Dine Out For Kids® on Tuesday, June 18!

This year Communities In Schools is celebrating 25 YEARS of Dine Out For Kids®!  Please join us on Tuesday, June 18 for this fun community-wide event where we partner with some of Charlotte’s best restaurants to benefit CIS and thousands of students in Charlotte’s high-need Title I schools.

It’s easy to participate!  Just make plans to dine out on June 18 at one (or more!) of the participating restaurants listed below, and the restaurant will donate a portion of their sales that day to CIS. (Take-out counts, too!)  Whether dining in or taking out, you’ll be  supporting the 6,000+ students we serve in CMS schools and local restaurants.

The “Why”

The need in our public schools today is significant.  Did you know that now, more than half of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (102 of 184) are identified as Title I? This means that the majority of students in the school live near or below the poverty line. Chronic absenteeism (defined as missing 10% or 18+ days of the school year) is much higher than pre-pandemic levels. In 2022-23, across all CMS students, 26% were chronically absent.  Among economically disadvantaged students, the chronic absenteeism rate was even higher, at 34%. These are the students that CIS serves in 56 CMS schools (44 of which are Title I.)

Research shows that students living in poverty face more barriers, which negatively affect their attendance and academic performance. But we know that when given the appropriate support, resources, and opportunities, students can and will succeed in school and in life.

Your support of Dine Out For Kids® helps us maintain our current services in 56 schools and expand to serve additional schools. As a bonus, you’ll be supporting local restaurants, too… and all you have to do is go out to eat!

So please join us on June 18 to provide students with the resources and support they need to be successful in school and beyond. Together, we can make a difference in our community!