About Us
Health and Well-being, Done Differently
CORE is changing the way we tackle persistent community challenges like poverty, poor physical and mental health, barriers to accessing resources, and the legacy of racism.
We believe real progress is made when we work together with an explicit commitment to increase equity, particularly racial equity. That's why CORE brings together changemakers who work collectively to address the root causes of health, social, economic, and environmental problems and create equitable health and well-being in Santa Cruz County.
Photo credit: Arts Council Santa Cruz County
CORE offers a framework, partnerships, and peer learning for greater community impact. Together, we can align resources, create common goals, and take collective action to improve the quality of life for everyone in Santa Cruz County.
If you’re interested in making our community more equitable, read on to learn about the CORE framework, mission, vision and values. If you feel our community work aligns, we hope you’ll join us for an upcoming CORE Institute event and reach out about how we can work together.
The CORE Framework
CORE offers a framework for identifying goals and measurements for a thriving community. Community organizations, individuals, government agencies, coalitions, and businesses can use this results-based framework to align goals, share resources, and partner together. When we work toward a shared vision, we achieve greater results for the community while using valuable time, energy, and funding as effectively as possible.
Mission
To inspire and ignite collective action to ensure Santa Cruz County is a safe, healthy community with equitable opportunities for all to thrive.
Vision
Santa Cruz County is an equitable, thriving, resilient community where everyone shares responsibility to ensure the health and well-being of all people, at every stage of life.
Values
Equity
We uncover the root causes of inequities and disrupt individual, organizational, and systemic practices and structures that perpetuate inequities in opportunities and outcomes.
Compassion
We ground our work with each other and the community in a human-centered, empathic approach to ensure that all can reach their potential.
Voice
We seek out, listen, and respond to the perspectives of those most affected by current and historical adversities and inequities.
Inclusion
We create authentic opportunities for people with diverse backgrounds and life experiences to share their perspectives and co-create solutions.
Collaboration
We work across sectors and organizational boundaries for the common good and contribute our individual talents and resources to achieve collective impact.
Transparency
We openly share our data, results, successes, and challenges to build trust, foster dialogue, and create a countywide culture of continuous improvement.
Innovation
We encourage creative strategies and approaches to solve the complex, interrelated social, economic, and environmental challenges that undermine equitable health and well-being.
Accountability
We hold ourselves responsible for setting shared goals and measurable outcomes, investing public and private resources efficiently and effectively in data-driven, evidence-based, and evidence-informed programs and practices, evaluating our efforts and progress and demonstrating our collective impact.
Bringing It All Together:
The CORE Conditions for Health & Well-being
Fulfilling the CORE vision and mission requires investing in programs, practices, policies, and transformational system changes that create equitable opportunities to experience these vital, interconnected CORE Conditions for Health & Well-being across the life span, throughout the community.
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All community members experience optimal physical, mental, social-emotional, behavioral, and spiritual health across the life span.
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High-quality education and learning opportunities from birth to end of life.
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Stable employment, livable wages, food security, ability to afford basic needs, wealth accumulation, and prosperity.
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Safe, nurturing relationships and environments that promote optimal health and well-being of all family members across generations.
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A sense of belonging, diverse and inclusive neighborhoods and institutions, vibrant arts and cultural life, and civic engagement.
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Clean, safe, sustainable natural environment and a built environment and infrastructure that support health and well-being.
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Fair, humane approaches to ensuring personal, public, and workplace safety that foster trust, respect, and dignity.
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An adequate supply of housing and shelter that is safe, healthy, affordable, and accessible.
Interested in Learning More About CORE?
Here’s Our Story
The Collective of Results and Evidence-based (CORE) Investments began as a funding model for the County and the City of Santa Cruz. The funding framework was aimed at better aligning goals as a community while improving program and community-level outcomes. CORE has since evolved into a collective of community members and organizations with a shared vision for equitable health and well-being throughout the county.
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In 2020, we expanded and deepened our work to include the CORE Institute, a learning hub for collaboration rooted in the CORE framework. With the addition of the Institute, CORE created a new, collaborative space for sharing knowledge and supporting partnerships focused on social change.
Today, we continue to collaborate with local changemakers, nonprofits, agencies, businesses, grassroots community organizations, and more. Our collective work has sparked progressive conversations and new ways of partnering, problem-solving, and measuring improvements in health and well-being for all people in Santa Cruz County.
Meet the Team
The CORE consulting team stewards CORE Investments on behalf of the County of Santa Cruz, creating and facilitating opportunities for shared learning and collective action across the community. We bring people together to learn, build trust, have courageous conversations about antiracism and equity, and align efforts with the CORE Framework.
Nicole Young, MSW
Founder/Principal, Optimal Solutions Consulting
A skilled trainer, facilitator, systems thinker, and dot-connector, Nicole Y helps people in nonprofits and public agencies discover the practical implications of complex concepts and put them into action. She brings all of these skills and roles to CORE Investments, leading the CORE team, and sharing her insights and learning through the CORE Institute.
Photo credit: Mary Anne Carson
Nicole Lezin, MPPM
President, Cole Communications, Inc.
Recognizing and bringing forth the creative and best ideas of other people is one of Nicole L’s strengths. Whether it’s facilitation, writing, planning, or evaluation, Nicole L helps communicate ideas that are buried, tangled, or obscured and bring them forward in a more useful, accessible, and compelling way. CORE offers Nicole many opportunities to apply these skills, with the added satisfaction of working on issues in her community (and, of course, evangelizing for the Oxford comma).
Photo credit: Mary Anne Carson
Stella Lauerman
Certified Interpeter & Translator
Raised in a bilingual and bicultural family on the Central Coast, Stella augmented her native fluency with a college degree with honors in Spanish, advanced certificates in translation and interpretation, and many years of experience. She’s also a parent education consultant for Triple P (Positive Parenting Program), among others, with a special interest and focus on supporting families of children with special needs. Her professional and volunteer activities for disability-related parent support organizations draw on her personal experience raising a son with autism. Puzzling through the meanings and combinations of words is something Stella truly enjoys; in her “spare” time, she does crosswords (in ink, we’re guessing)!
Gisella Carrasco
Bilingual Project Support, Virtual Assistant
Gisella, a native of Texas, contributes to the CORE team in multiple, invaluable ways. She provides consecutive interpretation and translation during CORE Institute events, edits and post videos on the CORE Investments YouTube channel, updates this website, and manages numerous behind-the-scenes tasks.
Join the Movement
With your partnership, we can achieve real change in Santa Cruz County. Join us today to get the latest information on workshops and hear from others working toward equity in our community. We can’t achieve true equity without you!