Clark Commons Community Collaborative

At Clark Commons in Buena Park, Jamboree’s Community Collaborative strategy includes a variety of community stakeholders. At the outset of development planning, these stakeholders worked to customize programming by identifying shared goals. This unique strategy is the first step in our four-step process that begins with a community needs assessment and leads to an ongoing action plan that supports the desired outcomes.

How do we know we’re succeeding? Over time, the community’s needs change, and services are redirected or expanded, bringing new partners into the collaborative. Here’s how the Clark Commons Community Collaborative began and then evolved.

THEN

In 2015, our first Community Collaborative was launched at Clark Commons, a new construction affordable apartment community in Buena Park, California, as part of the city’s revitalization initiative. The property was a blighted site with a non-conforming retail center, the city’s public works maintenance yard, and an auto repair facility. Transformed as part of a 10-acre master development, Clark Commons shares the site with market-rate townhomes and incorporates local retail shops.

Jamboree initiated planning and development using a Design-Build strategy that included prospective services, forming the Collaborative with local partners from the surrounding neighborhood. These included the city of Buena Park, Providence St. Jude’s Medical Center, Orange County Health Care Agency, and the Community Action Partnership of Orange County, among others, working together with neighborhood residents to identify the unique needs of their community.

The Clark Commons Community Collaborative set out to address childhood obesity and increase literacy. Residents were empowered to have ownership in planning and executing ways to achieve these goals. A Resident Leadership Team was formed to develop action plans, partnering with Mabel L. Pendleton Elementary School across the street and their Classroom Without Walls initiative. This leadership team took a 10-week training that residents now lead on an ongoing basis as new residents move into Clark Commons.

NOW

Our first Jamboree Community Collaborative has grown into an expansive network of 10+ partners that now includes California State University Fullerton, America on Track, and Child Guidance Center, and led to a $450,000 Cal Optima grant for onsite mental health services.

• The partnership that started with an elementary school now includes the entire Buena Park School District.
• Parents are empowered advocates for change. Working with the city planning department, a new stop sign slows traffic at a busy intersection, increasing safety in the neighborhood.
• Change with tangible solutions brought new issues to light, such as the mental health of kids and teens.
• After-school programs moved online to continue student connection and collaboration during the COVID-19 shutdown.
• All original partners are still actively involved.

NEXT

The Community Collaborative fuels the success of quality affordable housing by creating a platform for real change, with a flexible adaptability that delivers improved outcomes where needed most – in education, nutrition and health, technology, and medical and mental health services. Needs and objectives are assessed annually, often leading to new partnerships that foster continued momentum. Going forward, the focus of the Clark Commons Community Collaborative is evolving to:

• Provide workshops for parents that help them increase financial literacy and provide education and employment resources – including practical, effective methods for parenting their kids in an ever-changing world.
• Establish safe and empowering social settings for teens that support their emotional growth.
• Extend the impact of the Child Guidance Center’s peer navigator team into the community, with educational opportunities that connect neighbors with services that benefit them and their families.

Learn more

Explore the success of the Clark Commons Community Collaborative.

• See how Clark Commons personally impacted the lives of residents Reymont, Rachel, and their family.
• Find out how REACH, our after-school program for kids, helps kids reach their full potential and build confidence for life.
• Visit Clark Commons to see the Collaborative up close and in action. Contact Talesha Payne, Vice President of Community Impact, to get the conversation started.
• Follow us on your favorite social channels @JamboreeHousing for ongoing success stories and new developments.

Partner with us

• DONATE: Do you have a business or service in the Buena Park area? Consider how you might offer your goods or services to improve the lives of working families and children. Contact Ben Sanchez, Senior Manager of Community Impact.
• VOLUNTEER: Be a part of building better lives when you offer assistance with activities and events, like fitness classes or after-school programs. Find out more about how to become a Jamboree volunteer.
• GIVE: Your financial contribution can help provide gift cards, prizes, or new learning activities that offer greater opportunity for residents. Give today.