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Building Trust in Communities
CHC and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Bring Care to Ravenswood
The last two years have been especially challenging for everyone, but families in the Ravenswood community have been disproportionately impacted and community needs have shifted. Divier Wallace, CHC Ravenswood’s mental health services coordinator since 2016, grew up in East Palo Alto and lives and works in the community. He admits the focus of his work has changed since covid. “The one thing that I have clearly learned during the pandemic is that in order to support the emotional needs of these families and children, we first must help support their immediate family crisis.”
A grassroots program that began in 2014, the CHC Ravenswood team connects mental health and education services directly to families in neighborhood schools and across the community — wherever they are most easily accessible. Out of necessity, the CHC staff became more creative in their work by incorporating case management and family advocacy work, often connecting families to community resources and providing gift cards to those facing extreme financial hardships for things like groceries, medical and school supplies.
“The COVID-19 pandemic taught us all so much about ourselves and the extraordinary strength and resilience within our communities. Personally, I’ve witnessed the power of partnership and collaboration,” says Curtis Yancy of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Unprecedented Care & Thoughtfulness
Curtis Yancy, who manages the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s (CZI) Community Fund, noticed a shift during the pandemic as well: “The COVID-19 pandemic taught us all so much about ourselves and the extraordinary strength and resilience within our communities. Personally, I’ve witnessed the power of partnership and collaboration as community groups across San Mateo County worked together to collect and distribute food, educate, and vaccinate residents, and support youth and adults with their mental health. All in all, we saw unprecedented care and thoughtfulness.”
CZI is a local funding partner that believes in trust-based philanthropy, and their Community Fund supports organizations serving San Mateo County, including CHC. Since its inception, CZI has worked closely with different leaders and community members to deeply understand the unique challenges facing these neighborhoods. Yancy shares that, “East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, and other communities across San Mateo County have always been full of love, beauty, strength and power. In the last two years, we have seen just how much these qualities mattered, as community members stepped up to support one another to weather some of the most trying hardships we have seen in recent history.”
Seeing the pandemic bring so many community organizations and residents together, especially in Ravenswood, has been a source of strength and hope. Yancy went on to say, “collaboration with local organizations is the key to ensuring that everyone — no matter their background — has access to the assets, capacity, and resources they need to thrive.”
Building Trust to Overcome Stigma
CHC Ravenswood is built on trust—most clients come as referrals from trusted agencies or are referred by a friend. Part of that trust also comes from having a team that reflects the cultural values and speaks the language of the clients served.
Sandoval says, “We know we have done our job when families give us permission to see their child for therapy. That’s a really good sign.”
Ámbar Sandoval, CHC Ravenswood community family partner, is a first generation Salvadoreña and grew up in the North Fair Oaks neighborhood. Sandoval is aware of the stigma many Latino families have around asking for help, especially for issues related to mental health. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a parent tell me they or their child is depressed or anxious. They won’t use those terms. But just talking to them and asking the right questions, you might hear them say, ‘I feel pressure on my chest when I try to sleep’ or ‘I feel like the world is caving in.’ These are all very clear signs that there’s something going on that may need to be addressed.”
Having a bicultural team who understands the community and cultural stigma, opens the door for families to feel more comfortable disclosing what’s really going on and even asking for help. Sandoval sees part of her role as helping to break down the barriers of stigma.
She knows progress is being made when a family she has helped calls her and says, “‘I have a friend who is probably not going to want to talk to you, but they need help.’ So, we'll tell them we won’t chase them down, or anything, but let them know that we're here — we will always be here.” Sandoval continues, “When a family is comfortable enough with the care they received from CHC that they are willing to refer a friend, we would consider that a big success.”
Ámbar Sandoval and Divier Wallace, CHC Ravenswood community family partners
Since the pandemic, CHC has provided more therapy to Ravenswood youth through referrals that come from the Ravenswood Wellness Partnership, including partners like Ravenswood City School District, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Peninsula and Ravenswood Family Health Center. Even though therapy services are available at no cost through CHC Ravenswood, stigma can still be a hurdle. Sandoval says, “We know we have done our job when families give us permission to see their child for therapy. That’s a really good sign. Culturally speaking, the stigma kind of trickles down into, ‘I don’t want my child to be marked as other or different.’ We work with the parents to move past that.”
Funding partners like CZI and many others help ensure Ravenswood youth and families have equitable access to mental health support and resources especially as the needs continue to rise. Yancy believes mental health has become critical over the last couple of years and the “comprehensive and integrated services CHC offers to children, teens, and young adults are more important than ever.” He goes on to say that CZI is inspired by CHC’s dedication to the community. “It’s heartening to know that CHC is committed to supporting all youth regardless of their language, location, and income level in particular, especially in areas where income is often a large barrier to access for mental health services.”
“It’s heartening to know that CHC is committed to supporting all youth regardless of their language, location and income level in particular, especially in areas where income is often a large barrier to access for mental health services,” says Sandoval.
Increasing Access & Capacity
Looking ahead, CHC is continuing to partner with CZI and many other local foundations and organizations to address barriers to mental health care, including access, capacity and stigma. The great work of trust-building has already prompted the need for expansion in order to ensure all families are served in a timely manner. Sandoval is excited, “We are seeing so many more clients! Expanding our team to have more bilingual therapists would be the greatest thing that we could do for our community.”
Already underway for the fall of 2022, several of the Ravenswood Wellness Partnership collaborators—CHC, CASSY, Child Mind Institute and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford—are launching a new Ravenswood training consortium aimed at increasing hands-on training opportunities in Ravenswood for promising young bilingual child psychologists/therapists, in turn, connecting more Ravenswood youth and families to mental health professionals. This is just one step in the right direction that is made possible thanks to trusting partnerships and community support.
As long as agencies like CHC and their partners continue to expand support for youth, funding partners like CZI will continue to be a critical piece of the puzzle. Yancy concludes that his hope for the future is, “to continue building partnerships and trust with local organizations like CHC, because the CHC team plays such a crucial role in creating a more equitable community in San Mateo County.” CHC Ravenswood’s Divier Wallace agrees: “No one agency can do everything. Partnerships are essential to ensuring the mental health needs of our students are met.”
