Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Communities In Schools Joins with Microsoft to Provide over One Million Students Free Office 365

  • 01/23/15

Technology Collaboration will Change the Picture of Education for Students Served by Communities In Schools

Communities In Schools (CIS), the nation’s largest and most effective dropout prevention organization, announced that one million students and CIS staff in 26 states and Washington, D.C. will receive Microsoft Office 365 at home, for no cost to them, thanks to a three-year collaboration with Microsoft and technology partner COMPAREX.

This represents the largest software and services partnership for Communities In Schools to date. The suite of Office 365 Pro Plus includes: Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, Access, Lync, plus OneDrive with access to cloud storage giving students and site coordinators the ability to use leading technology tools at any time and from anywhere to better prepare them for the modern workplace. Students will also have access to training and certifications via Microsoft’s IT Academy.

“This unprecedented collaboration will allow our national network of 200 affiliates to provide their students with technology that can help close the achievement gap and better prepare students for real jobs,” said CIS President Dan Cardinali. “Moreover, by relieving affiliates of the burden of hardware, software and IT costs, we can effectively free up resources that can be used to help more kids stay in school and succeed in life. We are grateful to our technology partner, COMPAREX for brokering this effort with Microsoft.”

“We are deeply committed to working with CIS and COMPAREX to harness the power of technology to provide students with equal access to digital resources,” said Jamie Harper, General Manager, U.S. Education, Microsoft Corporation. “At-risk youth are often unlikely to have broadband internet and other tools for learning at home, so we see this program as one step forward in the larger mission to bring all students the skills and certifications to better prepare them for college and the modern workforce.”

COMPAREX recently completed the successful migration of the CIS National office to the Microsoft Cloud. Nicholas Vossburg, Director of Cloud Services for COMPAREX, said, “We were pleased to be able to serve Communities In Schools.  Last year, our firm was designated as Microsoft’s 2014 US Education Cloud Platform Partner of the Year.  We serve all types of organizations but are thrilled to help mission-centric organizations with national impact like CIS.”

Featured

  • From Approval to Opening: Inside Travis Unified School District’s Fast Tracked Campus Expansion

    The Travis Unified School District (TUSD) in northern California includes several elementary and high schools serving over 5,400 students. In 2024, the TUSD Board approved the addition of sixth grade to the Golden West Middle School campus for the 2025–26 school year, setting in motion an accelerated effort to bring new facilities online in less than a year.

  • Full Sail University Announces First Student Housing Facility

    Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., recently announced that development has begun on its first student housing community, according to a news release. The university is partnering with Nvision Development for construction and long-term management of the facility, which will stand five stories and have the capacity for more than 570 beds.

  • South Carolina District Starts Construction on $50M Middle School Renovation

    The Aiken County Public School District in North Augusta, S.C., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $50-million renovation and expansion of North Augusta Middle School, according to a news release. The project’s funding comes from the 2024 renewal of a one-cent sales tax approved by local voters.

  • Quattrocchi Kwok Architects Opens New Office in Denver

    Education planning and design firm Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA) recently announced that it has opened a new office in Denver, Colo., the firm’s third overall. QKA is headquartered in Santa Rosa, Calif., and runs an East Bay Area office in Oakland.