In our CORE training and technical assistance, we often talk about budgets as stories that happen to use numbers instead of words to convey our vision, values, and priorities. Whether they’re budgets for a small grant or an entire County or nation, the stories they tell are important, yet often created in a way that makes sense to accountants but may leave the rest of us wondering: What story does our County’s budget tell? Watch the recording of this session to explore this question, and hear an overview of the County budget process, its relationship to the strategic and operational plans, opportunities for community input, and the County’s new online budget tool.

Even though the experience of poverty is common in American life, myths and misinformation about economic disparities and opportunities are incredibly stubborn. Hear from Dr. Bullock, Director of the Blum Center on Poverty, Social Enterprise, & Participatory Governance, about her research and insights from a 2021 book she co-authored with Mark Robert Rank and Lawrence M. Eppard, Poorly Understood: What America Gets Wrong About Poverty.

Learn about the eight CORE Conditions for Health & Well-being and how to “connect the dots” between your services and Community Impacts across one or more of the CORE Conditions.

Learn common features of collective impact and how they are applied to CORE and other initiatives.

Learn how Unite Us has been working with local agencies to create a more robust local health and social service referral network that helps identify needs and connect people to services.

Watch this overview of Guaranteed Income Pilots and learn about Alas, a Guaranteed Income Pilot recently implemented by Santa Cruz Community Ventures.

Watch this video to help answer your questions and concerns about COVID vaccines for children in the age group of 5-11 years old. Learn about the plans to make access to the pediatric vaccines as easy as possible.

Watch this video to hear Kalyne Foster Renda of Monarch Services and Ana Velazquez of Walnut Avenue Family and Women’s Center share information on the new County Justice & Gender Commission and its Survivors Healing Campaign, provide data and context on the recent femicides, and identify specific ways all of us can respond to violent threats, words, and acts and work together to prevent them.

Learn about the ideas originally developed by john a. powell at the UC Berkeley Othering & Belonging Institute in this brief overview.

Watch this video on “Connecting Housing, Health & Well-being,” a celebration of National Health Center Week.

Learn about young people who have taken on the challenge of learning about the vaccine and conveying accurate, helpful information to their peers in creative ways. Listen to the speakers' messages for local teens, parents, and guardians.