Children, Youth and Family Development

G&A has done extensive work in virtually every area of youth and family development. Below is a series of summaries of youth and family development projects. Proposals developed by G&A were awarded over $60 million in funding for youth-family service initiatives. These are presented separately toward the end of this section.

• San Francisco Dept. of Social Services: Office of Child Abuse Prevention Planning Grant
  Despite having never worked with SFDSS and having less than one week to prepare the proposal, a comprehensive grant was prepared describing a proposed planning process calling for the restructuring of the Department's delivery of child and family services. With 48 applications received statewide, only ten awards were made, San Francisco being one. Both proposals were funded ($400,000 and $250,000).
  
  
• Alameda County Department of Social Services: Family Reclaim
  G&A designed Family Reclaim, despite having only three weeks to develop the program and write the proposal, it was one of only ten programs funded nationally by ACYF. The program is a collaboration of East Oakland Youth Development Center, Highland Hospital, and Children's Protective Services. $2 million in funding was received.
  
  
• Black Adoption Placement and Research Center: Special Needs Adoption Program
  In collaboration with the State of California, the Black Adoption Placement and Research Center and the Departments of Social Services in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, and Sacramento, designed and wrote an innovative outreach and placement program targeting African American boys. The program will establish regional centers for the adoption of Special Needs children at churches located in the African American communities in four counties. The proposal was one of only five funded in a national competition and resulted in the BAPRC receiving $750,000 in funding over three years.
  
  
• Black Adoption Placement and Research Center: Post Legal Adoption Services
  As a follow-up to the BAPRC's Special Needs Adoption Program, described above, developed an innovative continuum of peer driven, post legal adoption services that was also one of only five funded nationally. This proposal demonstrates how Gibson & Associates can use one proposal to serve as a magnet for future funding. Proposal was funded for $200,000 over two years.
  
  
• The Center: Families in Transition Program
  G&A developed the program, a collaboration between the Alameda County Healthcare for the Homeless, Oakland Homeless Families Project, The Center, and Berkeley Oakland Support Services, despite only four days to prepare the proposal. The proposal was funded by HUD. $500,000 in funding received.
  
  
• Oakland Unified School District: Primary Intervention Program
  G&A facilitated planning and developed proposal for a Primary Intervention Program for the Oakland Unified School District. Development of the proposal required collaboration among five elementary schools and the district office. Proposal calls for implementing an early intervention program targeting moderate risk children who benefit from daily unstructured play opportunities with a trained counselor. $200,000 in funding received.
  
  
• City of Richmond: YouthBuild Richmond
  G&A collaborated in the design and prepared a Youthbuild grant for the City of Richmond. The program created an innovative partnership between the local city government, Private Industry Council, Building Trades, and Regional Occupation Program and three not for profit housing developers. Proposed program was also linked to REACH Plus a Supportive Housing Program grant. Proposal requested and received $1 million in HUD funding. It was one of only two implementation grants funded in the State of California.
  
  
• Oakland Enhanced Enterprise Community
  In several contexts, G&A has facilitated planning and provided technical assistance in the development of several training, vocational development, and community development partnerships sponsored by the land EEC. Two of those projects, the Joint Community Development project and the Community Outreach Partnership Center are described in the Neighborhood Development section, but other efforts have involved partnerships between the University, private industry, local school districts, and city government. Most recently this involved developing a technology project, the Interactive University that was a partnership among the University, the cities of Oakland and San Francisco and the two school districts for those cities (below) and provided supervisory technical assistance in developing a child care grant for the City of Oakland and Oakland Housing Authority which was also funded ($250,000).
  
  
• Interactive University
  In partnership with the University of California at Berkeley, the cities of Oakland and San Francisco, the San Francisco and Oakland Unified School Districts, and local corporations, G&A developed an innovative technology grant, The Interactive University, linking the University with community institutions in West Oakland and Bayview Hunters Point, as an interactive relationship between the University and the school districts. With almost a thousand applications, the Interactive University received one of only twenty grants. Funded by Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP), US Dept. of Commerce for $750,000 per year.
  
  
• California Foster Youth Services Initiative: San Francisco Department of Human Services/San Francisco Unified School District.
  In the spring of 1999, Gibson and Associates facilitated a community planning process for the San Francisco's new Foster Youth Services system. Because of transient placements, foster youth often do not receive continuing school services. Funded by the state Department of Social Services, the new system will utilize a shared database to track foster youth and provide coordinated child welfare and education services. San Francisco had one of the highest rated plans in the state.
  
  
• Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers: California State University, Hayward
  To improve the technology skills of new K-12 teachers, Gibson and Associates facilitated a joint planning process between California State University, Hayward and New Haven Unified School District of Union City, one of the most technologically advanced school districts in the nation. The collaboration also included Oakland Unified School District, Contra Costa Unified School District, Chabot Observatory, and the Center for Accessible Technology. University instructors will enhance their understanding of technology as a teaching tool by partnering with K-12 teachers who are technology leaders. As a result, technology will be more fully integrated into the preparation of pre-service teaching candidates, who will consequently integrate into their K-12 teaching. Richard Riley, the Secretary of Education, came to New Haven in August 1999 to recognize the promise of the proposal and make the grant announcement. Grant resulted in $1 million in funding.