Building Educational Success Together Collaborative

SOSNOLA is a member of the nonprofit collaborative Building Education Success Together (BEST). BEST partners, school districts, municipalities, nonprofit organizations and business developers engage in innovative practices in their communities which link public school facilities to educational quality, community revitalization, environmental responsibility, sound management and social justice.

BEST is a community of practice—with partners supporting each other in work towards a vision where all children learn in school buildings that are safe and educationally adequate and that serve as community anchors in vibrant, healthy neighborhoods.

Through regular meetings BEST develops ideas and strategies to further policies and use of best practices in school facility planning, design, construction, management and funding. In addition, we define and develop research and communications priorities for current and future projects. Our “culture of collaboration” has been critical to our individual and collective successes and ongoing growth.

SOSNOLA in conjunction with BEST engages in multifaceted strategies to improve urban public schools in low-income communities. We focus on the relationship between public school buildings, education and community.

In case studies, BEST collects source documents that can be used by communities as templates to replicate this work. We are also interested in documentation of other projects that can serve as examples of effective practices, which advance the objective of high performance school buildings for all children. If you know of such an example, please contact SOSNOLA’s Executive Director at 504.309.8509 or email to ADaliet@sosnola.org.