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Citywide Community Needs Assessment Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Our Children Our Families Initiative

What is the Citywide Community Needs Assessment (CCNA)?

The Citywide Community Needs Assessment (CCNA) is a first-of-its-kind coordinated effort to understand what San Francisco’s children, youth, transitional-age young adults, and families need to stay, belong, and thrive.

The CCNA brings together community input, data, and insights from across 13 City departments and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to build a shared understanding of the needs and experiences of children, youth, young adults, and families. By looking across this information together, participating departments and SFUSD can identify shared priorities, better understand how needs intersect across systems, and strengthen coordinated planning and action.

The CCNA complements, not replaces, the many ways City departments and SFUSD already engage residents and conduct their own planning and needs assessments.

How are you gathering information?

The CCNA brings together five sources of information:

  • Family Summits: Families share in person what makes it easier or harder to raise a family in San Francisco. 14 Summits will be hosted across 11 supervisorial district neighborhoods to meet families where they are at.
  • Citywide Survey: Families and young adults ages 18–24 weigh in on the services they need, barriers they experience, and what they would like to see improved.
  • Focus Groups: Smaller conversations provide opportunities to explore issues more deeply and hear from populations that may not have been sufficiently reached through the Family Summits or Citywide Survey.
  • Youth-led Engagement: Through DCYF’s Community Needs Assessment, youth and young people will participate in conversations designed and led by youth to share what is working, what they need, and what they want to see change.
  • Existing Data and Needs Assessments: To complement what we hear directly from communities, existing data and findings from City departments, SFUSD, previous needs assessments, and State and Federal sources help identify trends, surface disparities, and connect what departments and communities have learned to the broader citywide picture.

What topics will the CCNA cover?

OCOFI convened City departments and SFUSD to develop a draft framework of five goals and 15 result areas that will guide data gathering and analysis for the CCNA. The goals describe the conditions the City and SFUSD are working to create for children, youth, TAY/A and families, especially those furthest from opportunity:

  • Living in safe, nurturing environments
  • Able to stay in their communities and thrive
  • Physically and mentally healthy
  • Succeeding in early care and K–12
  • Successfully transitioning to productive adulthood

Within each goal are three more specific result areas that help define what achieving the goal could look like. While not exhaustive, the goals and results represent critical building blocks for helping children, youth, TAY/A and families stay and thrive in San Francisco.

The CCNA will gather community input and analyze data across its different methods to better understand current conditions within each goal and result area, as well as underlying factors that may contribute to positive and negative trends. Data will also be disaggregated by population characteristics and geography to identify potential inequities and disparities across San Francisco.

The framework is intentionally a draft. What the City and SFUSD learn through the CCNA may lead to changes that better reflect the lived experiences and priorities of San Francisco’s children, youth, TAY/A and families. An updated framework will be included in the final CCNA report in June 2027.

OCOFI Draft 2026 Outcomes Framework

How will the CCNA be used?

The CCNA will give City departments and SFUSD a shared understanding of the needs, priorities, and experiences of San Francisco families. Findings will help departments identify where needs intersect across systems, strengthen coordination, align planning and resources, and inform collective action for children, youth, young adults, and families.

What is the timeline?

The CCNA will be conducted from July 2026 through June 2027. Community engagement begins in Fall 2026, with the Citywide Survey open from August 20 through December 31 and 14 Family Summits held from September 12 through December 12. Focus groups will take place in Winter 2027, followed by broader data analysis. The final CCNA report will be released in June 2027.

How do I participate?

There are several ways to participate:

Attend one of 14 Family Summits across San Francisco, complete the Citywide Survey for Families, participate in youth-led engagement, or join future focus groups and partner conversations.

Family Summits are free and include food, childcare, and interpretation. Everyone is welcome, and families may attend whichever Summit date and location works best for them.

  • Saturday, 9/12, 11AM – 1:30PM: District 7 Westwood Park Family Summit, Aptos Middle School
  • Thursday, 9/17, 5PM – 7:30PM: District 10 Sunnydale Family Summit, The Hub (Sunnydale Ave Community Center)
  • Saturday, 9/19, 11AM – 1:30PM: District 6 SOMA Family Summit, Gene Friend SOMA Recreation Center
  • Thursday, 9/24, 5PM – 7:30PM: District 5 Tenderloin Family Summit, Tenderloin Recreation Center
  • Saturday, 9/26, 11AM – 1:30PM: District 11 OMI Family Summit, Minnie and Lovie Ward Recreation Center
  • Saturday, 10/3, 11AM – 1:30PM: District 5 Fillmore Family Summit, African American Arts and Culture Complex (AAACC)
  • Thursday, 10/8, 5PM – 7:30PM: District 9 Mission Family Summit, The Women’s Building
  • Saturday, 10/17, 1PM –3:30PM: District 8 Castro Family Summit, Eureka Valley Recreation Center
  • Thursday, 10/22, 5:30PM – 8:00PM: District 1 Richmond Family Summit, Richmond Recreation Center
  • Thursday, 10/29, 5:30PM – 8PM: District 11 Excelsior Family Summit, Islais Place
  • Saturday, 11/7, 11AM – 1:30PM: District 2 Marina Family Summit, Marina Middle School
  • Saturday, 11/14, 11AM – 1:30PM: District 4 Sunset Family Summit, Sunset Recreation Center
  • Saturday, 12/5, 11AM – 1:30PM: District 10 Bayview Family Summit, Southeast Community Center
  • Saturday, 12/12, 11AM – 1:30PM: District 3 Chinatown Family Summit, Betty Ann Ong Recreation Center

Learn more and participate at sf.gov/thisisyourcity.

Who is conducting the CCNA?

The CCNA is being conducted by the Our Children Our Families Initiative (OCOFI), housed within the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF). OCOFI was established by San Francisco voters in 2024. OCOFI works to improve outcomes for children and families by strengthening coordination, alignment and accountability between City departments and with the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).

The participating departments and agencies are:

  1. Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF)
  2. Department of Early Childhood (DEC)
  3. Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH)
  4. Department of Public Health (DPH)
  5. Department on the Status of Women (DOSW)
  6. Human Rights Commission (HRC)
  7. Human Services Agency (HSA)
  8. Juvenile Probation Department (JPD)
  9. Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD)
  10. Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD)
  11. Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector (TTX)
  12. San Francisco Public Library (SFPL)
  13. San Francisco Recreation and Park Department (RPD)
  14. San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD)