Community Building: Tools and Data



Conditions of Children Website
At Kern County Network for Children, we believe the condition of children in our county is the most important thing we can attend to. But, to do this well, government officials, agency and program staff, researchers, grant writers, and ordinary citizens need easy access to data about children and families.

To meet this need, we use the Conditions of Children Website to provide links to the most current, most reliable information available and encourage the use of data and evaluation to improve the lives of children and families in our county.





Recipes for Community Success (The Cookbook)

RECIPES FOR COMMUNITY SUCCESS: A Guide for Improving the Condition of Children and Families in your Community captures the many lessons learned by successful communities.

Each section describes tools, provides helpful hints, and lists the key ingredients your neighborhood/community will need. You can combine these ingredients with your own enthusiasm, dedication, and leadership to achieve success. Experienced professionals and key community members have volunteered to assist you each step of the way.





Report Card 2009
The Kern County Network for Children is pleased to present the 2009 Kern County Report Card. Each year, the Report Card provides a current and comprehensive snapshot of the status of children and families in Kern County. The Report Card focuses on needs that all children share, regardless of their age, race/ethnicity, family status, or which Kern County community they live. These needs include the inner-most circles in a child's life (family, economic security, food & nutrition, and healthy development) as well as areas outside of the family (early care & education, K-12 education and safe homes & communities).

Through our 11th annual Report Card, we hope to emphasize the comprehensive nature of children's well-being and generate discussion, support, and advocacy to meet all of the needs of Kern County's children.







Social Condition Matrix

The Social Condition Matrix system is an Excel-based system designed to help programs evaluate changes in the condition and functioning of client families. The strength-based system, based on advocate or case manager observation, tracks a family's status in twelve functional areas over time. By evaluating families holistically, rather than only their negative or problem areas, case planning can build upon family strengths which improves long term outcomes.

The Social Condition Matrix is designed for both front-line and administrative staff. Advocates are able to easily document changes over time in each client family and Program Managers are able to easily supervise the program's total caseload. The system is available free to family service organizations.






Using GIS to Better Serve Children

GIS (Geographic Information System) is the use of computer software to link places with information. A GIS map can present many layers of different information at the same time. Public agencies use GIS to streamline government work and make cost-efficient decisions. It is used most often in the fields of transportation, land use and planning, environmental resources, and pubic safety.

We are working diligently to add comprehensive health, law enforcement and other social statistics to our collection of social data. The Network's GIS Task Force meets bimonthly to discuss on-going data collection issues, share knowledge and success stories and increase collaboration among social service providers using GIS. Those interested are encouraged to attend bimonthly meetings at the Community Connection for Child Care office (2000 24th Street)from 2:00-3:30pm (Meeting Dates)



Other KCNC & Community Agency Resources

print:   email: