Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Alumni
  • Login
  • Volunteer
  • Clubs
  • Reunions
  • Magazine
  • Class Notes
  • Help
  • Give Now
  • Stories
  • Alumni Directory
  • Lifelong Learning
  • Careers
  • Programs & Events
  • Giving
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Alumni→
  • Stories→

Stories

Stories

07 May 2020

Ensuring Student Equity

How Jennifer Grumhaus is rethinking how to serve North Chicago’s students and families
Re: Jennifer Grumhaus (MBA 1994); By: Jennifer Gillespie
Topics: Education-Secondary EducationSociety-Wealth and PovertyHealth-Health PandemicsOrganizations-Organizational Change and Adaptation
ShareBar

Jennifer Grumhaus (MBA 1994)
Photo by Robin Subar

Jennifer Grumhaus (MBA 1994)
Photo by Robin Subar

Once the public schools in North Chicago decided to close in mid-March because of COVID-19, it took Jennifer Grumhaus (MBA 1994) and her staff less than 72 hours to totally revamp the business model for the nonprofit she runs, North Chicago Community Partners (NCCP), which provides extended learning programs, food and other basic resources, and health services for more than 1,200 children each week in this underserved community.

“We had to rethink the operation of our food pantry. We had to develop learning materials that keep students engaged at home. We had to ensure children were fed—literally—and do all we could to help create safe home-based learning environments,” says Grumhaus, NCCP executive director and cofounder. “In the current situation, the trauma of living and learning in an under-resourced community is magnified.”

To support learning and help alleviate stress, boredom, and deprivation, NCCP is distributing about 500 learning resource kits and 300 emergency food bags to some 400 families each week. Considered an essential operation, NCCP is allowed to have its employees deliver these resources to families directly. The organization also relies on a corps of volunteers who pick up materials from NCCP’s office to assemble learning packets at home, then bring back the completed packets for the nonprofit to distribute to families. “We created a Volunteer from Home program that allows individuals to lend a hand during this crisis and remain connected to children who they tutor and mentor in ‘normal’ conditions,” Grumhaus explains.

The robust, hands-on learning assignments that NCCP delivers each week—two in English language arts, two in math, and one “special” activity —augment the district’s remote learning curriculum. NCCP also includes in its deliveries a number of healthy snacks for the children, and activities kits—comprising games, cards, and drawing materials—to encourage family interactions.

Because the North Chicago school community doesn’t have the financial resources found in Chicago’s affluent neighboring suburbs, online education isn’t a viable option for many students. “One outcome of the pandemic is a heightened awareness of school funding inequity,” Grumhaus says. While the school district is able to provide Chromebooks to students in grades 6-12 to help keep their studies on track, children in grades K-5 have to rely on more traditional educational materials since they don’t have access to the internet or computers.

Photo by Robin Subar

Photo by Robin Subar

Grumhaus says that while NCCP has managed to find ways to still support its constituencies, it has been difficult to maintain the close relationships that staffers and volunteers have formed with students. “The foundation of our work with students is relationship-based because they need social-emotional support,” she explains. “We also created the Community Connections Program, which is designed to keep us purposefully and thoughtfully connected to the students, parents, volunteers, partners, and teachers we serve.” This outreach includes wellness-check phone calls and handwritten letters aimed at students, parent resource packets, a virtual self-care program for teachers, and a virtual appreciation lunch program each month for staff members. 

Since launching NCCP with her cousin, Mary Gorter Krey, in 2008, the nonprofit has grown to a staff of 35, who work with 2,500 volunteers each year and 50 partner organizations. Before the pandemic, Grumhaus, a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs and founding team member of City Year in Chicago, was preparing to scale NCCP to other school districts in need.

“We have developed a unique model for providing whole child support. Components of our model are definitely transferrable to almost any public school district,” says Grumhaus about the nonprofit. Once the crisis has abated, she hopes to focus on making NCCP’s operating model available to other underserved communities. “The resources provided through NCCP help level the playing field and help ensure more children have equal access to opportunities. There are too many children learning in underfunded environments to not share what we’ve created.”

ShareBar

Featured Alumni

Jennifer Grumhaus
MBA 1994
Login to send a message

Post a Comment

Featured Alumni

Jennifer Grumhaus
MBA 1994
Login to send a message

Related Stories

    • 17 Dec 2024
    • Skydeck

    Solving the Underemployment Crisis

    Re: Stephen Moret (MBA 2001); Joseph B. Fuller (Professor of Management Practice); William R. Kerr (Dimitri V. D'Arbeloff - MBA Class of 1955 Professor of Business Administration Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research)
    • 25 Aug 2021
    • Making A Difference

    Reimagining Chicago’s Schools

    Re: Melissa Megliola (MBA 2000)
    • 24 Jul 2020
    • HBS Alumni News

    Reimagining Chicago’s Schools

    Re: Melissa Megliola (MBA 2000)
    • 07 Jan 2020
    • Making A Difference

    Models of Success

    Re: Rebecca Feickert (MBA 2018)

More Related Stories

 
 
 
ǁ
Campus Map
External Relations
Harvard Business School
Teele Hall
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
Phone: 1.617.495.6890
Email: alumni+hbs.edu
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.