Projects by Service
Strategic Planning
City of Irvine Strategic Plan for Children, Youth and Families: The City of Irvine turned to G&A to facilitate a comprehensive planning process that resulted in a 5 year plan for Children, Youth and Families. We facilitated five task forces, community and youth input processes, and the creation of a plan that reflected community needs and resources, as well as best practices in each priority area. In support of this effort G&A completed extensive best practice research in relation to health & fitness, child care, underage drinking, mental health and assistance to families in need. In addition, we convened a number of national and regional experts who will advise Irvine stakeholders in relation to early childhood development and child health. The plan received unanimous approval from the City Council.
Oakland Fund for Children and Youth (OFCY), Strategic Plan: G&A led a planning process for the City’s major fund for children and youth services. This process resulted in the development of OFCY’s funding priorities and strategies to serve over 20,000 children and youth with their $10 million annual budget for the four years from 2006 to 2010. We engaged the fund’s policy group in redefining the organization’s mission, vision and values to guide the planning process. We also conducted community research on a variety of indicators of the health and well being of Oakland’s youth over the past five years, identifying important trends in youth development. We performed GIS mapping to depict the population characteristics in relation to Oakland’s districts and neighborhoods and thereby identified gaps in services to children. G&A interviewed and held focus groups with parents, youth and community stakeholders to gain input on the needs and priorities for services to Oakland’s youth. We also worked with Oakland’s Youth Commission to conduct a day-long youth summit where participants, ages eight to 18 from select neighborhoods in the City, built models of their neighborhoods, identifying features that would improve the quality of life in their community. An outgrowth of this process was the development of two key strategic partnerships, one between the City and the school district to expand the scope and vastly improve the quality of after school programs. The second was to develop a partnership between the city and the county’s First 5 program to develop a series of innovative early childhood programs designed to increase school readiness.
Family Education and Resource Center Planning in Alameda County: G&A conducted the planning process for Alameda County’s Behavioral Health Care Services’ Family Education and Resource Center (FERC), which is a Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funded program and is the first of its kind in California. The FERC serves family members of consumers participating in MHSA programs from all age groups. A primary goal of this program is to engage family members from traditionally un-served and under-served communities across Alameda County, which involves a community engagement and input process. Gibson & Associates coordinated and conducted all aspects of the FEC planning, including facilitation of an advisory committee, research on evidence-based practices, interviews with stakeholders, consumers and family members and the creation of a written plan and budget for the operation of the Family Education and Resource Center.
District Program Improvement Planning: G&A worked with San Francisco, Oakland Unified and John Swett Unified District to conduct intensive needs assessments and identify plans to implement corrective actions to implement necessary strategic and urgent changes to address student needs. These processes involved stakeholders at all levels, from parents and community members, to students, and district leaders. In identifying and facilitating actions and meetings, G&A used achievement data, survey data, and evidence-based research practices to help identify strategic and effective methods of eliminating the achievement gap and improving urban education.
