10 Oct Q&A: State Hopes to ‘Break Down the First Barrier’ and Strengthen Collaboration With ‘California Connects’

Aubrie Fong is acting executive director for the Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications.(Malcolm Marshall / The CC Pulse)

Interview, Malcolm Marshall 

The state Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications kicked off its California Connects statewide tour in San Francisco on Wednesday. The initiative is designed to bring together community partners, state agencies and local leaders to strengthen collaboration and ensure state government resources reach the people who need them most. 

Aubrie Fong, acting executive director for the OCPSC, spoke with The Pulse about the goals of the tour. The interview has been edited lightly for clarity. 

Contra Costa Pulse: What are some of the biggest barriers that exists between government programs and the people who need them most? 

Aubrie Fong: Over the course of the last few years of our office, we’ve learned that a lot of it is access, language access, and very simplified language as well. We’ve learned some communities prefer things with more visuals versus text so that a person can better describe and connect a visual to the information, depending on what the service or resource is. And when I say language, I mean written and verbal, depending on how people are accessing the information. 

I think part of what GO-Serve in the Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications does is try to find ways to create materials and information that break down the first barrier of just receiving the information. 

Contra Costa Pulse: What outcomes do you hope will come from this convening? 

Aubrie Fong: Our three priorities are regional collaboration, helping different organizations get to know each other a little bit better, not just who they are but what services they provide, hopefully for future collaboration. Also capacity building. We’ll have workshops where organizations will be able to learn tools to build capacity in their organization.  And then also accessing information on state funding resources. The California State Library Grants Portal [provides] access to every state grant. 

Contra Costa Pulse:  How do you see community-based organizations and ethnic media playing a role in this effort? 

Aubrie Fong: Oh, it’s huge. We couldn’t do what we do without them. I think CBOs and ethnic media are the trusted voices in community. They’re the places where community members receive information that they trust and will access. They’re critical pieces to how communities receive information. 

Contra Costa Pulse:  After these convenings, how will the state ensure follow-through to take the ideas and translate them into lasting partnerships and resources for folks in the community? 

Aubrie Fong: We’re hoping to build a database where we can keep people connected. If we are lucky, this won’t be the only series that we do; we’ll be able to come back and stay connected to folks. Also, many of these are already our partners and some new partners, so we’re hoping to build networks as well. Moving forward, our GO-Serve programs will stay in touch with folks to continue sharing resources. We do have virtual spaces that we convene monthly, so we’ll make sure that folks have an invitation so they can stay plugged into information and resources and updates from the state of California.