Frank Martinelli, Charter Friends National Network, September 2001
Community-based nonprofit organizations (CBOs) are increasingly diving into the charter school movement by supporting, designing, launching and/or operating their own schools. Frank Martinelli, president of the Center for Public Skills Training in Milwaukee, documents the work of these budding alliances between charter schools and their founding community organizations in this forty-nine-page guide to fostering and sustaining healthy "CBO-linked" relationships. The concept of linkage seems promising, as CBOs bring expertise in budgeting, personnel policy, fund-raising and financial management skills to the table, freeing charter school leaders to focus on things like curriculum and instruction. The report includes detailed charts on start-up activities, levels of partnership and degrees of responsibility along with informative interviews of the leaders and organizers of CBO-linked charter schools. Check it out at http://www.uscharterschools.org/gb/community/index.htm or request a copy by emailing [email protected] or calling 651-644-6115.
