Bakersfield community collaboratives address challenges through networking

Since 1992, the Kern County Network for Children (KCNC) has prioritized the need for community agencies, organizations and families to work together to address the most critical issues facing children in Kern County.

Since shortly after its inception, KCNC began working with neighborhoods in Bakersfield and throughout Kern County to encourage resource sharing which eliminates barriers to services for children and families. The Neighborhood Partnerships, as they were called, became Family Resource Centers, were formed in the mid-1990s with the help of Healthy Start dollars and the dedication of schools, collaborative members and agencies. Today, the KCNC has a dozen accredited community collaborative sites throughout Kern County.

Three accredited collaboratives currently exist in metropolitan Bakersfield, serving the East Bakersfield, Southeast Bakersfield and Greenfield communities. Each site meets monthly in virtual format to discuss new resources available to families served in the respective communities. One thing that has been lacking in recent years is an active community voice. While the collaboratives exist in a way that allows resource sharing between agencies and organizations, the original intent of creating the collaborative space involved activating the community and addressing opportunities and challenges that existed in neighborhoods served.

The Kern County Network for Children and our Bakersfield collaborative partners Collaborative would like to invite community members, business owners, parents, law enforcement, the faith-based community and those interested in bettering the community through involvement, to attend a virtual collaborative meeting and learn more how the collaboratives can benefit children and families throughout Bakersfield.

For more information on Bakersfield-based community collaboratives contact Alexis Shaw at the Kern County Network for Children or one of the collaborative coordinators:

• Victoria Limbean, East Bakersfield Community Collaborative, [email protected]

• Jordan Green, Greenfield HELPS Collaborative, [email protected]

• Gabriela Borja, Southeast Neighborhood Partnership, [email protected]

For more information on additional collaborative efforts in the community, visit http://www.kern.org/kcnc and search for Community Collaboratives.