These Promise Neighborhoods formed the network to strengthen their collective voice and impact by building a cohesive statewide strategy focused on two areas: securing lasting funding for cradle-to-career supports and sharing best practices that can be replicated across communities.

The network was born out of relationships and shared purpose. At the 2016 National Promise Neighborhood Conference, representatives from California-based Promise Neighborhoods connected informally over lunch. They quickly realized they shared common goals, challenges, and a vision for sustainable impact. The leaders continued the conversation and decided to organize a statewide network. From these early exchanges, the California Promise Neighborhood Network began to take shape.

Jose Mireles from Chula Vista and San Diego Promise Neighborhoods and Edgar Chávez and Carolyn Nelson from Hayward Promise Neighborhoods shared how engagement with the network has strengthened their local initiatives and contributed to a broader movement for opportunity across the state.

Coordinating efforts to achieve greater influence and secure resources

Leaders from San Diego, Chula Vista, and Hayward Promise Neighborhoods shared that their involvement with the California Promise Neighborhood Network has been instrumental in amplifying their efforts to advance long-term sustainability. Through participation in the network, Hayward Promise Neighborhoods have strengthened their ability to influence state-level decision-making by elevating local solutions to policymakers. Hayward staff traveled to Sacramento to share firsthand accounts with legislators about how Promise Neighborhoods are improving outcomes in education, workforce, and family stability. Staff also told lawmakers that their childcare, resource navigation, and job opportunity programs had achieved positive outcomes.

News of the California Promise Neighborhood Network's collective efforts eventually reached the governor. In 2022, a critical time when many of the backbone organizations were reaching the end of their federal grant cycle, the governor made a $12 million data investment in Chula Vista, Corning, Hayward, and Mission Promise Neighborhoods. Edgar Chávez from Hayward Promise Neighborhoods explained, "Through that project, we were able to not just get funding for direct services, $3,000,000 for each neighborhood, but [we] also had an opportunity to partner with the California Department of Social Services to lead an evaluation, a return on investment study, and develop communities of practice within our network." The state investment reflects the network members' coordinated leadership and shared vision for sustaining the Promise Neighborhoods approach in the long term.

Honoring local contexts across the network

The California Promise Neighborhood Network is a statewide effort, but it also fosters meaningful collaboration with its members that serve sovereign Tribal Nation communities. Notably, Klamath River Promise Neighborhood and Corning Promise Neighborhood bring unique perspectives rooted in their Tribal communities. The Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians lead the Corning Promise Neighborhood partnership, and Klamath Tribes are also a key community partner in Klamath River Promise Neighborhood.

These Promise Neighborhoods navigate challenges distinct from those that other network members face. However, they share similarities; for example, strategies for building trust and relationships with partners in a Tribal context align with strategies the San Diego and Chula Vista Promise Neighborhoods have used to navigate relationships with leadership in their local school district. In both cases, the work requires time, respect, and deep listening to navigate systems not always built for collaboration.

Visiting Klamath River Promise Neighborhood shifted the way Hayward Promise Neighborhoods team members thought about relationship building across communities. The Tribal Nations are sovereign and coexist with federal-and county-level entities such as the U.S. Department of Education and the local school districts that also serve communities outside the Tribal Nations. Klamath River Promise Neighborhood leaders and community members saw deeply layered efforts that transcended Tribal boundaries, highlighting their commitment to viewing their community as part of a larger network of communities. Up to this point, Hayward Promise Neighborhoods had been thinking very locally. They began to think about developing relationships with broader partners after seeing how Klamath River Promise Neighborhood interacted with organizations at the county and federal levels and with state institutions such as the California State University System.

Sharing and scaling best practices

Leaders from San Diego, Chula Vista, and Hayward Promise Neighborhoods emphasized that their network involvement has been instrumental in codifying, sustaining, and sharing their knowledge across communities. Through the California Promise Neighborhood Network, members engage in collaborative learning experiences, including site visits and joint planning sessions.

These interactions have enabled staff to share their successes and adopt effective practices from fellow members. For example, Hayward Promise Neighborhoods hosted a multiday convening. Edgar Chávez explained, "The state investment allowed us to now more formally convene... We were able to host, I think, the largest convening that we've ever had in Hayward. We had over 70 people from outside of Hayward come to visit us. And we had two days of programming." At the convening, Hayward Promise Neighborhoods staff shared a case study of how they built their network of services within and across neighborhoods. They also shared with network members how they integrated their Promise Neighborhood into the Hayward's "Education City" strategy through their partnerships with the local public library, school district, and community partner organizations and their close relationships with elected officials in the city.

To further enhance the dissemination of best practices, the California Promise Neighborhood Network has leveraged support from the California Department of Social Services to engage consultants specializing in technical assistance, communications, and evaluation. With this additional capacity, the network has documented promising practices, more effectively communicated their impact, and provided tailored support to network members. The San Diego and Chula Vista Promise Neighborhoods shared that working with the evaluation consultant has helped refine their data collection methods and align evaluation metrics across all the sites, strengthening the network's ability to assess outcomes and share insights with the community. By fostering a culture of mutual learning and building the necessary infrastructure to share effective practices, the network has empowered network members to drive meaningful impact.

The California Promise Neighborhood Network's Best Practices and Resources Toolkit documented promising practices across the network by capturing site-level strategies, lessons learned, and evidence-based approaches from the network.

Building a statewide movement for collective impact

The strength of the California Promise Neighborhood Network lies in its members' shared commitment to collaboration and sustainable impact across the state. As highlighted by the San Diego and Chula Vista Promise Neighborhoods, aligning around shared goals and mindsets has been pivotal in driving collective action across the communities that make up the network. Through mutual support and exchange of best practices, the network supports its members to serve local communities while contributing to a unified, statewide movement. From securing a $13.5 million state investment in continued cradle-to-career supports to launching a public toolkit that documents promising practices from Tribal and urban communities alike, network members are sharing ideas and building systems designed to scale their positive impact for children and families throughout California. This collective approach amplifies the efforts of each site and fosters a resilient network dedicated to improving outcomes statewide.