On July 28, leaders from more than 20 local, county, and state agencies came together in Mojave to explore how they could collaborate to expand the behavioral health services available to East Kern County youth and families.

“Cross-Sector Collaboration for Children and Youth Behavioral Health in East Kern County” brought together participants from a wide range of systems from education and behavioral health to social services, probation, and others. At the event, hosted by CYBHI, Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Kern County Behavioral Health and Kern County Department of Human Services and facilitated by WestEd, participants reflected about the strengths, hopes and needs of the people they served, the unique challenges in the region and the resources that existed to help address them.

This idea – identifying resources and building connections to better integrate services and supports, formed the core of the event. Participants collaborated to create an ecosystem map which outlined the services and resources provided by the many agencies serving East Kern County youth and families, highlighted spaces with potential for collaboration and spotlighted opportunities for additional service.  

In the afternoon, the discussion focused on resources that were available to help them better serve East Kern County kids and families, both from state investments and from within the community. CYBHI Director Melissa Stafford Jones outlined several of the initiative’s workstreams which could help support their efforts, such as trauma-informed training, workforce development investments, the new statewide all-payer fee schedule, a new behavioral health virtual services platform and others. Dr. Nora Zamora, executive director of the Alameda County Office of Education’s Whole Child Programs Department discussed the California Community Schools Framework and the ways the state could help them support implementation. 

Over the course of the day, participants built new connections, explored opportunities for cooperation and planted seeds for future partnerships. Perhaps the clearest example came after someone mentioned that they had transportation challenges in distributing food to their families. The superintendent of a local school district spoke up. “Please reach out to other school districts,” she said. “We’ve got busses. We can help get the people to the resources they need.”

Each of the organizations at the July event is already making a positive impact in their communities. Integrating their efforts through shared goals, shared resources and shared efforts can help magnify that impact and create a stronger support network for the youth and families of East Kern County. In the words of one participant, “This is just what I was hoping to find today. There are great people here who want to coordinate, and that’s fantastic.”