The Children’s Cabinet of West Kern (CCWK)

There are so few public or private resources in West Kern communities. Resources must be coordinated in an effective and coherent manner. The fully operational Children’s Cabinet of West Kern (CCWK), an advisory body comprised of parents, community partners, and school leaders, is helping to address these challenges.

CCWK meets four times per year and sets and monitors cross-organizational goals. The Cabinet has prioritized reducing chronic absenteeism rates by 10% within the next three years. To do this well, CCWK has organized into three subcommittees.

Behavioral Health Committee

Increasing the number and frequency of mental health services for students and families in the community.  

  • Focus on College Community Services (CCS) site-based pilot

  • Build a robust ISF (Interconnected Systems Framework) infrastructure in a rural context

  • Improve relationships between Medi-Cal mental health providers, KBHRS, the school, and the community

  • Streamline access to services

School Attendance Improvement Committee

Researching and implementing innovative solutions to increase attendance and improve ways to track attendance progress.

  • Focus on innovative methods to boost school attendance

  • Review attendance data and support schools to make informed decisions 

  • Communicate the importance of school attendance 

  • Make stronger connections with Kern Pledge’s attendance subcommittee

Community Partnerships, Events, and Initiatives Committee

Leveraging existing resources in the community to serve students and families in small, rural districts with one to two school sites.   

  • Focus on community outreach

  • Enhance communications amongst cabinet & community partners

  • Streamline and calendar efforts around community events

  • Secure more services at the school site

  • Asset map services that are external to the school

  • Promote strategic collaboration

Collaboration between the West Kern Consortium (WKC) and the Children’s Cabinet of West Kern (CCWK), its advisory body, has resulted in multiple wins:

A pilot to place MediCal-sponsored mental health services directly on school campuses one day per week to increase enrollment numbers and frequency of services.

A comprehensive strategy to increase school attendance and track progress, resulting in a 3.5% reduction in chronic absenteeism and a 1.36% increase in school attendance across participating districts.

Securing multiple funding opportunities, including academic coaching support for teachers of multilingual learners, a capacity-building partnership to improve infrastructure of existing MediCal-sponsored mental health, sustained preschool classes, expanded social work support, and numerous projects to improve PBIS and MTSS structures. 

Cabinet Organizations

  • Parent representatives from each school district

  • Student representatives

  • Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services

  • Kern County Human Services

  • Clarvida

  • Housing Authority of County of Kern

  • Kern Health Systems

  • Kern County Superintendent of Schools

  • Taft Union High School District

  • Elk Hills Elementary School District

  • Lost Hills Union Elementary School District

  • Semitropic Elementary School District

  • Maple Elementary School District

  • Community Action Partnership of Kern

  • Kern Community Foundation

  • Omni Family Health

  • United Way of Kern County

  • Youth 2 Leaders