Fairfield-Suisun USD: Developing a community-centered and multi-partner approach to helping unhoused students
This Bay Area district is highly diverse, economically challenged, and underserved by philanthropy.
Project profile: Fairfield and communities throughout Solano County benefit from a network of dedicated agencies committed to serving our families who are at-risk of or are facing houselessness, but lack of coordination has limited their effectiveness. Our multi-agency team developed an innovative prototype of a multi-pronged approach to improving identification and service delivery for our unhoused neighbors, with a particular focus on meeting the needs of our most vulnerable youth and their families.
We will establish a system to improve the identification of families in need of assistance, along with an efficient user-friendly platform for families to request help. This platform will provide a way for multiple agencies to efficiently and transparently collaborate to meet a user’s range of needs, while still maintaining confidentiality protections. One of the most essential components of this approach is to truly center the voice of those in our community who are seeking support.
“The design sprint that the Fairfield-Suisun team embarked upon led us down a path of challenging our current systems and thought processes. By co-creating ‘murals’ we found our voice and were challenged to think creatively. Over the seven weeks, we grew together as partners and created a safe environment where we challenged each other's ideas. Ultimately, we developed a prototype that will better serve our community; but we also learned methods we can adopt to improve our own leadership in other aspects of our personal and professional lives.”
— Design team, Fairfield-Suisun Union School District
Design is an iterative process where we share work in progress. Over the course of two months, Fairfield-Suisun practiced design thinking and created a prototype. See below for a video of this early prototype.
Year 1 Update
To meet the program objective, our design team collaborated with local organizations and community partners. We used a multi-pronged approach to improve identification of, and service delivery to, our most vulnerable youth and their families. Unsheltered youth, those at risk of becoming unsheltered, and foster youth receive priority for the resources and supports.
The design team broke into two committees:
1. Enhanced and Improved Case Management (covers transportation, childcare, triage, nighttime shelter, training of school staff, identification of unsheltered youth, etc.)
2. Safe and Enriching After School In-Person Support for Unsheltered/Foster Youth (creation of central learning hubs, culturally responsive parenting program, parent-teacher home visiting program, tutoring, etc.)
Although the work uncovered many barriers related to policies and regulations, our design team was flexible and creative. Rather than letting the "red tape" stop progress, we found innovative strategies to circumvent barriers. For example, contracting with another organization that had the ability to quickly release funds to support families with urgent needs. With time, several of the barriers were overcome; however this process delayed the ultimate goal of supporting our most vulnerable youth and their families. Fairfield-Suisun is continuing this project in the 2022-23 school year now that a solid system is in place.
To learn more about this project contact Elizabeth Teresi at LizTe@fsusd.org