Central Valley Connected: Building Trust, Understanding Needs, and Strengthening Our
Community Families in the Central Valley School District encounter struggles like transportation and food insecurity. Since July 2025, ninety-eight households have been identified as experiencing food insecurity through Connected Central Valley’s referral system, LINK, which allows the community to request assistance.
LINK is a centralized, single point of access system that families can utilize through our website or by connecting directly with a Connected Site Coordinator or Project Manager.
These families receive direct support from Connected Central Valley HUBs located in each school building. The HUBs provide families with a place to access necessary items. Additionally, students can also access these items within the HUBs during the school day.
Beyond the immediate support from the HUBs, Connected Central Valley links these families to external community resources. This includes local food pantries, the Food Sense program, and SNAP assistance, helping families maximize their food and financial resources.
Recognizing that many families lack dependable transportation to reach our HUBs or local food pantries, Connected Central Valley introduced the Mobile HUB. This initiative brings essential resources, such as food and hygiene products, directly to housing communities within the district. The success of the Mobile HUB lies in the relationships and trust established with families, which encourages them to not only access tangible items but also to meet with a site coordinator. This direct, confidential engagement allows the coordinator to assess and address additional, often deeper, needs within the household—needs that might not have been disclosed otherwise. This proactive relationship-building yields benefits for the Central Valley School District by fostering a more stable and engaged student body. When families’ basic needs are met and they feel supported by the school
community, students are better positioned to focus on learning, leading to improved attendance, behavior, and academic outcomes across the district.
The Mobile HUB’s success is a testament to the strong, innovative partnership between Connected Central Valley, the school district, and the community. By shifting the paradigm from requiring families to seek aid to proactively bringing resources to them, the program exemplifies a solution-focused approach that strengthens the community as a whole. This direct engagement fosters a collaborative environment where the strengths of the school and various community organizations are leveraged to create accessible, impactful support systems.
In addition to these tangible items, community partners attend to provide further assistance to families.These vital resources encompass a range of support, including health care, insurance, mental health services, Care Management, supportive family services, and food assistance. Connecting families with these partners is a result of the trust built through the HUB and Mobile HUB initiatives. Families feel comfortable sharing their needs, allowing the Site Coordinators to make more precise and effective referrals.
The Mobile HUB is scheduled to visit the following locations in the near future:
● May 11: Ilion Heights
● June 11: Remington Park
● July 14: Central Plaza Courtyard
● July 23: Colonial Manor
Families interested in attending are urged to sign up early. Items will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last. For questions, please reach out to Project Manager Donna Senko at 315-985-0908.
About the Connected Initiative
The Connected Initiative has created 53 Community Schools within 13 districts across Central New York to build schools that are equipped with resources and services that allow students to thrive. By connecting resources, relationships, and opportunities, we strengthen the bridge between home, school, and community—helping transform challenges into successes and ensuring every learner feels supported, valued, and ready to succeed.
