Melanie, who is an MSW, works with school districts and organizations to establish new community schools and support existing community schools in achieving demonstrable outcomes. Since first volunteering at a community school a decade ago, Melanie understood the capacity of the community school strategy to transform the lives of children, families and their community through intentional, long-term partnerships. While with the University of Central Florida Center for Community Schools, Melanie delivered individualized technical assistance to a network of community schools in Florida. In addition to her extensive community school experience, Melanie is a trained parent education facilitator and has worked as a social worker in clinical, nonprofit and educational settings providing biopsychosocial assessments, youth and family counseling, and intensive case management. Melanie holds a Master of Social Work from New York University.