In 1997, a group of concerned government, philanthropy and business leaders decided to do something about the persistent poverty and barriers to success faced by children and youth in Bay Area communities. Their extensive analysis found that low income communities were vastly underutilizing public funding streams for critical support programs for children and youth. The Partnership for Children & Youth (PCY) was created to connect schools and their community partners in these underserved communities with available public and private resources, and to improve the effectiveness of funding streams and services for low income children. The ultimate beneficiaries of our work are children and families in California’s lowest-income communities. Our primary clients are those institutions that provide critical support services to disadvantaged children-including schools and school districts, community-based organizations, and state and local government agencies. We ignite systems of collaboration, leadership and continuous learning among school districts, government agencies and community-based organization serving low-income children and youth. We do this by supporting community school, after school and summer partnerships through training, assessment, planning, policy and advocacy.