About Linkages to Learning

We accomplish our goals by working collaboratively with the schools that we serve, enabling us to identify those that would most benefit from our case management services, and also helping us to most comprehensively address the needs of each community’s population.  

We have successfully reduced poverty and other non-academic barriers to learning by assisting families with gaining access to:

• Social services
• Community education and development
• Health and behavioral health services

Social Services

We work directly with at-risk students and families to connect them with services that will help them at home, at school, and in the community. When a student or family is referred for services, a family case manager meets with each individual living in the home to assess what is needed to make that family self-sufficient. We provide referrals, help them navigate the resources given, and ensure that they obtain what they require.

Services are individually specific, wide-ranging and include:

• Assistance accessing community resources: food, housing, health care, health insurance, and income supports
• Assistance with furniture and clothing
• Assistance with legal/immigration needs, and eviction/utility assistance
• Health care needs
• Job readiness and career skills
• Tutoring
• Transportation assistance
• Child care, after school, summer camp programs

In addition to the above, we ensure that our students and families are healthy. Our students are sent home each weekend with a “Smart Snack,” a grocery bag full of snacks to keep them eating right throughout the weekend.  Furthermore, our partners supply our families with regular food donations throughout the year.

Community Education and Development

Each year, the community school coordinator for each school identifies the needs of each community and plans workshops, classes, and activities that will benefit the entire school. We serve diverse populations and pride ourselves on being able to address continuing and emergent needs such as adult education, immigration and gang recruitment. When interest is identified, we are able to organize free and open workshops and classes directly at the schools for families on relevant topics. We also provide:

• Literacy classes
• Computer classes
• Employment training classes
• Youth development activities: Girls on the Run, Let Me Run, homework clubs, soccer clinics, and more
• Parenting support and networking and family activities, including therapeutic and recreational trips to pools and the zoo, picnics, and more
• Parent leadership opportunities (some of our schools have formed parent governance committees)
• Clothing drives
• Health fairs

Behavioral Health Services

We care about the whole family and we want our students and families to be healthy, both physically and emotionally. For students and families that have been referred for case management services, we provide a continuum of mental health treatment services directly in the school setting. We continue programs throughout the summer, providing therapeutic recreational group and access to summer camps (including Montgomery County Recreation, Calleva, and Sandy Cove) for our participating children. We also provide social skills groups, parenting classes and workshops on behavioral issues, classroom observations, and student support groups for the entire community.

Our case management services also include:

• Diagnostic evaluations
• Skill development
• Access to psychiatric care and medication management
• Crisis intervention and stabilization
• Psychoeducational services
• Child, family, and group therapy
• Teacher consultations and advocacy
• Coordination of care with outside providers

These are just some of the services that Linkages to Learning can provide. As a program of the nationally-renowned Sheppard Pratt Health System, we have access to innovative training, technology, and therapies, and can access all of this as needed into our programming. Our services are continuously expanding as needs change, and we strive to help our communities unlock their full potential.