NHA Continuum of Care Model

All of the agency’s programs work together to form NHA’s Continuum of Care Model, a vision that begins at the prenatal stages of life and continues all the way to senior care and adult day health care. This vision plants the seeds for future leaders and a productive, skilled workforce 20 years from now.

NHA’s Nutrition Services program and Balanced Living Initiative are at the core of the Continuum of Care Model. NHA stands committed to the health and wellness of our employees and the thousands of children, seniors, and families we serve each year.

The model begins with the Services to Pregnant Women and Black Infant Health programs that offer comprehensive services including weekly prenatal classes for pregnant women and their families, as well as individualized postpartum home visits. Next, NHA places children 6 weeks to 5 years into our Home Base Early Head Start, Early Head Start, and Head Start programs.  Each child receives an individualized educational program to make sure they are “kinder-ready” when they leave the program. Each year, NHA delivers more than 3,000 children into a K-12 school system county wide, that may not provide the learning environment and individualized, high quality education they need.  It is NHA’s goal to change that. 

NHA’s vision is to open a Charter School within the next two to three years, beginning with transitional-kindergarten through 3rd grade, and incorporating additional years to eventually go to 12th grade. The charter school is the only missing piece of the Continuum of Care Model. Upon completion, NHA looks forward to using the agency’s existing best practices to provide better outcomes for children and their families.

The next step of the model is the NHA Homework Center that provides students in grades 3 through 12 with a quiet, safe place to study when their alternatives are limited.  Complementing the Homework Center is the College Academy program that helps underprivileged high school students reach their goals of attending college. During the summer, the agency operates the Youth Fellowship Summer Employment Program that prepares high school and college students for future endeavors and the workforce. 

NHA is investing approximately $75,000 in each child today, with the goal that they will return to the next step in the model, Workforce Placement at NHA. Subsequently, upon reaching the age of retirement is the last step in the model: medical and/or social services through our Senior Services.  NHA has been serving San Diego families and children in need for 104 years.  It is service with a purpose.  Our goal is that 20 years from now, the children enrolled in the early steps of the Continuum of Care Model will successfully join the NHA workforce and come back home to serve the San Diego community.