The New Beginnings Center for Children and Families is a collaborative that meets the needs of children and families in San Diego, California. It was formed when public officials from four local agencies--representing the city of San Diego, the county, the city schools, and the community college district--came together to forge a collaborative structure that would move them away from the fragmented approach they had used with children and families in the area. They were later joined by the housing commission, the University of California School of Medicine, a health center, and a major corporation (IBM). Instead of focusing on a specific problem such as educating children, the group agreed to focus on the family as a whole.
After two years of preparatory work, they opened the New Beginnings Center for Children and Families in three portable classrooms on the edge of the concrete playground at Hamilton Elementary School in inner-city San Diego. The center is home to representatives from a score of agencies. The representatives are expected to leave behind their parochial origins and become family service advocates, brokering public services to meet the full range of a family's needs. They also provide some direct services, such as immunizations, school registration, and counseling.
For further information on New Beginnings, refer to the following resource: