Why ACCYF?

The Alameda Collaborative for Children, Youth, and their Families (ACCYF) is a partnership between the City of Alameda, the County of Alameda, Alameda Unified School District (AUSD), Alameda's non-profit agencies, and interested community members. It serves as a clearinghouse of information, an incubator of innovative ideas, and an advocate for children, youth, and families in Alameda. ACCYF was founded in 1996 by the late Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan following a series of meetings between the city, school district, non-profits, and community members to identify ways to address the needs of Alameda's youth and deliver services to address these needs. Over the past 26 years, ACCYF has met monthly to plan and implement numerous activities to benefit children, youth, and their families. 

Why did ACCYF launch Community Action Discussions? 

The purpose of the Community Action Discussions is to help ACCYF identify strengths and weaknesses in youth services and garner ideas to take action to address youth community needs and poverty more inclusively and more responsively. The discussions were hosted and led by the staff of trusted community organizations who have credibility with and regularly engage with the populations ACCYF seeks to learn from. Community Action Discussions are akin to focus groups or feedback sessions in which participants were recruited to share their opinions, were asked questions developed by the facilitator, and were provided an incentive for their time. Many organizations intentionally assigned the facilitation of the discussions to their client-facing staff or resident leaders to ensure the participant responses were most comfortable sharing their feedback with people they knew and trusted.

Additionally, these discussions were not publicized or open to the broader public in order to keep the conversations organic and to ensure the space was safe for participants to share honest feedback. Facilitators received training to prepare them to conduct outreach to their clients or members, develop discussion questions tailored to their population, and summarize the findings of their discussions into a report. Each Community Action Discussion included at least ten individuals, and facilitating organizations were compensated for their time and incentives to provide to participants. 

Summary of the Project 

ACCYF Community Action Discussions were conducted between October - November 2022 throughout the City of Alameda. Participants ranged from elementary-aged children to seniors. Four student leaders from three high schools applied for and hosted Community Action Discussions on their campuses: Nea Community Learning Center, Encinal High School, and Alameda High School.