Over twenty-five years ago, a principal at a local Dallas high school contacted Tony Evans about an unusually high level of unrest at his school. At that time, the school was experiencing increased gang activity as well as other disruptive behaviors by students. Dr. Evans responded to the call by sending twelve men to regularly walk the halls and restore order. Not only that, but he personally gat
hered all of the teen boys in the auditorium for a time to challenge them toward making right choices. Before long, the school began to experience calm and stability. A change of atmosphere more conducive to learning emerged. Shortly after that, the principal was promoted to superintendent over a large cluster of schools and invited Dr. Evans and his church outreach ministry, now called The Turn•Around Agenda, to serve in all of the schools underneath his leadership. The social impact of this school intervention quickly spread to neighboring clusters as well. What began as a crisis intervention in one school has now become proactive intervention in over 65 public schools in Dallas County and parts of Fort Worth. In 2006, The National Church Adopt-a-School Initiative was officially formed to both train and equip churches on how to replicate this proven model of social outreach in their area. NCAASI promotes community revitalization through church-based social services by leveraging the existing structures of both churches and schools.
