PLUS (Planning and Learning United for Systems-Change) Leadership Initiative

The UC Berkeley Center for Cities & Schools (CC&S) PLUS Leadership Initiative is a multi-year initiative designed to prepare current and future educational, community, and civic leaders in the Bay Area region to develop collaborative, mutually beneficial policies and practices, and facilitate comprehensive systems-change.

"PLUS has been central to our cities and schools working together."

- Leonard McNeil, Mayor, San Pablo, CA

PLUS projects engage teams of city and educational leaders in 6 cities and their 5 affiliated school districts, who are working on collaborative projects. PLUS provides coaching, technical assistance, public institutes and forums, and graduate student assistance to each team. Likewise, PLUS engages university partners to provide pre-professional development training to future leaders across campus.

Like all of CC&S’s work, PLUS rests on a three-legged stool that calls leaders to:

Leverage bricks and mortar investments for innovative built environments
Implement systemically-grounded innovations in education
Institutionalize innovations in collaborative policymaking

PLUS is not a 'model' program that offers itself for replication. Rather, it offers a set of research driven recommendations and strategies that can inform policy making. PLUS focuses on what it actually takes to plan and build integrated systems of opportunity. Grounded in deep and innovative practice in cities and school districts across the San Francisco Bay Area, we hope that the lessons learned from PLUS will inspire, incentivize, and cultivate transformative initiatives across the state and nation.

The PLUS Leadership Initiative is made possible through the generous support of the Walter & Elise Haas Fund and the Stuart Foundation.

City of Berkeley, Berkeley Unified School District, The Berkeley Alliance: Vision 2020 is a city- and school district-wide effort that aims to close the achievement gap in Berkeley by the year 2020 through the alignment of cross-sector programs and resources. PLUS is documenting cross-jurisdictional data-tracking, benchmarks and indicators of success for Vision 2020. Further, PLUS is crafting recommendations to restructure the District's case management system that helps link students to health and education resources.; 09-10 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF); 08-09 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF); 07-08 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF)

City of Emeryville and Emery Unified School District: The Emeryville Center for Community Life (ECCL) is a "a new model for a 21st-century urban place" that offers "a variety of educational, recreational, cultural, and social opportunities, and services and programs that support lifelong learning and healthy lifestyles." This large-scale development is co-developed, funded, and governed by both the City and the school district. PLUS is documenting governance strategies for the ECCL, documenting the ECCL history, and working to ensure ongoing community and youth engagement in the planning and operation of the ECCL.; 09-10 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF); 08-09 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF); 07-08 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF)

City of Oakland and Oakland Unified School District: The Oakland Unified School District Complementary Learning (CL) mission is to promote the academic success and holistic development of every student through a comprehensive array of support services. The CL unit coordinates all support services within OUSD and outside partners to better enhance student learning and development. PLUS is documenting OUSD's strategic vision and funding priorities for The California Endowment's expected multi-million dollar investment in East Oakland. PLUS also supports CL and the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, identifying promising practices on effective partnerships between school site leadership and community-based organizations.; 09-10 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation | CBO Orientation (PDF); 09-10 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation | Healthy Communities (PDF); 08-09 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF); 07-08 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF)

City of Richmond, West Contra Costa Unified School District, Bay Area LISC, Richmond Children's Foundation (RCF): Launched in 2001, the Nystrom United Revitalization Effort (NURVE) is a collaborative effort of more than a dozen key stakeholders that aims to revitalize the economy and improve quality of life in the area surrounding the Nystrom Elementary School and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center and Park through significant capital building projects, programming and community partnerships, and greater connections between stakeholders. PLUS is developing strategies and tools for joint use of school and civic facilities and for sustainable youth engagement in the NURVE initiative.; 09-10 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF); 08-09 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF); 07-08 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF)

City of San Francisco and San Francisco Unified School District: Launched in 2007 by Mayor Gavin Newsom, HOPE SF represents a unique opportunity to take a systemic approach to educational improvement and housing redevelopment, aiming to lift housing, security, and educational quality for all students and families in eight of the most distressed public housing sites in San Francisco. HOPE SF recognizes that creating vibrant mixed income communities requires, in fact, demands high quality educational options for all families. To this end, the Mayor's Office of Housing is working in conjunction with the San Francisco Unified School District. Following the development of the HOPE SF Educational Strategic plan, in 2009-2010, PLUS is providing capacity-building support for development teams and city leaders on the HOPE SF Youth Leadership Academy, engaging young residents in the revitalization of their communities.; 09-10 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF); 08-09 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation | HOPE SF at Hunters View (PDF); 08-09 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation | Joint Use (PDF); 07-08 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF)

City of San Pablo, West Contra Costa Unified School District, and the Helms Community School: The Helms Middle School is home to the Helms Community Project (HCP), an innovative school model serving low-income students that face a variety of challenges from below grade level reading to violence in their neighborhoods. Helms provides a variety of wrap-around support services for students and their families, from healthcare and counseling to after-school tutoring, literacy and parental advocacy classes. PLUS continues to support HCP as it evolves to a community school by developing a robust set of accountability measures and assisting in the development of a joint use plan for the Helms Middle School and new community center.; 09-10 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF); 08-09 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF); 07-08 PLUS Fellows Final Presentation (PDF)

top