United Way of Massachusetts Bay is leading a statewide effort to expand the Community Schools strategy across Massachusetts to reach more students – a strategy that is accelerating academic and social outcomes for students, reducing chronic absenteeism, and strengthening school-community partnerships.

As we celebrate Community School Coordinator and Director Week this September, we're recognizing the dedicated leaders who help make these schools centers of connection, opportunity, and belonging. One of those leaders is Kazembe Abif, Community School Coordinator at the Reverend Dr. Michael E. Haynes Early Education Center in Roxbury.

On a typical day, Kazembe Abif might be helping families pick up fresh produce from a mobile food market, coordinating free English classes for parents, meeting with community partners, or welcoming new students and families to school. 

That's not the career he imagined when he was playing professional basketball across Europe, with stops in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Portugal. 

"I was debating as I got into my 30s, what do I want to do? What do I want my legacy to be?" 

After six years overseas, Kazembe returned home looking for work that would allow him to make a different kind of impact. Leaving professional athletics behind, he found his calling in community schools and is now beginning his fourth year as Community School Coordinator at the Reverend Dr. Michael E. Haynes Early Education Center.  

Reflecting his commitment to the field, he earned a master's degree in Education Leadership, Organizations and Entrepreneurship from the Harvard Graduate School of Education while working full time. 

"As an athlete, people cheer for you when you do really well," he says. "But I wanted more of a daily impact on other people's lives. I knew that my calling here on earth was more than just dribbling a basketball." 

While the school's family liaison serves as the primary point of contact for families, Kazembe's role focuses on building and managing the broader network of partnerships and resources that support the school community. 

"The family liaison works directly with families and helps them navigate what's happening in the school," he explains. "I'm the contact for resources. I bring in grant funding. I oversee partnerships. I bring in programs that we're going to work with." 

In that role, Kazembe serves as a bridge between the school, families, and community partners, helping connect students and caregivers with resources, enrichment opportunities, and support both inside and outside the classroom. 

At the Haynes Early Education Center, Kazembe's advocacy begins when students are as young as 3 years old. As one of only four Boston Public Schools focused exclusively on early childhood education, Haynes serves 202 students from K0 through 1st grade in an environment designed around personalized learning. With a lead teacher and two paraprofessionals in every classroom, the school provides intensive support during a critical window of development, making Kazembe's work especially impactful as he helps ensure students build the academic, social, and emotional foundations that will shape their future learning. 

Beyond the classroom, students and families have access to a wide range of enrichment opportunities to expand their learning time, from violin instruction and free-swimming lessons through the YMCA to English classes for caregivers and family engagement events. 

One of the key practices of the community school strategy is community-connected classroom instruction, which brings community partners and real-world learning experiences directly into the classroom, helping ensure every child has opportunities to explore new interests and perspectives, regardless of whether they have access to those experiences outside of school. 

From animal rescuers introducing students to turtles, snakes, and parrots to local organizations sharing their expertise, these experiences bring classroom lessons to life. 

"They learn from those experts, and it brings something different, especially for our age demographic," Kazembe says. 

"We're making sure that families are getting what they want," Kazembe says. "One of my jobs is to go out and find the partnerships and programs they want for their kids so they can thrive." 

To do that, Kazembe maps the assets already present in the neighborhood that can help meet the needs families have identified. 

"I go around and see what businesses, local organizations, and service providers are right here in the community, what health services they offer, and what we already have access to," Abif explains. 

Those partnerships help connect families to a range of wraparound supports, including fresh food, health screenings, clothing, household essentials, on-site laundry facilities, and free ESOL classes. 

"We want to help families with the basic needs," Kazembe says. "Anything that can prohibit their students from learning, we make sure we're providing support so those aren't barriers to getting a great education." 

When asked how he explains the Community School strategy to someone unfamiliar with it, Kazembe points to one defining difference: shared decision-making. 

"I would tell them that we have placed the decision-making back into the community," he says. 

Rather than making assumptions about what families need, Community Schools bring together parents, educators, paraprofessionals, business owners, and community members to help shape programs and priorities and ensure families have a voice in their children's educational experience. 

"We bring together parents, teachers, business owners, and community members and hear what they want to see in schools," Kazembe says. "We're using that shared power of voice and collaborative leadership to make sure all students can flourish." 

"There's been so much distrust historically, especially from marginalized communities, people who don't have a trust in the traditional public school system," he says. 

Kazembe believes the Community School strategy can help rebuild that trust by putting decision-making in the hands of families and community members.  

"The Community School strategy gives the people who are in the community power and allows them to express themselves," he says. "People actually feel like their voices are heard more so than being pushed aside." 

For Kazembe, that shift is one reason he believes Community Schools represent the future of public education. 

"I think Community Schools will be the way many public schools continue to grow." 

The impact of that community-centered approach can be seen across the school. 

Attendance has steadily improved over the past four years. Kazembe credits that progress, in part, to creating a school environment where students are excited to show up. 

"Our daily attendance rate last year was about 94%," Kazembe says. "We're providing different programs and partnerships that they are interested in, making sure that there are four- and five-year-olds waking their parents up like, 'Come on, mama, I gotta go to school. We have swimming today.'" 

The school also tracks literacy growth, school climate, family engagement, and feedback from parents and staff. 

"We use climate surveys and different data sources to understand how connected families feel, whether students feel safe, and how welcomed people feel in the building," he says. 

Gathering feedback isn't just about measuring success. It's also about understanding what families want and need from the school community. 

"We have different meetings where families tell us what they want to see for their kids, what kind of partnerships and programs they want," Kazembe says.  

The combination of data and family feedback helps school leaders understand what's working and where they can continue to strengthen support for students and families. 

After spending years traveling the world as a professional athlete, Kazembe found a different kind of purpose in community schools: helping students, families, and communities thrive. 

Today, he is one of many Community School Coordinators and Directors working to reimagine what schools can be when students and families are at the center. 

This Community School Coordinator and Director Week, we celebrate Kazembe Abif and the countless coordinators and directors whose work helps transform schools into vibrant hubs of opportunity, connection, and belonging. 

For supporters considering an investment in community schools, Kazembe offers a simple message: 

"Investing in this type of strategy shows people you're investing in them." 

"The funding allows different partners and community stakeholders to come together and make Boston and the state of Massachusetts a better place." 

To learn more about Community Schools in Massachusetts and how you can get involved, please contact Renée Ọmọladé, Senior Director, Education Strategies & Community Schools at United Way of Massachusetts Bay, at romolade@supportunitedway.org.