Dear ICPC Members and Community
Partners,
As 2017
swiftly comes to a close and a New Year begins, I would like to take a moment
to reflect with you about the past year. I’m sure I am not alone in my concern
and uncertainty over the direction our nation is going particularly in regards
to how we as nation provide services and supports to children, youth and
families.
With all the concern
about changes being made at the national level, the work of fostering the
conditions for thriving children, families, and communities falls more squarely
on the shoulders of local public systems and our community partners. It is
increasingly essential to focus our efforts locally and collaboratively,
reaching across systems and siloes, to identify key opportunities for
innovative approaches to building lasting impact and change. Leveraging the
deep reservoirs of knowledge, resiliency, compassion, and experience that exist
in our agencies and communities will support the essential work of the coming
year and beyond.
Amid much
uncertainty however, I still maintain a sense of optimism. As my role as the director of Alameda County’s Interagency Children’s Policy
Council, the County’s collaborative effort to explore issues impacting
children, youth, and families from a cross-system perspective, provides me with
a unique view of all of the myriad ways we are working locally to improve
outcomes for our children and youth.
To guide our
collaborative work, we have identified a
number of key indicators that provide some insight into how our children
and youth are faring. The good news is that in 2017 we have seen significant
positive movement on many of our indicators, however, as we know a closer
examination reveals persistent disparities and improvement gaps across
different groups in most indicator categories. We know that deep underlying
causes drive many of these problems, and despite gains, our communities of
color and vulnerable populations face significant challenges.
With that in
mind, I want to take a moment to express gratitude for ICPC member agencies,
community partners, and all who are working tirelessly to ensure that all
Alameda County children and youth are healthy, safe, and thriving. This
innovative, collaborative work at the local level is the key to increasing
positive outcomes. To be successful, we must also continue to find ways to
value, recognize, and leverage the resources and resiliency already existing in
our communities and in our young people and families. Providing opportunities
for family leadership, youth voice, and community involvement in problem
solving is essential to finding solutions that actually work. Parent advisory
committees like those for social services and home visiting are essential to
ensure our systems are working for our families. Our ICPC birth-5 work group is
working to increase those opportunities, and initiatives like the Alameda
County Father’s Corps are helping to ensure that our systems are equipped
to engage and support all family members in meaningful ways.
We must also consider how we hold ourselves accountable and ensure that we are good stewards of our resources by investing in strategies that have lasting impact and begin to reduce the disparities that we continue to see. Within the County, we have been working to institutionalize an accountability framework that will help us understand the impact of our collective investments, and we will continue that work in 2018. Throughout the region, a number of organizations and initiatives are working to use Results Based Accountability or other frameworks to better measure outcomes. Along with this localized work, we will continue to work with our agencies partners to identify opportunities for change at the state level and advocate for the interests of our children and youth. Our legislative platform outlines our philosophy and we will continue to provide a table to identify impacts to our children and youth. This allows us to better coordinate our resources and initiatives.
At ICPC we look forward to continuing to provide a space for cross system collaboration, improved communication, and the development of innovative policies that make Alameda County a healthy, safe and thriving place for all of its children and youth.
In Partnership,
Julie Hadnot, Director
Alameda County Interagency Children's Policy Council
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