CALSA's Summer Institute 2026

Caring for the whole child means caring for the whole family. Leaders from Garden Grove Unified School District (GGUSD), a diverse urban community, will present on how the district expanded its comprehensive network of five Family Resource Centers (FRCs) to strengthen the entire educational ecosystem for students and their families. This initiative, rooted in the Community Schools Framework and the California English Learner (EL) Roadmap, showcases how schools can act as vital hubs of opportunity. In these hubs, families, students, educators, and community partners work together to eliminate barriers and increase access to academic and wellness supports. Through this focused collaboration, GGUSD successfully created a coordinated system of care that provides expanded access to academic supports, wellness resources, and basic needs services, ensuring students can fully engage in their education.
Presenters will explain how the district's commitment to safe, welcoming, and inclusive schools is supported by the GGUSD Board of Education’s vision and Resolution 20, which helped secure sustainable funding and strategic alignment for this work. Participants will see how the FRCs function as true hubs of partnership, where schools and the community join forces to remove obstacles, elevate family voice, and cultivate environments where students and families feel valued, supported, and empowered.
Attendees will gain practical strategies for developing partnership models that go beyond traditional family engagement. These models create integrated systems of support that build trust, expand opportunities, and establish families as essential, active partners in student success.