Program Office –
Innovation Infrastructure

One of the primary roles the program office plays is to be the “innovation infrastructure” for the city. The concept is borrowed from a term used in education, where findings suggested that school districts lacked the funds to hire staff to look for innovative new solutions to problems and develop and test new approaches. This innovation infrastructure is critical in the for profit world to keep companies competitive. Like education, local government often lacks the resources to drive innovation. COO plays that role in the city, which takes many forms:

Adapting to a changing environment. Whether it be from new regulations that get passed, new programs that departments roll out, or new development happening in our communities, the context for the work we do continues to evolve. It is the role of the program office to understand and analyze these trends, develop ideas, and work with our partners to create break through solutions.

Adapting to changing demographics. COO sits at an intersection where we can understand those needs more deeply that traditional systems. On the one hand we partner with our city departments and have access to data and trends about conditions and programs in the neighborhood. On the other hand we work directly with residents, through our planning work, community voice meetings, and community team we hear about problems with the system first hand are can collaborative build answers.

Bringing in best practices. Finally, innovative groups both locally and around the country are learning new things and developing new approaches that help combat the issues we face. Staying abreast of that kind of innovation and finding ways to bring it to San Francisco and tailor it to our specific environment will keep us on the forefront of ideas and opportunities to combat poverty.

However, innovation without implementation leads to frustration and stagnation. It is critical for COO to provide the support needed to turn new ideas into reality. In some cases this takes the form of direct project management, and in others it can take the form of raising required funds, convening stakeholders, providing data analysis to support the work, or simply keeping the political will in place to see a project through. In all cases it involves supplementing the staff and resources of our partners to enable them to accomplish their goals more effectively. In addition, as we learn from our work and build on our successes, it will be the role of the Program Office, in conjunction with outside evaluators, to document what we are learning and engage in the national dialogue about poverty in the US.

Community Team –
Strength of Residents

Any innovation must be tied to and fueled by a direct connection with the community. COO has a parallel infrastructure at each of the four sites that grounds our work in the unique issues and cultures of each site and builds the community bonds necessary to transform neighborhoods:

Community Building. COO must engage residents to rebuild social networks in the community and rebuild their trust with government and service providers. Our Site Coordinators listen to residents’ ideas and concerns and build from the natural strengths of the community and networks that exist. They also work with city departments to provide real connections to services and use the Opportunity Centers create new access points and hubs of positive activity and community pride.

Deep Engagement. After decades of empty promises or services that did not lead to intended outcomes, residents have become wary of outreach efforts and are slow to engage in new programs. To break this cycle we work with peer “coaches” who deeply understand critical issues and work with residents to answer questions in a peer-to-peer setting that breaks through some of the difficult dynamics of a typical community meeting. They help the families understand how to re-engage with the system and take advantage of opportunities. This model not only informs residents but truly help them navigate critical systems and services they need to break the cycle of poverty.

Resident Capacity Building. One challenge that remains unaddressed is building additional capacity and leadership within the resident community. In part, the knowledge and capacity needed to encourage active participation can come through the network of peer coaches described above. But the issues facing the community are as dynamic as the community itself, and a more systematic approach to building and sustaining leadership will be critical as the pace of new economic development quickens, demographics continue to shift, and existing leaders move on.

City Departments –
Leveraging Our Partners

COO is not a program and therefore it is not a “line item” that departments invest in. Rather COO is a strategy and an approach to working together in struggling communities. Therefore department investments takes on many forms:

Investment in specific activities. All of the “on-ramp” programs are co-funded by departments. Each department worked with us to design the on-ramp in their area and have invested or pledged resources to those programs. In each case private resources are also being brought to bear to supplement public investment, but over time the city intends to fully fund successful on-ramp programs.

Assignment of staff. In some cases, departments have assigned specific staff to help design and drive these strategies forward. These staff both help move along the specific pieces they are invested in and provide guidance for the program overall.

Aligning resources with the strategy. Departments are responsible for ensuring on-ramps have real connections to department-led programs and strategies; whether that be through holding spots for on-ramp participants in the next step programs adding COO specific language into MOUs, or the assignment of an outreach specialist to help residents move from on-ramp to the prosperity grid.

The Inter-Agency Council (IAC) is being formed to coordinate efforts across multiple city priorities including the Transitional Age Youth Program, the Violence Prevention Plan, and HopeSF. The IAC will be responsible for overseeing aligning of resources and will work closely with each department and the Budget Office to ensure the priorities of COO and our partner programs are reflected in department and city budget allocations.

Accountability. Finally, it is critical that the city is accountable for results. To be a part of COO, programs will need to commit to track and reach long-term outcomes for the communities they serve. Each department and CBO involved will be responsible for following the progress of their clients and working to improve services where goals are not being met.