Developing Joint Use of Facilities 

Case Study

Over one-third of Oakland Unified School District’s fifth, seventh and ninth graders are overweight or obese (FITNESSGRAM^®, 2007-08). In an effort to address growing concerns for childhood overweight and obesity, as well as a high dropout rate and gang activity, the Oakland Unified School District, City of Oakland and Unity Council, a non-profit community development corporation, partnered to provide afterschool physical activity programs to the district’s K-12 students. By partnering with the city and the Unity Council, the school district was able to significantly improve services both for its students and the Fruitvale/San Antonio communities of Oakland, as well as leverage resources to fund the project.

Through the vision of Ignacio de la Fuente, past President of the Oakland City Council, the city donated land to the Oakland Unified School District for development into a community-based school, supporting inner-city youth and families. In 2004, the OUSD opened the Cesar Chavez Education Center, which is now home to two elementary schools: 1) the International Community School and 2) Think College Now. The relationship between the city and the school district did not stop there as the city provided the school district with funding to help build state of the art synthetic surface soccer and softball fields.

Conversations began early on for how to best allow the community to use this new facility. The Unity Council had been looking for open space to be used for afterschool youth recreation programs and the center was a perfect fit. According to Marsha Murrington, the executive vice president for the Unity Council, “The Fruitvale/San Antonio area of Oakland was in dire need for open space and safe places for kids to play. This area is densely populated with only 0.68 acres per 1,000 people.” Ms. Murrington adds, “Partnering with the district to open the Cesar Chavez Education Center after school hours was one of the only opportunities to increase the open space for recreational K-12 youth programs in the area.”

Prior to the construction of the Cesar Chavez Education center, the Unity Council and the School District began its discussions. The first agreement between the district and the Unity Council at the opening of the facility, in September 2004, was very informal; a more formal Memorandum of Understanding went before the board of education for approval, where it was signed by the Oakland Unified School District and the Unity Council in March of 2009. The MOU had full support of the school district’s board. According to Timothy White, assistant superintendent in charge of Facilities, Planning and Management, “The board was supportive because of the community support – it is hard not to get the board to support something the community says it wants.”

This partnership is a huge success for increasing recreational opportunities for youth in the community when previous programs for youth between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. did not exist. There are 20 soccer teams and four to five basketball teams scheduled during the week at the center, with an additional 10-20 teams waiting to be scheduled. The school district has reported increased academic performance, better behavior from students and decreased vandalism as a result of the new recreational programs for youth and increased parent and community involvement. Because the Unity Council is a nonprofit organization, it can pursue grants from foundations to further fund recreational activities. Through the help of the Unity Council, the school district hopes to raise additional funds to take this model and replicate it in ten other schools over the next five years.

How to Get Started

Joint use can be as simple as creating a district policy to open up school recreational facilities to the community after school hours or as complex as entering into a joint use agreement with a partner organization. A joint use agreement is a legal document that describes the respective responsibilities and obligations of the parties related to the facility or facilities which will be shared for a specified term. Typically, each party under a joint use agreement contributes to funds to develop, operate and maintain the facilities that will be shared.

The state has sources of funding to establish and improve joint use projects. A Primer on Joint Use by the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network describes the funding mechanisms in California.

For more information on collaboration around joint use, join us for the October 5 Pre-Conference event at the 2009 School Wellness Conference. The event, Finding common ground: Collaborating to prevent childhood obesity, which will explore the foundations of collaboration among schools, cities and others, will be offered at no charge on a first come basis to those who register for the conference. To register for the School Wellness Conference and Pre-Conference, visit http://swc.csba.org.

Additional Resources

• The National Policy and Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity has model joint use agreements, a Checklist for Developing Joint use Agreements has conducted legal research on joint use. www.nplanonline.org
• Public Health Law and Policy has developed a new toolkit to help communities and school districts work together to increase access to recreational facilities on school grounds. To receive an alert when PHLP’s joint-use toolkit is released, sign up at www.healthyplanning.org/newsletter.html
• Joint Use Statewide Taskforce provides joint-use success stories, and resources for those interested in ensuring that all students have a convenient and safe place to play. www.jointuse.org
• Center for Cities and Schools at the University of California-Berkeley offers a research perspective on local level joint use practices, state and local joint use model policies and tools and resources for practitioners. http://citiesandschools.berkeley.edu/pubs.html