Today, many communities are expanding the roles of their schools and school buildings. This development is reversing a trend dominant for several decades, which has alienated the school from much of the community. This report focuses on community uses for local schools--how the role of the schoolhouse has changed over time and how four medium-size cities are currently returning the schoolhouse to the center of public life. The Pew Partnership for Civic Change recently asked over 100 cities with populations between 50,000 and 100,00 to describe their own successful civic collaborations. The following four projects are described: (1) centralizing family social services in three elementary schools in Charleston, West Virginia; (2) revitalizing the neighborhood in Utica, New York; (3) creating portable youth program centers in Visalia, California; and (4) establishing supplemental programs for middle-school students in Waco, Texas. Conclusions are that community use of school facilities can build neighborhood cohesion, positive community-school relations, and improved family-teacher relationships. (LMI)