Council member Pete Ortiz and Supervisor Sylvia Arenas presided over a joint San Jose–Santa Clara County meeting where elected leaders and community partners agreed to expand and align implementation of the City of San Jose’s Children & Youth Master Plan with county systems.

The committees approved memos directing staff to prioritize additional pilot demonstration sites, align city‑county outcomes and evaluation, and pursue data‑sharing and sustainable funding options. Supervisor Sylvia Arenas moved the county referral to expand pilot sites and require bimonthly progress reports; the county committee seconded and approved the referral. Separately, Council member Pamela Campos moved the city memo (with friendly amendments) to annualize joint sessions and invest in shared data and evaluation; the city committee voted to approve the motion.

“Taking this framework and scaling it citywide was gonna be a big effort. So we started with two pilot sites,” Angel Rios said as he introduced the plan’s implementation framework. Israel Kanhura, the city recreation superintendent leading implementation, described the plan’s seven priority areas and the neighborhood‑level pilot approach, saying the city and the county each provided $1,000,000 to begin the project. Kanhura said the effort is in a test phase designed to evaluate coordination at two demonstration neighborhoods before wider expansion.

Community partners who will run the Mayfair and Pogo Way demonstration sites — including Guerrilla Family Services and Somos Mayfair — described services that will be co‑located at neighborhood access points, staffed with navigators and case managers, and tracked through shared referral platforms such as Salesforce. “No matter where a family enters… they find a coordinated and connected system of support,” Veronica Gohi, executive director of Guerrilla Family Services, said.

Catholic Charities’ Franklin McKinley Children’s Initiative presented a neighborhood schools and family‑stability model that officials said dovetails with the master plan; Carmina Valdivia said the initiative will use intake and screening tools, referral tracking and a mix of qualitative and quantitative measures during the pilot and evaluation phases.

City and county staff said evaluation infrastructure is a priority: officials are finalizing evaluation plans, aligning logic models across agencies and have philanthropic partners supporting evaluation work. Olympia Williams, deputy director for Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services, said the demonstration sites are slated to go live in January 2026 and emphasized the need to align internal resources and pursue external funding, including exploring Medi‑Cal‑eligible services and private‑sector partnerships.

Public commenters — from youth commissioners, parents, education leaders and funders — broadly urged sustained investment, youth‑centered design and stronger school‑community referral pathways. Speakers also flagged digital‑connectivity gaps and the need to ensure pilot work reduces, rather than reproduces, inequities.

The committees directed staff to return with standardized application options for pilot sites, jurisdictional project lists tied to Latino health assessment findings, and continuing city‑county briefings to align outcomes and reporting.

The city committee’s final verbal vote on the city memo recorded unanimous support among members present and the chair declared the motion passed. The meeting adjourned with a request from officials to continue the interagency coordination needed for scaling the initiative.