Ashley Hall has worked in the nonprofit sector for most of her life. Through high school she was active in service clubs and volunteerism, but it was after joining the Peace Corps in Guatemala for over two years that she decided her ultimate goal was to run a youth-serving nonprofit. She is proud, years later, to be heading up Communities in Schools of Chesterfield. “For the kids we work with, high poverty and trauma create major equity issues and barriers to success,” Hall says. “Our job really is to build relationships and bring resources and help level the playing field.”
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hall and her team members have had to adjust their approach to connect with students who still need them, now more than ever. One way they are trying to reach students is through encouraging access to the art community. Local artists Matt Lively and Hamilton Glass recently launched a collaborative mural project called All in Together, providing students with coloring pages to submit that will be represented in murals throughout the city. While the pages can be accessed online, Hall and her team are making sure that underserved students without internet access can participate — bringing them worksheets and instructions. “Art can bring us together and connect us, even during this time when we are all apart,” Hall says. Two of these murals will also be featured in CIS schools.
Hall recognizes the importance of having a strong staff to support the work CIS does. “I’d say we’re all team players,” she says, “and we really encourage and inspire each other through this work that is really motivating and challenging.”
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