The Navigation Team’s Semi-Annual Resource Fair Reaches Far and Wide

Spring is a season of growth, a time when many of us look to find new opportunities for increased health and wellbeing for ourselves, our children, the planet, and the community around us. Stepping into the season of renewed energy, Commún held their first resource fair of 2025 on February 26, an event they offer at least twice a year.

“Our goal was to bring as many different types of organizations together as possible,” says Commún’s Navigation Program Manager Anna Valles. In total, the fair had over 15 organizations present, including medical and vaccine providers, mental health practitioners, legal services advisers, youth organizers, business and tax experts, and coffee and food vendors. An estimated 65 people were at the event.

The fair had over 15 organizations present, including:

Medical and Vaccine Providers

Mental Health Practitioners

Legal Services Advisers

Youth Organizers

Business and Tax Experts

Coffee and Food Vendors

“We on the Navigation team tried our best to cover it all so that people could show up with whatever needs they have and be met with resources,” Anna explains.

Increased access to resources is the reason Commún created its Navigation program. The program was developed after Commún held over 2,000 one-to-one conversations with community members from 2020–2022. Many community members spoke to their need to access resources in their own language, with someone who they felt comfortable with. The community specifically requested an option to access resources without becoming a client, for those who just needed a simple connection.

From this request arose our community Navigators, who provide resource links, phone numbers, or other connections that people can make on their own, receiving a follow up call from the Navigation team to ensure that they were able to access the resource successfully. Commún also offers clinical case navigation in Arabic, Spanish, and English, for members of the community who have more complex needs and want to walk through their options with a clinical case navigator.

“As a manager of the Navigation program, I work to get all kinds of resources as close to our offices as possible,” says Anna, “but sometimes, they just don't reach the right people when they need them. Offering events like the resource fair—where lots of people can attend and get a bunch of resources in one place and time—is really helpful.”

When the Navigation team is not hosting resource fairs, they are often attending others in the community, collaborating with mission-aligned organizations and agencies to broaden Commún’s reach and share information about its many services.

“We are really big on community, and we try to hear everyone out,” says Anna. “We’re here to respond to the community’s needs.”