In the beginning there was the Elementary Education Program…

The Daly City Peninsula Partnership Collaborative for Children, Youth, and Families (better known as DCPPC) was formed in 1995 as an outgrowth of the FUTURES program in Daly City. The DCPPC became a 501(c)3 in 2004. With the support of over 60 agencies and institutions, we have developed programs that avoid duplication of services in the community. We welcome all interested agencies within the Daly City community to participate and to offer their input. DCPPC was one of nine community partnerships formed in San Mateo County as a result of the vision of Sterling Sperin, at the time President of the Peninsula Community Foundation (which has evolved since that time into the Silicon Valley Community Foundation) and who has since moved on to become President of the Kellog Foundation and John Maltbie, County Manager for San Mateo County at the time and who has since retired. Each of the nine partnerships was given $25,000 each and three goals:

Initially in 1995 there were six partner agencies in this effort, Bayshore Child Care Services, Bayshore School District, the City of Daly City, FUTURES (A program of the San Mateo County Human Services Department), Jefferson Elementary School District, and Seton Medical Center. A year was spent by these organizations to develop pilot programs in the areas of Kindergarten Readiness and Tutoring. Pilot programs were offered in these two disciplines during the 1996-97 school years at two elementary school sites in Daly City. In addition a part-time Program Supervisor was hired to oversee the programs.

Between the1997-98 and the 2001-02 school years the program expanded into all fourteen of the other Daly City public elementary school sites. In addition two more programs were developed in the areas of Enrichment Classes, and Homework Assistance. The part-time Program Supervisor position was upgraded to a full-time position and four full-time Program Coordinators were hired to oversee the four component programs on the sixteen elementary school campuses.

As the elementary education program grew so did the number of agencies that became involved in the partnership growing to over forty agencies during this time.

In 2009 the elementary education program changed its name to After School Academic Program to better represent what the program provides to the community.

The next step, the development of Our Second Home…

With the success of the elementary education program and with the involvement of many new organizations in DCPPC, especially those serving pre-school aged children it was decided in 2001 by a group of concerned community leaders and parents. This group envisioned a family support center designed especially for families and caregivers of children zero through five. Joining with the Daly City Partnership and the City of Daly City, this group made an initial funding request to First 5 San Mateo (then the Prop. 10 commission), and program funding was granted. The leader of fundraising for both the program and building was Ann Sims, Executive Director and founder of Bayshore Child Care Services, who continues to lead visioning for and support of Our Second Home. Ann is also a co-chair of the Daly City Partnership, which is the non-profit home of Our Second Home. The Partnership became a 501(c)3 nonprofit in 2005 and is the home of four major local programs – Our Second Home, Differential Response, DCP After-School and Enrichment programs (including Kick-Off-to-Kindergarten), and Daly City Access (older adult programming and collaboration).

In 2006 the Our Second Home (OSH) program moved into a custom-built building at 725 Price Street, next to John F. Kennedy Elementary. The building was funded by grants from numerous community foundations and agencies, including major support from the Peninsula Community Foundation and PCF individual donors. The OSH building is home-like, with a large child care area, classroom/living room for adult groups, kitchen, and program offices. The space is designed to feel like a neighbor’s house, not an institution, and parents regularly remark on how comfortable they feel at OSH, not just because of welcoming staff and programming, but because of the warmth of the space itself.

Since moving into the OSH building, the program has expanded, serving more than 500 households in 2007. Programs have been added based on community input, including bilingual play groups, specific support groups about setting limits with love, healthy cooking classes, and a multilingual community library. In addition, our funding stream has expanded and diversified. In 2007-2008, our seventh year of First 5 funding, we received a reduced grant based not on program performance, but on changing funder goals. Since 2007 we have worked to bring in additional program funding with great success, and now receive funding from more than ten separate streams.

Our Second Home is located in East Daly City, and serves families throughout San Mateo County. The majority of clients live in Daly City, with 39% living in 94014 (East Daly City) and 17% living in 94015 (West Daly City). Another 8% of participants live in 94080 (South San Francisco) and 6% in 94044 (Pacifica).

While Our Second Home services are open to any resident of San Mateo County raising a young child, we focus our programming on low-income and recent immigrant families. We do not collect income information on our clients, but do know that the vast majority of our clients are eligible for Medi-Cal insurance and free state preschool programs, putting their incomes far below the county mean. All families in our preschool program are low to very-low income, and receive free preschool services.

We serve families from a huge range of backgrounds, ethnicities and experiences, as reflected in our most recent service data. The majority of our clients are Latino and speak Spanish as a first-language, but we provide services to a variety of local communities.

Step Three – ACCESS

Daly City ACCESS is a community partnership that is nestled structurally within The City of Daly City’s Senior/Adult Services Division and sponsored fiscally by the Daly City Partnership. This was initiated via a multicultural advisory group that eventually grew to be the greater partnership. ACCESS is an open, flexible partnership built on the collective desire to serve members of the underserved, older adult multicultural community. Seeing itself as an agent for positive, values-based change, ACCESS listens to the multicultural community and invites its members to participate in volunteer programs designed to build program capacity, value individual contribution and to create an atmosphere of self-reliance.

Step Four – Differential Response

Because of the synergy around the success of our first two program components DCPPC was approached by the San Mateo County Human Services Agency and asked in 2005 to pilot Differential Response (DR) on the east side of Daly City. Differential Response is a prevention program that targets for services families who have been referred into the County Child Protective Services (CPS) system of the County but are not candidates for emergency intervention from the County. The County was hoping, through the pilot program, for an engagement rate of 50% of Child Protective Services clients contacted by our DR workers and the staff delivered a 75% + engagement rate. Because of this high rate of engagement DCPPC received a thirty month contract for DR Service delivery for all of Daly City in 2006 and then received a three year contract for DR Service delivery for all of north San Mateo County in 2008.

Step Five - Youth Enrichment

Collaborating throughout the community with youth serving organizations to provide programs to both middle school and high school youth. Programs such as Positive Youth Media Blitz and the After School Safety and Education for Teens (ASSETs) help to build the competencies and self-esteem of these students, giving them the opportunity to be creative, challenge their fears and make a difference in their community.