transformative Capacity of Baltimore’s Community Schools: Limits and Possibilities in a Spatially Unjust Urban Context for Black Communities.”
Register for this webinar
About Our Webinar Series
This event is part of our regular webinar sessions for social capital researchers including PhD/master students. These sessions include invited presentations from prominent scholars as well as presentations by PhD students and experts in professional practice.
For social capital researchers, these sessions are an opportunity to hear about the latest social capital research and insights from scholars working on the concept. They can be a great way to connect with people, to get advice, discuss ideas or issues, get suggestions for literature to read, or you can just listen.
Are you researching social capital and want to present your research? Click here for more information and to submit a proposal.
Generally, presentations can be 20 to 30 mins. The content of your presentation will depend on your research stage.
