CDI Model

CDI is an independent, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization formed to support the community of Manhattan Comprehensive Night& Day High School. It provides assistance to both individual students and to the school as a whole. In supporting the school, CDI functions, in effect, as what colleges and private schools often call the Office of Institutional Advancement, managing fundraising, advocacy, public relations and public affairs. Observers have commented that this arrangement combines the best features of private and charter schools with those of public education.

While CDI's Executive Director sits on the Principal's Cabinet with the Assistant Principals and as a community representative on the School Leadership Team , CDI does not play a formal role in operating Manhattan Comprehensive, which, as a regular New York City public high school, is governed, staffed, funded and administered like any neighborhood high school.

CDI's activities are funded nearly entirely with private funds from foundations, corporations and individual donors. It is governed by an independent board of directors including business people, philanthropists, policy advisors, volunteers, the principal and the head of the teacher's union chapter.

For more information, contact: John Mancuso, CDI's Executive Director at: