Advancing Community-Centered Engagement in the CalFresh Healthy Living, Catholic Charities of California Program

Faith-based organizations’ deep community roots and relational trust support their delivery of youth and family-centered programming, like SNAP-Ed. Grounded in Ecological Systems Theory and Community-Based Participatory Research, this study examined how Catholic Charities of California local implementing agencies (LIAs) center community in their program environments in support of youth and family health and well-being outcomes. This convergent, mixed-methods assessment utilized a 16-item, 5-point Likert) and open-ended qualitative questions. The survey was delivered to 70 LIA personnel; 60 responded (86 % response rate) with 44 complete responses. Descriptive statistics summarized quantitative items, while 321 qualitative excerpts underwent inductive thematic analysis; data strands were integrated during interpretation. Agreement with all 16 indicators ranged from 56% to 100%. Eleven themes were clustered into three domains. Strengths included: (a) hiring and retention of staff who share participants’ lived experiences that foster trust, (b) partnerships with community “champions” to co-lead nutrition and physical-activity initiatives, and (c) real-time adaptation of lesson timing, content, and incentives based on community feedback. The main growth area was closing feedback loops by sharing outcome data with community members, as well as formalizing and scaling local strengths for greater implementation across the state. Findings illustrate an asset-oriented, systems-level pathway by which FBOs can support improvements in youth and family dietary and activity patterns. Formalizing feedback tools and scaling strength-based staffing practices could broaden SNAP-Ed’s reach and deepen its impact on family health outcomes. The study offers a replicable assessment framework for scholars and practitioners exploring how organizational processes can support agencies in meeting immediate service mandates while modeling a scalable, community-centered approach to support the health and well-being of youth and families nationwide.