Impact
Bringing Community Schools to Life
Lompoc Unified School District
Community Systems Consulting has supported Lompoc Unified School District from the initial writing of a community schools planning grant through ongoing implementation of community schools in eight schools. In addition to increasing students’ and families’ engagement and the relevance of instruction, Community Schools may partner with local agencies and government on academics, health and social services, youth development, and more to improve student outcomes.
Together, we secured more than $9 million for Lompoc Unified’s Community Schools journey. We worked together to engage district administrators, principals, and other stakeholders throughout the process, which included gap analyses, updated data collection and governance practices, improvement planning, and onboarding of new Community Schools Coordinators. We also led the piloting and implementation of Findhelp, an online platform that can help schools connect families to services in the community.
Through our ongoing partnership with Lompoc Unified, we continue to provide strategic guidance that connects a vision for graduates’ success in today’s world with operational reality — always keeping student and family needs at the center.
A United Platform for Social Services Referrals
Cottage Health & Findhelp
As part of a multi-year strategic partnership with Cottage Center for Population Health, Community Systems Consulting facilitated a community-driven process to identify an online platform for closed-loop referrals for social services.
Through a process that involved researching options, community discussions, and focus groups with healthcare providers, social service agencies, and families, we facilitated the collaborative adoption of Findhelp — an online platform for referrals and whole-person care. We supported the development of an implementation pilot with careful attention to user needs and workflow integration. After being re-engaged a few years later, our role has evolved to support integration of the platform throughout the county: working closely with Cottage Health and Findhelp to strengthen implementation of both license holders including healthcare providers and school districts and community-based organizations utilizing Findhelp’s free tools.
Our work has emphasized practical use cases and sustainable coordination across sectors. We are pleased to support Cottage Health’s efforts to strengthen the system of care in Santa Barbara County through coordinated, system-wide use of a tool that promotes whole person care.
Strengthening the Family Resource Workforce
Network of Family Resource Centers of Santa Barbara County
The Network of Family Resource Centers of Santa Barbara County partnered with Community Systems Consulting to strengthen its service delivery capacity. Together, we developed professional development infrastructure for staff across the network’s member organizations — an efficient way to ensure staff has access to the latest evidence-based, trauma-informed practices.
An online learning management system hosts original courses in English and Spanish tailored to the needs of family resource staff. To accommodate different learning styles, there are self-paced online courses, facilitated virtual training sessions, in-person workshops, and peer learning circles. Partnerships with the California Family Resource Association and California Training Institute give staff access to even more than locally developed content.
To date, more than 130 professionals have successfully completed more than 300 courses, strengthening the network’s member organization capacity and the quality of services offered to families.
