David Lewis, CIS Co-Founder

 

David Lewis was one of the founding members of Communities In Schools and had an uncanny way of connecting with the most troubled teens. He would play basketball with neighborhood kids and use his skills to communicate the importance of staying in school and team work. His son Anthony said that basketball was his avenue to gain students' trust, respect, and attention. He thrived on motivating the most difficult kids who were in school or incarcerated, and made them believe that they too could succeed in school and in life. His skills for motivating young people were respected throughout the education community. Dave taught the CIS family that relationships with students were important, and if you had high expectations and gave them responsibility, they would succeed.

Dave was an Atlanta native and helped develop the Postal Street Academy (which was an early version of CIS) in 1969. The academy initially served postal employees but expanded to high school dropouts. After funding stopped for that program, Dave helped found Exodus, a community-based nonprofit, that continued what the Academy had started. The key to its success was the partnership with the Atlanta Public Schools. The program received national recognition during President Jimmy Carter's administration, and by 1989 the alternative program had expanded to 141 schools in 31 cities across the country. Dave became the president of CIS of Atlanta. Several years later the program was changed to Cities In Schools and then to Communities In Schools in the early 90s.

In 1991 Dave was recognized by BellSouth for his contributions to education and included in an exhibit honoring influential Blacks in Atlanta (now a permanent exhibit at the Apex Museum). Dave passed away in 2001.