Our
Story

Our Roots

Stockton Service Corps was established in 2019 as a place-based initiative to work with national service programs in strengthening communities and addressing local community needs. In doing so, SSC partnered with AmeriCorps programs to place 100 Service Fellows to support youth at critical milestones in their educational journey through evidence-based interventions from Pre-K to 12th grade and up until they graduate college. Since then, SSC has led this coalition effort to develop a pipeline of civic leaders who believe that young people are the key to catalyzing change in our community.

Our Roots

First-of-its-Kind Place-Based Initiative

In 2018, California Volunteers awarded a grant of $12 million to the city of Stockton to be used over the next 6 years to support “cradle-to-college” services for young people in South Stockton. Building off of the work of Stockton’s former Mayor Michael Tubbs, the initial focus was to engage evidence-based service programs to provide wraparound services and targeted support to all Stockton students in an effort to become eligible for Stockton Scholars scholarship. To coordinate and implement a citywide cradle-to-career strategy, Stockton Service Corps was established as a program under Reinvent Stockton Foundation and became the first-of-its-kind place-based service initiative.

During the 2018-2019 school year, a team of school leaders, district administrators, community members, parents, and students engaged in a two phase planning process to determine the need, results, and indicators they want to address.

In phase 1, the team identified the following focus areas:

Every students entered kindergarten are ready to learn
K-12 Success (literacy, math, social-emotional wellness, focused mentorship for 8th-9th transition)
Post-secondary readiness and completion

In Phase 2, California Volunteers launched an RFA to grant funds to address communities’ needs in the focus areas identified in phase 1. As a result, four programs were selected by California Volunteers to service Stockton students and two additional programs leveraged existing grants with AmeriCorps to expand their program in Stockton.

Our Highlights

2019

Launched Cradle-To-Career Focus Area

2020

Launched Climate Action Focus Area

2022

Launched Social Justice Focus Area

First-of-its-Kind Place-Based Initiative

Every students entered kindergarten are ready to learn
K-12 Success (literacy, math, social-emotional wellness, focused mentorship for 8th-9th transition)
Post-secondary readiness and completion

Our Highlights

2019

Launched Cradle-To-Career Focus Area

2020

Launched Climate Action Focus Area

2022

Launched Social Justice Focus Area

First-of-its-Kind Place-Based Initiative

During the 2018-2019 school year, a team of school leaders, district administrators, community members, parents, and students engaged in a two phase planning process to determine the need, results, and indicators they want to address.

In phase 1, the team identified the following focus areas:

Every students entered kindergarten are ready to learn
K-12 Success (literacy, math, social-emotional wellness, focused mentorship for 8th-9th transition)
Post-secondary readiness and completion

Our Highlights

2019

Launched Cradle-To-Career Focus Area

2020

Launched Climate Action Focus Area

2022

Launched Social Justice Focus Area

FAQ

What is a place-based initiative?

Place-based initiatives are unique because of their inclusion of both public and private partners and their long-term commitment to specific jurisdictions (cities, towns, and neighborhoods). Each entity plays a different role at different times and their efforts are all coordinated by one local entity that can be referred to as the quarterback, which is the position that Stockton Service Corps takes within the City of Stockton.

What is AmeriCorps?

AmeriCorps is a federal agency with a mission to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. They engage over 200,000 individuals every year to make a difference in the community across the nation. They focus on these key areas to make an impact: economic opportunity, education, environmental stewardship, disaster response, healthy futures, and veterans and military families. To learn more, check them out at americorps.gov

What is California Volunteers?

California Volunteers serves as the State Service Commission responsible for promoting service and volunteerism. Their mission is to empower and mobilize Californians to actively help tackle state and local challenges through volunteer and service action. They also administer AmeriCorps programs in California with over 80 programs providing critical services to more than 160,000 Californians annually. To learn more, check them out at californiavolunteers.ca.gov.

How are Stockton Service Corps and AmeriCorps connected?

Stockton Service Corps is a place-based initiative mainly funded by California VolunteersCalifornia Volunteers. Stockton Service Corps works to coordinate efforts across programs, increase efficiencies that maximize impact, build networks for members within San Joaquin County, and support partners in contextualizing their work to Stockton. AmeriCorps programs work with Stockton Service Corps to deepen their organizational capacity, support members, engage service alumni, and work to retain our powerful leaders beyond their service term. Stockton Service Corps does not have members itself– rather it operates more like a backbone organization that supports service in Stockton overall.

What is an ecosystem of service?

We talk about an ecosystem of service because we acknowledge the interconnectedness of our work. Everyone doing service is contributing their time, talent, and skills to help support our community. When we do that in a way that builds upon each other's strengths we can deepen our collective impact. An ecosystem is a great way to capture our vision for what can be possible.