HUMAN CAPITAL
INITIATIVES:
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Community Justice Network
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K-16 Collaborative
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Pre-Conception to Five
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UCSF Fresno School of Medicine
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Upskilling
Community Justice Network
Lead Organization(s): Community Justice Center, Building Healthy Communities, Faith in Action and other partners
Here we find a network of various CBOs that are addressing justice issues like reentry supports, mass incarceration, police reform, and addressing barriers to employment. Eventually an actual brick and mortar location will be created so wrap around services can be provided to individuals that all the CBOs are supporting.
Outcomes Update:
Hired CJN Executive Director, Marcel Woodruff, who has extensive experience in various aspects of justice work. Developing data collection process currently.
K-16 Collaborative
Lead Organization(s): Fresno-Madera K-16 Collaborative and several other partners
Creating multiple opportunities for high school student post high school graduation is the focus K-16. Increasing dual enrollment so students can graduate with an AA degree, offering more pathways to vocational learning and more supports to place graduates at junior colleges, and 4-year universities are also focal points. This work is focused in our 4-county central valley of Fresno, Madera, Kings and Tulare counties.
Outcomes Update:
Gleaned $18M from the State to expand from 2 counties to 4. Built collaborative tables with all 4 counties and currently are receiving planning goals from each county.
Pre-Conception to FIVE
Lead Organization(s): Fresno First 5, Fresno Cradle to Career and several other partners
Two major areas in this initiative 1) Maternal Health and 2) Early Learning. Pre-5 is focusing on Black women and working with those that are pregnant, so they have increase health outcomes. Addressing our disparities in maternal death, pre-term birth and infant mortality for our Black families is priority in this area. For early learning, we are trying to address our shortage of early learning opportunities for our families across the county by investing in new sites where there are major gaps as well as developing a workforce from within the neighborhoods we want to serve.
Outcomes Update:
A local Black Doula program has launched in Fresno with 30 individuals currently being trained. First two cohorts of birth justice advocates trained and organized.75 residents trained in the Resident’s Council program.
UCSF Fresno School of Medicine
Lead Organization: UCSF Fresno
Due to a shortage of physicians of color in our valley, UCSF set out to cultivate middle and high school students to get on a path toward medical school. There’s now a developed pipeline from these middle schools to junior college to Fresno State, UC Merced and UCSF San Francisco medical school. This work is now focused on developing more residency programs in the valley as that has been a good marker on determining where the residents end up practicing long term.
Outcomes Update:
Launched the San Joaquin Valley Prime program which creates a pathway for a cohort of students that will move from Fresno State to UC Merced to UCSF San Francisco to eventually get them to do their internship in Fresno. Built partnership with Fresno City College on creating a pathway to Fresno State for students interested in the medical field.
Upskilling
Lead Organization(s): Career Nexus, Fresno Business Council, San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing Alliance
This is workforce hub that invests in individuals with various soft-skill trainings then places them in paid internships with local businesses with the goal of the interns landing full time jobs. Career Nexus is very intentional in working with individuals that have multiple barriers to employment which is a large section of our population.
Outcomes Update:
In 2022 they had 283 interns complete the training, 174 have completed their internship or are currently in one and 21 have landed full time, high paying jobs after the internship. They have formed a partnership with the City of Fresno to work with over 80 interns in 2023.