University faculty members develop the curriculum in conjunction with the public school teachers, and university students help teach courses in the schools and work with students as mentors and tutors. In some schools, health is the organizing theme of the learning unit. The curriculum is built around health issues, and the students work in local health agencies. After-school offerings include such courses as health awareness, landscaping and beautification, and health careers, with a homework center, a peer mediation program, and a computer center. Evening programs and a Saturday community school provide students and their families with free educational, recreational, and cultural events.
Some schools have a social work office and medical and dental screening.
University faculty and students work with principals and teachers to transform the school buildings into community centers. Student art projects become attractive murals that decorate hallways. Students and staff perform theatrical events that trace local history for the whole community. They also dig up concrete playgrounds and replace them with gardens, which produce vegetables that they sell in the school store. The Beacons model, pioneered in New York City through the Department of Youth and Community Development, picks up where the school system leaves off.