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| History |
Beginnings
The Chula Vista Community Collaborative originally grew out of a Healthy Start Planning Grant that was awarded to Vista Square Elementary in May 1993. With encouragement from the South Bay Human Services Council, a coalition of human service agencies and Vista Square staff began a needs assessment of the community, which was completed in January 1993. The traditional school staff could not address the assessed needs adequately, so in an attempt to bring more services to the Vista Square community, a Healthy Start Planning Grant application was submitted in January 1993. The first Vista Square Planning Grant meeting was held on August 4, 1993 and was attended by representatives from the Chula Vista Elementary School District, the Social Security Administration, the City of Chula Vista, South Bay Family YMCA, Episcopal Community Services Head Start, Vista Hill, and the Human Services Council. This group met monthly to plan with the community. Building on strengths and determining strategies, the group wrote a successful Healthy Start Operational Grant, which was awarded May 1995. With Healthy Start funding and support from many partners; BEACON Family Resource Center was opened on Vista Square campus to support families by providing holistic integrated services.
Expansion of the Family Resource Centers
Since 1995, the number of Family Resource Centers operated under the CVCC has grown to six. The commitment of schools and other partners to work together to support Chula Vista’s youth and families set the stage for a high level of coordination and integration among service providers. Healthy Start funding has facilitated the establishment of the FRCs by providing for the purchase of relocatable buildings and paying the salaries of key staff members for three years or more. In 1998, Rice Elementary and Chula Vista High School received a Healthy Start Operational Grant and opened New Directions Family Resource Center on the Rice campus. In 1999, Loma Verde Elementary and Castle Park Middle received an operational grant and opened Fair Winds Family Resource Center on the Loma Verde campus. In 2000, Otay and Montgomery Elementaries received their Healthy Start operational grant and opened Rayo de Esperanza Family Resource Center in the MAAC Service Center building adjacent to the Otay Elementary campus. In 2001, Palomar High School received a Healthy Start operational grant and implemented Open Door Youth and Family Resource Center, which also serves the families of Harborside Elementary. And finally, in 2003 Montgomery Middle School and Silver Wing Elementary received an operational grant and opened Luz del Sol Family Resource Center on the Montgomery Middle School campus. The FRCs have close relationships with the schools in the community, but it is important to remember that the FRCs offer services and opportunities to anyone who asks for assistance. The community has been welcomed onto school campuses to take advantage of the expanded resources made available through the work of the CVCC.
Funding
The CVCC continues to function as an effective mechanism for coordinating and integrating services both at the FRCs and throughout the city. The collaborative now also faces the challenge of securing long-term sustainability for the Family Resource Centers and other innovative mechanisms that can maximize the value of local resources by increasing the level of coordination among local service providers. School site funds from schools in both Chula Vista Elementary and Sweetwater Union High School Districts and a blend of other funding sources will provide for the operation of the FRCs beyond the expenditure of Healthy Start funds. Collaborative members together will maintain a vision for what the FRCs will look like, and how they will operate, into the future
One notable partner at this early stage was the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, which provided funding to support collaboration through its Youth Pilot Program (AB1741) beginning in 1994. This funding continued for six years, and it underlined the dual nature of the CVCC: providing services directly through its FRCs but also coordinating and helping to shape services that were provided by other agencies, community-based organizations, local governments, and schools.
The CVCC Today
The advisory group, which first met in August 1994, was eventually named the Chula Vista Cluster Coordinating Council. This was later shortened to Chula Vista Coordinating Council (CVCC), and in 2003 to commemorate its 10th anniversary the CVCC changed its name to the Chula Vista Community Collaborative (the initials however, remain the same). In an effort to inform other schools about the services available through a collaborative model, funds were made available to Chula Vista schools for additional nurse time as well as for small grants which gave schools an opportunity to try inventive approaches to service delivery.
The Chula Vista Community Collaborative (CVCC) makes productive collaboration happen for agencies, organizations, and institutions that serve the entire City of Chula Vista. It also enables residents to become active in designing programs and strategies to improve their community. Bound together by a common interest in creating a vibrant community of empowered residents and strong, self-sufficient families, members of the CVCC work together to engineer solutions for local problems, ensure that resources are being efficiently mobilized for the greatest benefit of the community, and identify opportunities to build on the assets that exist within the City of Chula Vista and each one of its residents. The impact of the CVCC on Chula Vista has been enormous over the past tweleve years, though much of the organization’s best work has been achieved quietly and at very little cost to the City. The success of the CVCC is the best argument for its continued necessity.
Created on 2004-02-06 16:28:28 by admin
Updated on 2010-07-08 13:42:48 by hnemour
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