After talks about the Full Circle initiative became more serious, Young approached Ed School Dean Kathleen McCartney, who expressed enthusiasm about the program, Harris says.

Harris also asked Canada for advice on the project when he visited the Ed School last month. Harris says Canada was supportive of the project and urged her to get the partnering agencies in place immediately.

Harris said she hopes to agree with the Ed School on a memorandum of understanding between Harvard and Full Circle at the beginning of the academic year. Citing the preliminary nature of the discussion, Ed School officials declined to comment on Harvard’s involvement.

Though partnerships have yet to be officially tied down, many civic leaders have said they are excited about the Full Circle initiative.

“It’s all supposed to be very intentional work, and it’s a great opportunity to take all these resources that are happening in Cambridge,” says Nancy Tauber, a former School Committee member.

IN THE ZONE

Though Full Circle has generated much enthusiasm in Cambridge, financing for the project has yet to be secured.

According to Lori Likis, chief planning officer for Cambridge public schools, financing for Full Circle will include funds from the Department of Human Services Programs, resources allocated to Cambridge public schools, and other funding put toward the Cambridge Innovation Agenda in the 2013 budget.

Likis says that the initiative has also looked to other sources for financial support.

Full Circle is known among educators and policymakers as a wraparound zone, a city-led initiative that seeks to make social services and support more accessible and foster the creation of educational resources.

Wraparound zones elsewhere have received funding and support from Massachusett’s federally-funded Race to the Top program. However, Cambridge’s Full Circle was not eligible for funding due to restrictions stipulated by the state. Likis and other Full Circle proponents pushed to receive an exception, but it was not granted.

Jesse Dixon, who heads the Massachusetts Department of Education’s Office of District and School Turnaround, says that while the state would consider funding initiatives such as Full Circle, the guidelines regulating Race to the Top funding might confine the project’s development.

Under the initiative, cities must commit $100,000 of their Race to the Top money to the zone and must follow a prescriptive approach for the modeling and implementation of the wraparound zone.

Cambridge’s vision for Full Circle does not fall under these guidelines, according to Dixon.

“[Cambridge has] found their own way of doing this work, which isn’t 100 percent aligned with our vision,” Dixon says.

Nevertheless, those involved in the planning of Full Circle say they will continue to work toward establishing this project.

“We’re eager to get Full Circle up and running, develop the partnerships, assess the effectiveness of that, and then decide whether or not to expand,” Likis says.

—Staff writer Kerry M. Flynn can be reached at kflynn@college.harvard.edu.