San Diego, CA – Today, the Clinton Foundation, The San Diego Foundation, and the County of San Diego convened key thought leaders and local stakeholders to launch a detailed plan to improve the health and well-being of children and families in the San Diego region. This “Strong Families, Thriving Communities Blueprint for Action” focuses on increasing equity and effectiveness for families who interact with San Diego’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems by aligning policies, practices, and resources.
For the past year, representatives from CHMI, The San Diego Foundation, and the County of San Diego engaged with more than 100 community partners – the Strong Families, Thriving Communities Coalition – in a process that identified key challenges and solutions through bold action steps for children and families involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
The Blueprint for Action contains 29 Bold Action Steps in four key focus areas:
- Improving health behaviors
- Improving access to care
- Addressing social and economic factors
- Improving the physical environment
The Blueprint for Action contains specific action steps in each of these key focus areas – all of which community leaders have recommended, weighed in on, and are invested in. These Bold Action Steps include:
- Having health care providers in the community build in trauma-informed care and resiliency-building approaches into their standard practices. Making these established medical approaches standard can help children and young adults who suffer a traumatic experience be better able to cope and move forward.
- Building on work to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system by making stakeholders more involved. This expands existing work to reduce disparities, by engaging a wider range of partners in the community.
- Sharing more data between the County and health care providers in the community. Currently, the County provides aggregated data to providers – sharing more relevant data can help individuals in the child welfare system get more effective care and make gaps in treatment occur less frequently.
“The past year, we have worked with over a hundred different stakeholders in the community to do an in-depth evaluation into the child welfare and juvenile justice systems in San Diego,” said Alex Chan, CEO of the Clinton Health Matters Initiative. “The result is today’s Blueprint – a number of significant, actionable steps that build on the existing work of the County, The San Diego Foundation, and countless others in the community. Working hand-in-hand with a growing coalition of partners to implement the steps in the Blueprint, these efforts will help improve the health and well-being of children across San Diego.”
“Our future is at stake,” shared Kathlyn Mead, President & CEO of The San Diego Foundation. “Our partnership aims to advance systems change and improve outcomes for some of our most vulnerable children and families. Partners and coalition members are unified in our desire that all San Diego families have the opportunity to live well and thrive. We commend the coalition for development of and dedication to this blueprint for action, and we will continue to support its implementation.”
“The Blueprint for Action is an exciting development that builds on the success we have established through Live Well San Diego, our regional vision for healthy, safe and thriving communities,” said San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox. “We want to ensure that every child and family has an opportunity to reach their highest potential, and the Blueprint represents the input of a number of stakeholders on how we can work together to make that possible. As the old adage says: If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.”
The Blueprint for Action model is being implemented by the Clinton Foundation Health Matters Initiative (CHMI). The model is currently adopted in areas across the country, including Adams County, Mississippi; Central Arkansas; Knox County, Illinois; Northeast Florida; and Greater Houston, Texas. The Coachella Valley of California recently completed its five-year Blueprint implementation and is continuing to work to improve health and wellness. See more information about the results here and here.
About the Clinton Foundation
Building on a lifetime of public service, President Clinton established the Clinton Foundation on the simple belief that everyone deserves a chance to succeed, everyone has a responsibility to act, and we all do better when we work together. For nearly two decades, that premise has energized the work of the Foundation in overcoming complex challenges and improving the lives of people across the United States and around the world.
As an operating foundation, we work on issues directly or with strategic partners from the business, government, and nonprofit sectors to create economic opportunity, improve public health, and inspire civic engagement and service. Our programs are designed to make a real difference today while serving as proven models for tomorrow. The goal of every effort is to use available resources to get better results faster – at the lowest possible cost.
We firmly believe that when diverse groups of people bring resources together in the spirit of true cooperation, transformative ideas will emerge to drive life-changing action. Learn more at http://www.clintonfoundation.org, on Facebook at Facebook.com/ClintonFoundation and on Twitter @ClintonFdn.
About The San Diego Foundation
The San Diego Foundation maximizes the impact of charitable giving. We mobilize philanthropic resources to advance quality of life, increase social impact and champion civic engagement. Our regional community foundation is engaged in a diverse array of program areas, including: Arts, Culture & Humanity; Civil Society and Social Innovation; Disaster Preparedness & Relief; Education; Environment; Health & Human Services; Housing & Shelter; Public Safety, and Youth Development. As identified in Our Greater San Diego Vision, TSDF is committed to collaboration and partnerships that accelerate positive change within the framework of WELL — Work, Enjoy, Live & Learn. For more than 40 years, The Foundation and our donors have granted more than $1 billion to grow a vibrant San Diego region Learn more on our website, on Facebook at Facebook.com/TSDF1 and on Twitter @sd_fdn.
Contacts
Clinton Foundation Press Office, press@clintonfoundation.org
The San Diego Foundation, theresan@sdfoundation.org, 619-890-1378
Fact Sheet: Strong Families, Thriving Communities Blueprint for Action Launch
