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The SC2 team in Fresno demonstrated a number of the goals of the SC2 initiative. The SC2 team as a whole helped to move projects at a faster pace than would have happened otherwise and also helped to navigate certain barriers and provide expertise relevant to members’ federal agencies. The SC2 team made great gains in encouraging regional collab

Because the mayor’s vision and agenda were so clearly defined from the start, the work plan and implementation activities were structured to further the mayor’s short- and long-term vision for Fresno. Many objectives in the work plan aligned with the larger goals of revitalizing downtown Fresno and expanding the value-added food sector. The fo

The SC2 pilot in Fresno was guided by the Fresno SC2 team lead. He engaged city staff, worked to align SC2 team activities with city needs and to foster interagency collaboration, and connected city staff to federal team members who could provide the specific needed insights or expertise. The SC2 team lead was adept at coordination and leadership,

From the start of the SC2 assessment process, the Fresno mayor and key city staff were involved in shaping the vision for how the initiative would play out in Fresno. Specifically, during the Opportunity Assessment Team site visit, the mayor gave a presentation on the city’s needs related to economic development, workforce development, and trans

The following section begins with a description of the SC2 pilot kickoff and the work plan development process. The narrative then describes how the Fresno SC2 team and the city worked together, and finally it summarizes key SC2 team activities during the first 18 months of implementation.

In this section, we explore the following questions: What data should be collected to determine progress across the Implementation Bridge? What would an implementation monitoring plan look like? How much time does it take?

The SC2 team worked with local partners, such as Wells Fargo, the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission, the San Joaquin Valley Regional Broadband Consortium, and the Downtown Fresno Partnership (the downtown Business Improvement District) to help align and connect ongoing local efforts with the mayor’s work plan for the SC2 pilot. With these

Another use of implementation milestones is as diagnostics for determining which supports will advance the implementation of interventions. The idea of “implementation drivers” proposed by Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman, and Wallace (2005) represents one way to think about actions and processes to support implementation at different levels (or

Another important consideration is the broader context in which an intervention is being implemented. Different aspects of the context can support or inhibit successful implementation. One aspect of context is the “unit of change.” The primary implementer can be an individual (e.g., a case manager in a foster care agency), an organization (all

The city had a core team dedicated to maximizing the SC2 team’s contributions. The team was led by Fresno’s mayor. She set the vision for the SC2 team’s work and then assigned the core members of her cabinet—her chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, and government affairs manager—to work with SC2 team leadership to ensure consistent coo

Charting feelings and perceptions represents a third way to establish implementation milestones. Change science scholars have identified and described the different concerns that people can have when engaged with a change process; these can be used to chart movement across the Implementation Bridge. Four major categories of concern have been ide

At the start of implementation, the Fresno SC2 team comprised 18 federal employees representing 12 agencies and departments. The core team members were the full-time SC2 team lead and the two other full-time Fresno-based team members from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The SC2 t

Another set of implementation milestones describes practitioners’ increasing competence in using an intervention. Studies conducted from the practitioners’ perspective suggest that developing the knowledge and skill to implement an intervention effectively requires time and experience (Bellg et al., 2004; Durlak & DuPre, 2008). As practiti

One set of implementation milestones involves Fidelity of Implementation. “Fidelity is the faithfulness with which an intervention is implemented; that is, how well the intervention is implemented without compromising its core content, pedagogical, and implementation components which are essential for the intervention’s effectiveness” (Natio

Key stakeholders in the SC2 pilot in Fresno were the team members, local government staff, and community partners. Each is described below.

Several constructs can be used to monitor progress in implementing interventions: Fidelity of Implementation —Today’s interventions are complex and have many parts, which can lead to varying aspects of the intervention being implemented at different times. Competence in Use —The expertise and competence of practitioners carrying out an

Fresno is a Central California city of approximately 500,000. While many objective measures point to the city’s distress, including concentrated poverty, structural unemployment, high vacancy rates, and disinvestment in the city’s core, Fresno is undeniably a city on the rise. Under the leadership of the mayor, Fresno has identified a vision f

One important aspect of understanding change is that it is a process, not an event . An intervention 1 involves three major phases of change:

Implementation of the SC2 pilot initiative in Fresno began in September 2011, after an initial planning and assessment period earlier in the year. The team began with a broad mandate to support Fresno in addressing 10 local priorities identified during the planning process with the city. The priorities focused on addressing Fresno’s major opport

Implementing interventions in communities and organizations and with individuals requires an understanding of the complexities involved with making any major change. A good idea and evidence that an intervention has been effective elsewhere do not automatically lead to the widespread adoption and use of an intervention. Studying the implementation