Pacific

Advancing a Holistic System of Care for the Homeless
San Francisco is piloting an innovative model of healthcare for adults experiencing homelessness. The city and county’s Whole Person Care program assesses patient needs based on a variety of factors that can affect a person’s wellbeing, including housing status, mental health, substance abuse, and involvement with the criminal justice system.... Read more
Ensuring College Affordability for Oakland Students
Out of every 100 students who start ninth grade in Oakland, only 15 will complete a post-secondary education degree within five years of graduation. The Mayor’s Office believes that to ensure more Oaklanders have a path to postsecondary education, barriers such as cost and cumbersome application processes must be addressed.... Read more
Building Inclusive Economic Development
As part of a plan to reduce racial disparities and promote economic opportunity for all communities, Oakland is working to revive the 7-mile International Boulevard corridor, which crosses through the city’s lowest-income neighborhoods and improves the economic conditions in far East Oakland. In light of the impact of COVID-19, Oakland... Read more
Engaging the Community to Reduce Youth Recidivism
The Los Angeles County Department of Probation is working to reduce recidivism by using evidence-based practices and community-based services to help justice-involved youths succeed. To assist with these efforts, FUSE Executive Fellow Kim Bowman Jr. brought community voice and leadership into governmental processes while strengthening the strategic visioning and management... Read more
Forging Partnerships to Improve Economic Security
The Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA) is working to lift low-income residents by addressing poverty, homelessness, workforce, and small business development. To bolster this work and create new initiatives, LACDA established a Strategic Partnership Division. FUSE Executive Fellow Kishani De Silva helped establish the division, developing strategic partnerships and... Read more
Building a Community-Focused Path to Re-entry
Approximately 40,000 adults are under the supervision of the Los Angeles County Probation Department. To help these individuals successfully reintegrate into communities, the department is working to increase community engagement, peer mentorship, and access to comprehensive wraparound services for justice-involved individuals. To advance these efforts, FUSE Executive Fellow Amy Cross... Read more
Advancing a Behavioral Economics Approach to Child Support Compliance
The Los Angeles County Child Support Services (CSS) is working to enforce child support orders, including the collection of monies, to help positively affect the financial stability of the children it serves. To improve payment compliance and the customer experience, CSS brought in FUSE Executive Fellow Amanda Wang Valentine, who... Read more
Coordinating Social Services to Reduce Recidivism
The Los Angeles County Probation Department seeks to reduce the financial and societal cost of recidivism by helping people reintegrate more effectively into their communities after prison. To support that goal, the department enlisted FUSE executive fellow Barry Goldberg to assess how county agencies involved in re-entry can coordinate to improve... Read more
Enhancing the Child Support System
Conventional child support systems rely heavily on a blanket set of punitive measures to help ensure that families receive the financial support to which they are legally entitled. Los Angeles County is taking a different approach, one that seeks to tailor child support interventions to the circumstances of each case... Read more
Communicating Health Services
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) offers emergency, primary, and specialty care, while serving as the healthcare safety net for the county’s most vulnerable residents. Medicaid expansion has increased competitive pressure on the department, which already struggles with outdated public perceptions of the system’s scope and quality.... Read more