California School-Based Health Alliance

Our Mission

The California School-Based Health Alliance (formerly the California School Health Centers Association) improves the health and academic success of children and youth by advancing health services in schools.  We envision a day when all of California's children and youth are healthy and achieving at their full potential.

Since hiring our first paid staff in 2003, the Alliance has successfully grown to have an annual budget of more than $1,500,000 and thirteen staff.  We conduct policy work, promote the school based health center (SBHC) model, and assist SBHCs with program development to expand and strengthen school health services.  Our large network of collaborating partners includes 231 SBHCs, numerous school districts, federally qualified health centers and other providers, dozens of state and local policy organizations, and an e-communications network of more than 3,200 individuals.

Our goal is to make school health centers an integral and sustainable part of the health care and educational systems. By putting health care where kids are – in schools – school health centers increase access to care and take health problems out of the classroom so that teachers can teach and students can learn.