Our Approach

All children cared for, nurtured, and ready to learn.

That vision brought Rockland County leaders together in 1995, and it continues to guide our work today. Rockland 21C is a collaborative effort that brings families, schools, community organizations, and public systems together around one shared priority: children.

Our approach began with the Schools of the 21st Century Community Schools model developed at Yale University under the leadership of Dr. Edward Zigler, one of the founders of Head Start. Grounded in the importance of early learning, family support, and strong connections between schools and communities, Rockland leaders adapted the model to meet the needs of our diverse suburban county.

Today, Rockland 21C advances the nation’s first countywide Community Schools model, helping align resources, strengthen partnerships, coordinate supports, and build the systems that children and families need to succeed.

Through 21C’s service system of Family Resource Centers, ParentChild+, and Community Schools, we connect families, schools, and communities to remove barriers, expand opportunity, and help ensure that every child has what they need to learn, grow, and thrive.

Our Model

21C’s original strategic plan focused on the following desired outcomes:

  1. Ensure quality health and mental health care for all children.
  2. Ensure that every child is in a safe, secure, and caring environment.
  3. Provide opportunities and support for all children to learn and achieve, in and out of school.
  4. Promote family support for, and involvement with, their children.
  5. Provide a comprehensive means of receiving and disseminating information.
  6. Ensure that children in

    trouble get help.
  7. Attain the community support and involvement necessary to achieve these goals and objectives.
  8. (Later) Design an organizational structure to support the plan.

THE 21C WAY

Every community is different. Every family has strengths. Every child deserves the opportunity to thrive.

Schools are at the heart of the 21C Community Schools strategy. Each 21C school responds to the unique strengths and needs of its students, families, and community while working within a shared countywide framework. Across Rockland, we bring families, schools, community organizations, and public systems together, aligning resources, strengthening partnerships, and building a coordinated system of support around children and families.

Our approach is rooted in the pioneering work of Dr. Edward Zigler, developer of Yale’s Schools of the 21st Century Community Schools model and one of the architects of Head Start. His work reinforced a principle that remains central to Rockland 21C today: families are the foundation of children’s learning and development. We build on families’ strengths, meet families where they are, and create meaningful opportunities for parents and caregivers to be engaged as partners in their children’s education.

That connection begins early and continues as children grow. Through 21C school-based Family Resource Centers, ParentChild+ home visiting, and Community Schools, we connect children and families to coordinated educational, health, social, and family supports that strengthen learning, well-being, and opportunity.

This is the 21C Way: connecting family, school, and community to remove barriers, expand opportunity, and create the conditions every child needs to learn, grow, and thrive.