Buffalo Commons is an actively diverse, tuition-free, community-based charter school that meets Buffalo’s students’ and families’ unique needs. We are independently operated and offer that mom-and-pop kind of feeling:
a place that you know cares about what they do
one that does right by their neighbors
one that wants to be there for you for generations
Commons is also connected to something larger. Through the Diverse Charter School Coalition (DCSC), we are part of a national movement of charter schools. Coalition schools work to bring students and families together across lines of difference and provide students with an educational experience that prepares them for successful and fulfilling lives. After a long history of educational ups and downs, Buffalo deserves a school like Commons.
That’s why, in 2018-19, we began a partnership with DCSC. The vision of DCSC is that an ever-growing number of American public schools, including many charter schools, will embody the diversity of our nation’s people – across race, socioeconomic status, language, and abilities – while preparing the children in their care to pursue higher education, meaningful and sustainable work in a global economy, and an equal role in a more cohesive and connected participatory democracy.
Danny Brink-Washington, Common’s Executive Director, was a member of the inaugural cohort of the UnifiEd School Launch Fellowship and spent a year as a Leadership Fellow at Elmwood Village Charter School (EVCS), Buffalo‘s highest performing nonselective school. During the fellowship, Danny learned all about what has made EVCS so successful locally and had the opportunity to travel around the country, learning from DCSC member schools leading this movement nationally.
The benefits of this Partnership to our community are immense. As members of DCSC, the Commons leadership team can connect to charter school leaders nationally, and specifically with the schools that share a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion at every level of the organization.
The benefits for our faculty include:
Annual convention featuring unparalleled keynotes and workshops
Regional member school conferences highlighting best practices
Unique community of practice working groups allowing collaboration alongside nationally recognized schools
Because of our work with the Coalition, every Commons’ student will have access to:
Rigorous and engaging culturally responsive curriculum resources
Teachers that use the most up-to-date instructional techniques
Proven frameworks for building a sense of belonging and purpose
For our families, it means being connected to a movement, not just a single school. Commons tailors everything to Buffalo and our students, but we have the support of tens of thousands of parents across the country who send their children to DCSC schools.
We encourage you to take a minute and check out the work that DCSC is doing and consider how going to a coalition school could benefit your child!