THE CFIER/CCS STORY:
A Trailblazing Journey Over 35 Years
From its humble beginnings in 1989 as a project inside of California state government, to its 33 years of serving the public education community as a non-profit organization, CCS is proud of its game-changing impact—in the diverse arenas of labor-management relations, afterschool program quality, healthy behaviors for children and families, and employee health benefits.
Of course we couldn’t have done it alone. Our achievements were made possible by an amazing team of experts, wonderful volunteers, hard-working coalitions of stakeholders, and generous grant funding from many private foundations and public agencies.
And now, we are done! Our leaders, staff and consultants are retiring. We are delighted, however, that our CECHCR health benefits services will be continuing—with Matt Bittner and his Volition Group carrying on the legacy and work of CECHCR.
HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR JOURNEY
CCS started its life named CFIER—California Foundation for the Improvement of Employer-Employee Relations, and we are pleased to end our tenure still actively serving this mission via our labor/management CECHCR project, which champions improved health benefits purchasing practices in California’s public schools and community colleges.
For many CFIER was a trailblazer in bringing school employers and unions together—starting in 1989 specializing in intensive immersion in interest-based bargaining and relationship-building practices (some district and union leaders called it boot camp!) CFIER also provided expert, neutral facilitation support for negotiations, problem-solving, and relationship building—working with hundreds of districts over the years.
To widen our labor-management cooperation impact, for 21 years we brought together employer and union leaders from all over California and other states to showcase their collaborative methods and successes in an annual multi-day conference.
CFIER became CCS (Center for Collaborative Solutions) ten years after its founding, broadening its umbrella mission to unleashing the power of people working together, and adding new initiatives. We are particularly proud of our nearly 20 years of work developing and strengthening afterschool programs in low-income communities all across California—starting with creating and implementing a groundbreaking set of exemplary practices for program quality. This work led, first, to building learning communities, and later, establishing afterschool learning centers throughout the state.
Our signature afterschool initiative built on our early work and expanded it to specifically focus on healthy behaviors. Our many efforts in fighting the health and obesity crises among young people included designing innovative approaches, publishing award-winning books and guides, creating healthy behaviors learning communities and learning labs, and doing advocacy work that led to greater awareness and policy changes—as well as thousands of healthier students!
Another highlight of our work came about because of the funding crisis caused by steeply rising costs of health benefits which led us to form a California public education coalition (CECHCR) of statewide labor and management organizations to address the problem. We changed the landscape and brought millions of dollars in savings to districts and their employees through a combination of educational programs and in-depth services to help reduce costs while maintaining or increasing the quality of benefits.
OUR HISTORY IN BRIEF
We began in 1989 as a labor-management cooperation project within a state government agency—the Public Employment Relations Board. When funding and politics threatened to end the project, we gained foundation funding and formed the CFIER nonprofit organization in 1991 to continue the work.
Statewide education union and employer organizations—including ACSA, CASBO, CFT, CSBA, CSEA, CTA & SEAC—were represented on our advisory groups and board of directors, guiding our work from the beginning.
In the mid-1990’s we expanded our work beyond the public education arena by participating in the formation and funding of a sister nonprofit organization, The Workplace Institute, which had a similar focus to CFIER but served the private sector.
Our focus in public education expanded from labor and management leadership to include afterschool programs in 1999, and expanded again in 2005 with our afterschool healthy behaviors initiatives.
In the early 2000’s CFIER and The Workplace Institute merged, and in view of the organizations combining and CFIER having expanded its work into the afterschool field, CFIER changed its name to CCS—Center for Collaborative Solutions.
In the mid-2000’s, CCS also participated in founding and supporting the International Center for the Collaborative Workplace.
In the mid-2000’s—again with participation with all the statewide labor and management organizations in public education—we formed the California Education Coalition for Health Care Reform (CECHCR). This initiative of CCS continues to this day, helping districts and unions work effectively together to reduce the cost of health benefits without a reduction in benefits.
We are very pleased that our CECHCR Approach is being carried forward by Matt Bittner and The Volition Group.
THE IMPACT OF OUR WORK
We are proud to acknowledge that our work has positively impacted the lives of so many. Our initial work brought together statewide management organizations and unions into unprecedented collaboration. Our innovation and leadership have also brought about increased awareness and systemic changes in multiple fields.
The afterschool landscape in California has been transformed by CCS initiatives, creating higher quality afterschool programming in thousands of school sites across the state, benefiting children and their families in countless ways. In a nutshell, many thousands of children are safer, healthier, and better equipped to lead successful lives as a result of our groundbreaking afterschool and healthy behaviors work.
Many labor-management relationships have been strengthened, leading to better outcomes for everyone. Thousands of labor-management conflicts and disputes have been collaboratively resolved using CFIER/CCS methods, approaches and facilitators.
Many school districts and many thousands of school employees are better off financially due to lowered health insurance premiums. Documented savings of over $200 million have been achieved for these groups through our direct CECHCR work with labor and management. Moreover, standards and protocols for obtaining health benefits for school district employees have been elevated statewide, thanks singularly to the work of the CECHCR project.
AS WE SAY GOODBYE
Our key leadership and program experts are ready to retire. We are honored to have served and supported our labor-management and afterschool communities in these past three decades. As we say goodbye, we are heartened by the positive impact our innovations and collaborations and hard work have had on individuals, families, communities, partnerships and institutions in California.
It wasn’t always easy. CCS was hit hard by the recession over a decade ago, and by the Covid-19 pandemic. In some cases, state, federal and foundation policy changes altered our ability to gain funding. And at times our work changed both specific situations and the entire landscape sufficiently that aspects of our initiatives were no longer needed.
We are deeply grateful to our many generous funders, without whom none of our work would have been possible. To the Stuart and Hewlett Foundations that supported the founding of CFIER/CCS and funded our early work. To the many foundations and governmental agencies that funded our afterschool work—particularly the Packard and Mott Foundations. To, especially, the California Department of Public Heath, that helped us initiate our afterschool healthy behaviors work and keep it going for well over a decade. To the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service for funding the startup of our CECHCR initiative, and to the California HealthCare Foundation for funding its continuation. And to The California Endowment that funded both our healthy behaviors work and our CECHCR initiative.
We are thrilled that our work begun under The CECHCR Project will live on, continuing to serve school and community college districts and their unions, via The Volition Group spearheaded by Matt Bittner.