The Root of the Alliance
The Alliance was born from the corporate conviction that Community Life at CCA has two layers of meaning (1) the intrinsic Inner-Community we experience as an academic body – students, families, faculty, staff and board, and (2) the surrounding Outer-Community – the capital region of Concord and beyond. Though the first of these requires our primary daily attention, the fact is that its health is maximized by an alertness toward the second for we believe the Christian is not called only to be a citizen of “Church-world” or “Christian-school-world,” but rather of a greater Kingdom, that of Heaven coming down to earth as emulated for us by the life and divinity of Jesus Christ.

Caring for the Inner-Community
As a member of the Alliance, a parent, grandparent, neighbor, or other friend of CCA inherits the opportunity to build integrity and model service to the youth of CCA, leaving an enduring legacy. True beauty is seen when Alliance members come forth to serve alongside the students modeling service, spending time with them, and confirming their value in the midst of those activities. Fully present adults, reinforcing the joy gained in giving of oneself, invest in the lives of young people who so need encouragement. How could youth help but catch the greater message that we are made for such things?

The Alliance provides CCA with volunteers who serve in a myriad of ways: assisting in the Quest After-School Program, distributing milk during snack and lunch, assisting in the classroom, giving special career presentations, providing snacks for special events, directing traffic during drop-off and pick-up times, helping with building maintenance and clean-up, driving to field trips and sporting events, and so on. The list is truly endless.

Investing in the Outer-Community
Jesus spent time in the synagogues, yes, but he was more often in the villages and on the streets. If we are to take the Christ-following life seriously, we cannot dismiss the model he gave us for the use of time and energy. If the CCA Mission of Building Integrity & Modeling Service has resolve attached to it, then here is where it is fleshed out. The vision is to unite a biblically-based educational experience with an intentional hands-on service learning program. Rather than perpetuate service projects as an “add-on” to student life, service learning is a method of teaching through which students apply newly-acquired academic skills and knowledge to address real-life needs in their own communities. The service options are unlimited, moving students from an inner-community focus to an outer-community investment.

This vision for the Alliance has yet to be fully realized. It will be a few years before some of the forward-looking plans for reaching out to the Outer-Community will become reality, but they are a part of what we aspire to be as an institution. As plans for the Academy take hold, we dream of CCA partnering with community-wide organizations and becoming an inviting and welcoming presence to all who enter. As a first step in this direction, Alliance members are invited to donate up to half of their required volunteer hours to another non-profit organization which has a purpose consistent with CCA's Community Life Statement.

We see the opportunity to share our facilities as an extension of the Alliance as it testifies to the students that we as a school (as their models) hold things like buildings and land loosely, recognizing the difference between Him who owns them, and we who steward them. We want the students to see parents and staff working alongside people in the community, having fun, serving one another, providing opportunities to intersect with those who see themselves as outside of the community of Christ to show His love, to share their burdens, to connect in a way that Christ would if He were on earth today. Where the temptation could be to isolate ourselves within a beautiful facility, CCA is called to branch out, to become indispensable as an Inner-community, to the priceless Outer-community of people for whom Jesus died.

Practically Speaking
The Alliance is unique in its formation and has already proven to be a rich blessing to the Academy. Without a doubt, Alliance members have helped meet the functional needs of CCA, thereby saving the school in operating expenses. The intended partnership between CCA and the Alliance is realized when these savings are passed on through tuition discounts and scholarship funds to member families.

At the point of registration, our Volunteer Coordinator collects data from every Alliance member (1) determining areas of personal interest for serving, (2) aligning interests with opportunities by providing the data to faculty and staff via our school data system, (3) conducting background checks and confirming safe driving records, and (4) daily sustaining the program on the campus. As needs arise, Alliance members are called upon to assist. Members simply complete the Service Hours Tracking Form with their service hours and return it to the Volunteer Coordinator to enter into CCA’s information system. This allows accurate tabulation of hours which our Volunteer Coordinator monitors on a regular basis.

Membership in the Alliance requires each family engage the following three ways:

(1) Submit required documents and forms to register;

(2) Donate $720 annually

(3) Contribute 10 service hours per month. The entire 10 hours may be served at CCA; as an alternative, a minimum of 5 of those hours must be served at CCA with the balance donated to an outside non-profit organization whose purpose is consistent with CCA's Community Life Statement. The total requirement per year is 100 hours of which a minimum of 50 hours must be served at CCA.

Please note that fulfillment of the monetary donation as well the service hours may be shared by multiple family members, including grandparents, or other extended family. If there is someone interested in contributing to your child(ren)’s education, these are two ways they may do so. Also note that hours can be banked for application to months ahead of time. Special consideration regarding Alliance requirements may be granted to single-parent families. Though we desire that all who sign up for the Alliance experience the joy of service as well as the tangible tuition break, anyone who chooses not to fulfill their Alliance commitment will simply not receive the tuition discount.