Economy of abundance: Finding sustainable ways to support school health even when times are tough

As public funding for school health continues to erode and private funding prioritizes innovation over sustaining programs, it is increasingly difficult to find resources or partners who will commit to long-term support. Salud Familiar en McKinley is an innovative partnership between a low-income immigrant school and the health science department of the local university to co-create the cultures, confidence, environments, and resources for community health and student success. A key founding objective was to establish a sustainable funding stream and resource pool that would persist regardless of the vagaries of political, economic, or other environmental forces. Through innovative strategies including student organizations, curricular alignment, course fees, alumni development, community fundraising, and active nurturing of a culture of engagement, the public health program is able to contribute the equivalent of $500,000 per academic year in services, staffing, and programs for child, family, and community health at the elementary school. Delivered in English and Spanish, the relationship provides exceptional, sustained, and reinforcing opportunities for the diverse undergraduate and MPH students to learn skills and sensibilities of cultural humility, school health, program planning, community organizing, effective coalitions, and community leadership as integral and cost-effective components of their own professional preparation. The partnership operates from a set of commitments by the university department to the school, and an emerging set of reciprocal commitments from the school back to the university. Administrative, curricular, and fiscal considerations will be presented, as well as the role of the partnership in consistently attracting additional resources.