The San Diego region offers many programs that serve youth at different points in their lives, but rarely are these programs aligned around a similar set of data, or a shared commitment to work together on goals and outcomes. The City Heights Partnership for Children is changing all that.

Managed by United Way, the Partnership - with 80-plus community organizations working together for the first time - is identifying the hurdles children face and using best practices to help all City Heights youth succeed in school and life.

"By moving from disconnected youth support systems and programs to focused Collective Impact involving the entire community, we've created a framework that can be used throughout San Diego County," said Executive Director Tad Parzen. "It's not about just helping one student or family, but about improving entire neighborhoods - with schools at the center and everybody's participation."

The newly released "City Heights Starting Point: Baseline Report" culminates two years of work with the community. Teachers and students, parents and cultural brokers, doctors and employers, nonprofits and philanthropists collaborated to determine the issues that matter most and collected data to understand what works well and what needs improvement.

Key findings include:

  • Kindergarten Ready
    • Increase early care and education - In the 92105 zip code, the majority of children spend little to no time in child care centers or preschools (2011)
  • Third Grade Literacy
    • Increase third grade school achievement - Fifty percent of third graders scored proficient or above on the language arts and English California Standardized Test (2013).
  • Healthy Weight
    • Decrease childhood obesity - Over 50 percent of seventh graders are at health risk or need improvement (2011-12 school year)
  • School Attendance
    • Improve chronic absenteeism - Nearly one-third of elementary school students in City Heights are chronically absent (2013)
  • High School Graduation
    • Increase graduation readiness - Nearly 70 percent of 10th grade students passed the California High School Exit Exam for English language arts, leaving 31 percent behind schedule (2013)

To read the full report and learn more about the City Heights Partnership for Children, visit http://www.chpfc.org.

To learn more about United Way of San Diego County, visit http://www.uwsd.org.

J. Walcher Communications
Sandy Young, 619-295-7140
sandy@jwalcher.com