Bold By Choice Podcast | S3 E7: Hear from Mike Chalupa & LaShawn Bowser

School as Community

A reflection from Mike Chalupa and LaShawn Bowser, City Neighbors Foundation, INC.

City Neighbors started with families in a living room asking a question that still guides us: if we could build the best public school experience we can imagine, what would it be. Those families weren’t looking for something exclusive. They were looking for something true. A school where kids could learn through real projects, through art, through relationships, and through a community that treated them with dignity.

Nearly 20 years later, we’re a family of three schools in Baltimore: two K–8 campuses and a high school, serving about 900 students total. The work has grown, but the commitment hasn’t changed. We believe students thrive in intentionally inclusive, diverse learning environments where they are known, valued, and invited into ownership of their learning. Better together isn’t a slogan for us. It’s a daily practice.

For one of us, this work is rooted in a middle school memory: staring at the second hand on the classroom clock, waiting for the bell to ring. The strongest feeling wasn’t curiosity. It was a relief at the thought of leaving. That experience became a kind of design problem we’ve been trying to solve ever since. School should not feel like something students survive. It should feel like something they belong to.

For the other, the “why” became clear working with students connected to the juvenile detention system. Patterns were impossible to ignore. When students had a hard day in the classroom, it showed up later as behavior, shutdown, or struggle. When students felt seen and capable, their whole sense of possibility shifted. That’s when it clicked: the learning environment shapes identity and trajectory. If we design school with intention and care, we can change lives.

Our approach is project-based and arts-integrated, inspired by Reggio Emilia’s view of the child as capable, creative, and worthy of deep respect. That belief isn’t theoretical. It shapes what we ask students to do, the learning spaces we build, and the way we treat student ideas, questions, and identity as central to school life.

One moment this year captured what we hope City Neighbors offers. At the beginning of the year, we interviewed all new students, not to screen them, but to get to know them. One student told us she had moved often and had become very good at changing herself to fit each new school environment. She said it like a skill she had perfected. Weeks later, we checked in again and she said, “I feel like I can be the best version of myself here.” That sentence is the work. When students can stop performing and start being, learning becomes possible in a different way.

Our schools look like Baltimore. About 70% of our students identify as Black, roughly 20–25% as white, with growing Latinx and Asian populations, and about one in four students has an IEP. We stay intentionally small because relationships are the foundation. Small schools make it harder for students to disappear, and easier for adults to notice what students need. Our high school draws students from dozens of middle schools across the city, and we work every day to ensure students feel seen and supported within a complex, real-world community.

We also want to be honest: this is human work. Not every day is smooth. Students bring real stories and real needs. Teachers are constantly learning. Leadership requires humility. What we try to protect is a culture where it’s safe to grow. We encourage students to treat struggle as part of learning, not proof they don’t belong. We try to model that as adults too.

At its best, City Neighbors is a place where students build skills and confidence through meaningful work, and where they learn that their voice matters. That’s what we mean by better together. It’s a community designed so young people don’t have to shrink to belong.

Listen to the Episode

🎧 Season 3, Episode 7 – “School as Community”
Featuring Mike Chalupa and LaShawn Bowser, City Neighbors Foundation, INC. (Baltimore, MD)