When Bernadette Trapp retired from the Trenton Public School District after nearly four decades of service, she knew she wasn’t stepping away from education – she was stepping further into her purpose. Throughout her career, she had been a teacher, a school-based reading facilitator, a principal, and an administrator, working with special and general education students across all grade levels. From each role, she gained a deep understanding of what helps children thrive: a strong education supported by an equally strong community and family network.
That belief is what inspired her, back in 2015, to partner with Mercer Street Friends and launch the first Community School in Mercer County – an initiative that would begin transforming how schools support students and families. And in 2021, motivated by a desire to broaden that impact, she joined Mercer Street Friends full-time to help grow and strengthen the Community Schools Initiative.
Today, as Director of Community Schools, Bernadette continues to lead with vision, compassion, and a steadfast commitment to ensuring that every child has the support they need to succeed. Her work is not only shaping schools – it’s shaping the future of the communities they serve.
What is a Community School?
Community Schools follow a national model that transforms public elementary and secondary schools into supportive hubs where students and families can learn, grow, and thrive. By partnering with trusted community organizations, these schools bring educational, developmental, family-centered, health, and social services together under one coordinated effort. The result is a nurturing environment that removes barriers to learning and ensures students have what they need to succeed – academically, socially, emotionally, and physically.
Removing Barriers, Building Futures
In Trenton, Mercer Street Friends serves as the lead agency for this vital work, coordinating the Community Schools Initiative across the district. Since stepping into her role as Director, Bernadette has been instrumental in expanding the initiative’s reach and impact.
Under her guidance, Community Schools now operate in four Trenton public schools – Luis Muñoz-Rivera Elementary School, Benjamin C. Gregory Elementary School, Cadwalader Elementary School, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School. And the momentum continues: the model is set to grow beyond Trenton, with Community Schools opening at Klockner Elementary School in Hamilton and Antheil Elementary School in Ewing.
This growth reflects more than program expansion – it reflects Bernadette’s unwavering commitment to strengthening communities and ensuring every child is supported on their path to success.
The Initiative works with families often facing tremendous challenges, from food insecurity to extreme poverty. Outside the classroom stressors like these can deeply affect students’ ability to learn, which in turn impacts their opportunities to build brighter futures.
The Community Schools Initiative addresses these challenges by providing students and their families with the resources and support they need to not only survive but thrive. This includes in-school food pantries and Send Hunger Packing (SHUP) weekend food bag distributions, access to social services and mental health counseling, and cultivating an environment where families and neighbors lift each other up as one integrated community. As Bernadette explains, “It’s not about putting a Band-Aid on everything. It’s about finding ways to give students and families sustainable options so that they can start to do what they need to do to succeed.”
Meeting Families Where They Are: The Philosophy Driving Community Schools
The Mercer Street Friends Community Schools Initiative is grounded in four essential pillars:
- Providing comprehensive student supports
- Expanding learning time and enrichment opportunities
- Engaging families and strengthening community connections
- Promoting collaboration between educators, community partners, and families
But translating these pillars into meaningful action requires more than careful planning, it requires heart. It means noticing students’ needs even when they struggle to articulate them, and meeting families with dignity, compassion, and respect.
For Bernadette, this work is rooted in one guiding belief: meet people where they are, without judgment. It’s a simple principle, yet it shapes every program, every decision, and every partnership within the Community Schools Initiative, becoming a living commitment to understanding and providing opportunities to every student and family.
To hear directly from Bernadette and learn more about the growing Community Schools Initiative, listen to Mercer Street Friends’ episode on the PEI Kids podcast – now available on Spotify.
