CORE: A Historical Perspective

The SF Connections CORE Team was created as part of the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) Workforce Excellence Project. In 2014, SF Connections joined the SF Human Services Agency in a implementing the project which was designed to inform ongoing efforts to improve climate and culture in our agency. A baseline survey was administered in 2014 to then-staff members at SF Connections.  The results of that survey, the Comprehensive Organizational Health Assessment (COHA), helped identify and target key organizational climate and culture, as well as organizational functioning areas. Using the information from the survey, SF Connections developed a strategic plan, called the Organizational Intervention, to implement three change initiatives. The change initiatives informed by the COHA survey centered on the following three main areas:

• Building and Retaining staff diversity 
• Inclusive workplace practices, policies, culture and environment 
• Culturally accountable and culturally responsive practices and policies 

The CORE Team was then created to address the workforce strengths and barriers to implementation, and finally to implement SF Connections' Change Initiative. The team acts as the driver and primary decision maker for determining and implementing the actions steps of the project through a process of engagement in continuous assessment. The team is always eliciting feedback and ideas as part of our process and incorporates this into the on-going implementation efforts. The team is made up of folks representing a range of programs and includes a mix of management and staff.

The official NCWWI project ran for a period of three years, after which a follow up COHA survey was administered to SF Connections staff. The CORE team decided to continue our work on the organizational health of SFC beyond the end of the project and we are still working to address our original as well as newly-identified change initiatives today.

What is the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI)?

The purpose of NCWWI is to increase child welfare practice effectiveness through diverse partnerships that focus on workforce systems development, organizational interventions, and change leadership, using data-driven capacity building, education, and professional development. NCWWI’s workforce development activities promote:

• Learning: Fostering continuous learning that is interactive, reflective and relevant
• Leading: Cultivating diverse leadership at multiple levels within child welfare systems
• Changing: Supporting change through workforce development and organizational capacity building

NCWWI Vision

Innovative organizational leadership, high performing staff, and diverse partners prepared and committed to pursue excellence and sustainable systems change in service of optimal outcomes for children, youth and families.

CORE Team Principles and Values

The CORE Team manifests a set of values about worker empowerment and organizational culture. Values then translate into specific principles guiding the functioning and structure of CORE Team. The Organizational Intervention is guided by the following principles:

• Create organizational change through solution-focused discussions and subsequent actions using a team approach for the benefit of the entire agency. 
• Inspire a learning organization committed to improved practices and functioning. 
• Use inquiry-based communication to encourage open participation and communication by the team. 
• Empower staff from all site levels to improve their site for the benefit of all individual site members. 
• Use strengths-focused interventions. 
• Embody a culturally-responsive approach. 
• Connect the change initiative to the agency’s mission, values, and practice model. 
• Share tasks and activities among the CORE Team membership to achieve Organizational Intervention goals. 
• Use comprehensive, incremental and strategic implementations for long-term sustainability. 
• Employ strategic approaches based upon careful assessment of the current situation. 

The CORE Team embodies a commitment to set high standards, see the big picture; understand the change initiative, and the implementation impact on the day-to-day work of child welfare staff.