Hayward Promise Neighborhood: A Shared System for Multiple Partners to Support Families

Hayward Promise Neighborhood launched a 50-family pilot to reduce chronic absenteeism through family-centered navigation. They coordinated outreach, referrals, milestones, and attendance across the school district, nonprofits, and 4Cs of Alameda County.

Without shared systems, partners relied on spreadsheets and a slow, expensive Salesforce implementation, including a $70,000 referral form. With Campground, they built a secure multi-partner case management and referral system aligned to their workflow, integrated attendance uploads, and automated performance reporting that saved 10 to 15 hours per month. The result is a shared source of truth that enables real-time coordination and positions the partnership to identify which interventions most effectively reduce chronic absenteeism.

The Coordination Challenge

The program model depended on multiple partners working in sync, but the operational environment made that difficult.

Pain Point 1: No Shared Source of Truth

Each organization has a different way of tracking work, including:

• spreadsheets

• internal CRMs

• case notes stored locally

• email attachments

• informal updates in meetings

The status quo would have led to predictable problems:

• families receive multiple calls from different agencies

• staff do not know who was doing what

• attendance data was not easily connected to interventions

• measuring effectiveness required manual effort
  
  
  

Pain Point 2: Salesforce Was Slow, Expensive, and Not Built for Multi-Partner Navigation

Hayward Promise explored using a Salesforce setup or existing partner systems, but that required approvals and governance across institutions. It also came with long timelines and high costs. The team estimated it could take 1 to 2 years to accommodate the project, largely due to contractor backlogs. Even simple changes were costly. One referral form alone had cost $70,000 the previous year and took months to create.

Pain Point 3: Spreadsheets Were the Only Viable Alternative, and They Were Risky

Without a shared system, partners fell back on spreadsheets.

Spreadsheets created serious problems:

• sensitive student and family data shared via attachments

• version control issues and human error

• copying and pasting mistakes

• difficulty tracking progress over time

• limited auditability for multi-agency work

What They Needed: A Secure, Shared Case Management and Referral System for Multiple Partners

Hayward Promise was not looking for a typical CRM.

They needed a coordination system that could:

• support family-based navigation

• allow different organizations to collaborate without duplicating effort

• securely handle individual-level data

• centralize referrals, case notes, milestones, and interventions

• connect partner interventions with attendance outcomes
  generate reporting without staff spending hours each month assembling metrics

They needed a shared operational backbone rather than another silo.

The Solution: Campground Helped Hayward Promise Build a System Around Their Workflow

Hayward Promise partnered with Campground to build a secure case management and referral tracking system that worked across organizations.

This was the first time the partnership had been able to collaboratively build a system to match their real-world needs, instead of forcing their program into a tool designed for a different context. The cost was a fraction of the cost of hiring a developer or vendor. 

What Campground Delivered

1. A customized CRM that matched their workflow and process map
The system was built to reflect how work actually flows in their model. Campground used AI to customize at lower cost. 

• Intake

• Family Engagement

• Interventions and milestones

• Tracking data

• Performance Measurement reporting

2. Shared access across organizations without spreadsheets
Select partners across agencies could work in the same system. This enabled a shared source of truth, reduced duplication, and lowered risk from emailed attachments.

3. Attendance uploads integrated with case management
A portal enabled district partners to upload attendance data regularly. The system could then sync attendance with intervention timing, milestone tracking, service referrals, and case management intensity.

This created the foundation needed to answer a key question: Which interventions, across the full suite of supports, are most effective at reducing chronic absenteeism?

4. Automated reporting for required performance measures
Instead of spending 10 to 15 hours per month compiling reporting, staff can export performance measures directly from the system.

5. A single place for navigators and case managers to do daily work
Navigators and case managers could finally do daily work in one place, rather than relying on clipboards, scattered notes, and multiple trackers.

Why This Matters for Cradle-to-Career Partnerships

Hayward Promise’s story is not unique. Across the StriveTogether Network, partnerships are attempting increasingly sophisticated cross-sector coordination:

• shared outcomes across organizations and partners

• coordinated interventions

• integrated supports for families

• real-time learning about what works
  
  
  

But these strategies often run into the same infrastructure barrier. You cannot coordinate outcomes with disconnected systems.

Hayward Promise’s case highlights a growing need for systems that match multi-partner workflows, support family-centered navigation, and enable secure collaboration. When reporting and measurement are built into daily work, partnerships gain operational capacity, not just convenience.

When coordination becomes easier, partnerships can:

• reduce duplication

• target support more effectively

• track interventions reliably

• measure impact faster

• refine strategies based on real data
  
  
  

A Closing Reflection

Hayward Promise and Campground Systems built the coordination infrastructure their program needed to succeed. Family navigation works best when systems are designed for the realities of day-to-day work and collaboration, not just compliance.

With a shared case management system in place, Hayward Promise and its partners now have a platform for continuous learning. They also have a way to connect interventions to outcomes at the family level, across agencies.

And ultimately, when our infrastructure works better, our families are served more effectively.