Annual Report 2022-23
On the Road
to Readiness
Annual Report 2022-23
On the Road
to Readiness
With kindergarten readiness as our North Star, the roadmap below gives you a glimpse into our agency's work over the past year. Each milestone along the route provides a snapshot of one strategy, one program, one data point. Taken together, we hope it paints a picture of our comprehensive whole community, whole family, whole child system-building approach. Over the past 12 months, we have expanded our early care and education partnerships and programs by building our capacity, restructuring our agency, hiring staff with valuable expertise, and securing additional funding. Our budget grew 108% from the prior year, having been awarded the honor of being the Oakland Children's Initiative (OCI) Early Education Fund administrator, which provided the opportunity and resources for First 5 to work in deep partnership with Oakland Unified School District and the City of Oakland Head Start. Read more >
Kristin Spanos
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Place. People. Policy.
2023 has been a year of organizational action, planning, and growth for First 5 Alameda County. I am proud of First 5's contributions to the local investments in communities and families in service to the 100,000+ young children that call Alameda County home.
Centering Equity
As part of our continued work to center equity in our programming, investments, and advocacy, in 2022-23 we engaged in a participatory agencywide learning and development process to update our equity statement to encompass our current work, intentions for continuous learning and improvement, and commitment to accountability.
Read more >
Road to
Kindergarten
Readiness
Decades of research have demonstrated that the period from birth to age five is the most critical window of opportunity to positively impact a child’s future. The correlation between early childhood development, community and family conditions, and lifelong health has also been established — and these factors are undeniably intertwined. As noted by our Research Advisory Group, freedom from discrimination based on racism and classism positively impacts families’ ability to access services and resources and improves conditions needed for kindergarten readiness.
4 in 5
children who are not ready for kindergarten continue to struggle academically in third grade. Only 33% of parents and caregivers in Alameda County said their child was ready for kindergarten in 2021. Learn about the conditions that support readiness.
We believe that every community should have equal access to resources and infrastructure. Unfortunately, historical inequities tied to race and class have prevented this from being a reality. That's why we fund community-led, place-based investments like Neighborhoods Ready for School. This year we invested more than $3 million in four neighborhoods across Alameda County—three in Oakland and one in Union City—and brought on Cities & People Advisors to facilitate a strategic planning process specific to the initiative to help identify areas of opportunity and to foster alignment with Oakland Thrives’ RiseEast, a multimillion dollar placed-based investment effort focused on economic mobility, early literacy, and child and adolescent behavioral health.
Thriving
Neighborhoods
WATCH THE NEIGHBORHOODS READY FOR SCHOOL MINI DOCUMENTARY SERIES TO LEARN MORE:
Introduction to Neighborhoods Ready for School Initiative
4:53
Financial Stability
We fund programs and advocate for economic justice for families and providers. Affordable child care is critical to the financial stability of a family, especially given that an average of one-third of a family’s income is going towards child care in a family of two parents, one infant, and one preschooler. This year, our top financial stability activities included investing in public early care and education systems through the Oakland Children’s Initiative and paying for tuition and permit fees for early care educators through the Early Education Apprentice Program. The average apprentice wage of $19.13 per hour increased to $28.00 per hour upon completion of 12 units and receipt of their Associate Teacher Permit.
Family Health
& Well-being
We provide, advocate for, partner, and fund connections to community-based resources through care coordination, family navigation, and access to health and mental health services that are culturally responsive. This year, we created a new Pediatric Care Coordination division, secured philanthropic funds to hire a director to oversee that division, and expanded our Pediatric Care Coordination staffing and capacity to reach even more Alameda County children and families in the coming years. We renewed funding for our Help Me Grow and DULCE programs and collaborated with local partners, including our local Medi-Cal Managed Care Plan and Alameda Health System leadership, to identify additional funding sources to sustain these vital programs, which led to the successful increase of Help Me Grow’s annual budget.
Early Care
& Education
First 5 funds and partners with early care and education providers to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care options, especially for families with low incomes and those most impacted by structural racism. This year, in addition to our ongoing efforts, we hired a permanent Director of Early Care and Education and increased staffing to lead the implementation of the Oakland Children’s Initiative Early Education Fund (Measure AA), allocating more than $10 million to stabilize and strengthen existing early education programs across Oakland Unified School District and the City of Oakland Head Start.
Parents and caregivers bond with children during activities hosted by San Antonio Family Resource Center.
Neighborhoods Ready for School sites, like San Antonio Family Resource Center, distribute information, resources and supplies to parents in their communities.
Parents partcipate in learning activites with their young children at Union City Family Center.
Kindergarten Transition Support
We advocate for and fund access to events and activities that ensure families’ smooth transition into the TK–12 system, including policies and practices that engage fathers. Our Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) data continues to show a strong link between fathers’ use of kindergarten transition supports and higher kindergarten readiness. This year, our Fathers Corps program celebrated its 10th anniversary, hosted a Fatherhood Summit event for hundreds of dads, and rolled out a new set of healthy relationship principles for organizations engaging fathers.
“
This year, I had the privilege of presenting the Fathers Corps program model to the California Fatherhood Council. Knowing that our program model is informing a statewide fatherhood initiative is an exciting step towards building a father-friendly system of care and expanding the Fathers Corps movement that celebrates fathers and father-figures as nurturers, caregivers, community role models, and leaders, in Alameda County and beyond.
”
KEVIN BREMOND
CO-FOUNDER AND PROGRAM ADMINISTRATORS
“
One of our strategic goals to strengthen Alameda County’s early care and education system is to provide support and resources to ECE educators. We know that higher wages and access to professional development supports are essential for people entering or staying in the ECE field. That’s why, this year, we distributed $288,430 in professional development and training stipends to ECE professionals and caregivers participating in First 5's Quality Counts program.
”
ROWENA KAMO, MPA
SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR, QUALITY ECE
We fund collaboration between systems, including early care and education (ECE), transitional kindergarten to 12th grade, and community organizations to better support ECE professionals and families with resources and services. This year, we provided more than 50 trainings and learning opportunities for parents, caregivers, providers, and professionals in the ECE field. Together with Alameda County Social Services Agency and Tipping Point Community, we also continued to fund the Early Education Apprentice Program, administered by YMCA of the East Bay, which provides financial and academic support, as well as on-the-job training and mentorship while students pursue their ECE-related degrees and teaching permits.
Supported
Educators & Systems
Systems Building
& Policy Change
FACILITIES NEEDS ASSESSMENT
We developed a facilities needs assessment report to better understand the current condition of Alameda County’s ECE facilities and identify areas of highest need and opportunities for investment. This work was conducted in anticipation of new funding sources, including the Children’s Health and Child Care Initiative for Alameda County (Measure C).
OAKLAND CHILDREN’S INITIATIVE
In the first six months of implementation, we swiftly allocated more than $10 million to stabilize and strengthen existing early education programs at Oakland Unified School District and Oakland Head Start. Initial allocations fund growing staffing needs and supports, family navigators, and one-time physical infrastructure projects to improve and increase capacity of current early care sites.
POLICY BREAKFAST
“The successes we see are coming from the partnerships you have been able to forge.”
MIA BONTA
CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLYMEMBER, 18TH DISTRICT
We hosted a virtual Policy Breakfast for partners, elected officials, and members of the ECE field to discuss key policy findings and recommendations from our 2021-22 Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA). We also heard from guest speakers including Assembly member Mia Bonta, who shared praise for the collaborative work of First 5 Alameda County and its partners.
Financials
FISCAL YEAR EXPENSES BY PROGRAM/STRATEGY
Grants & Partnership
$9.13 Million
Sustainability Fund
$2.14 Million
Oakland Children's Initiative
$3.67 Million
Prop 10
Tobacco Tax
$11.02 Million
Early Care & Education
$9.67 Million
Policy & Advocacy
$1.47 Million
Communications
$0.66 Million
TOTAL REVENUE $25.96 Million
Family Health & Wellbeing
$8.91 Million
Thriving Neighborhoods
$3.89 Million
Data & Evaluation
$1.36 Million
It Takes a Village
We know that systems building requires an entire ecosystem of partners working together. Select each Neighborhoods Ready for School grantee site below for more information.
KEY
Neighborhoods Ready for School Community
Neighborhoods Ready for School
Resource Center
Help Me Grow Referring Provider
Licensed Child Care Center
Enrolled in Quality Counts
Licensed Family Child Care Site
Enrolled in Quality Counts
Lincoln Families leads an early childhood initiative, the West Oakland of Excellence, as well as the Mandela Family Resource Center designed by and supporting West Oakland residents.
The San Antonio Family Resource Center brings together community organizations Trybe, Lotus Bloom, and EBAYC, along with ALL IN Alameda County to support Oakland’s San Antonio neighborhood.
Roots Community Health Center leads Stay Ready for School, a neighborhood network of nonprofits, community members and organizations in East Oakland to improve health outcomes and school readiness, particularly for African American families with children ages birth to 5.
Union City Family Center provides supports through its family resource center to increase resources and programing for families with young children to support school readiness in the Decoto Community of Union City.
Thank You
On behalf of our fantastic staff and dedicated commissioners, thank you to Alameda County taxpayers and voters for entrusting First 5 Alameda County to administer and leverage valuable resources and public dollars in service of children and families in Alameda County. We would also like to thank our philanthropic partners, California Children and Families Foundation (First 5 Association of California), California Wellness Foundation, Chester O. David, Heising-Simons Foundation, Stupski Foundation, Sunlight Giving, and Tipping Point Community for your financial support and partnership in helping to restructure and grow our agency. Your collective support makes a difference — this year we served 30% more children than we did in FY 2021-22.
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1115 Atlantic Avenue
Alameda, CA 94501
www.first5alameda.org
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In the first six months of operations, Oakland Children’s Initiative Early Education Fund invested in improved educational experiences and increased critical support for teachers and parents. These early investments benefited 2,345 students and 296 educators. Thanks to our committed partners, we made these critical investments despite the challenges of a school district strike, local budget deficits as federal COVID supports sunset, and a mayoral transition.
In addition to Early Care and Education, First 5 proudly continued to administer and grow successful programs and conducted policy advocacy. This report highlights a sampling of our efforts, including our deepening partnership with the Alameda Alliance for Health on pediatric outreach and care coordination through Help Me Grow, seeding birth equity strategies such as lactation support for African American moms and birthing people, celebrating the role of fathers and father-figures, offering community-selected early childhood trainings to thousands of partners, and investing roughly $3 million in the community-driven family-centered strategy of Neighborhoods Ready for School.
As we celebrate these successes, the horizon of our local early childhood landscape is even brighter. Alameda County voters prioritized our kids and families through the Children’s Health and Child Care Initiative for Alameda County (Measure C), passed in 2020. As we await the resolution of a legal challenge, First 5 is honored to be named the future administrator of these funds. This voter-adopted measure is estimated to provide $150 million annually for 20 years, supporting access to child care, classroom enrichments, family navigation, facility enhancements, and increased wages for early childhood educators. This multi-generational investment will transform Alameda County’s underfunded, COVID-tattered, fragmented early childhood programs into a coordinated, impactful, community-, family-, and child-centered system.
System building of this magnitude is complex and is only possible through partnerships with parents, local community-based, and public system providers. We recognize the centrality of families working each day to nurture their kids, our next generation, too often in challenging conditions. We also celebrate the incredible work of early educators who make it possible for parents and caregivers to pursue their responsibilities, knowing that a loving educator is caring for their child. On behalf of the First 5 team, thank you for all you do. We are honored to partner with you, and we celebrate your contributions to our community.
Finally, my deepest gratitude to our Commissioners for your ongoing support and governance and to my First 5 Alameda team of colleagues for their continued commitment and expertise; each of you has contributed to our collective success.
At a time when the Bay Area is wrestling with complex and daunting challenges, I hope our work at First 5 Alameda County provides our residents with a sense of pride about what’s possible when we unite around solutions. As we reflect on our accomplishments over the past year, I excitedly look forward to the year ahead.
In Community,
Kristin Spanos
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Our Equity Statement
First 5 Alameda County is committed to being an equity-centered, anti-racist, and anti-classist organization. We recognize that we operate in a racialized economic system characterized by extractive and exploitative labor practices and public policies perpetuating long-standing disparate life outcomes. To this end, we use anti-racist and equity-based practices to invest in and support children, families, and neighborhoods. Our Place, People, Policy framework intentionally prioritizes our investments in communities that have experienced historic and systemic racism and disinvestment.
As a part of this commitment, we use our resources to redress (to set right) these injustices by:
We acknowledge that our unconscious and conscious bias impacts our practices. Therefore, we are committed to deepening our understanding of how power, wealth, and opportunity imbalances appear in policies, communities, organizations, and interpersonal relationships. We can only do this as lifelong learners with a growth mindset focused on transformative change.
We commit to continuous improvement and to hold ourselves accountable to operationalize this statement and our principles.
In addition to our co-created Equity Statement, we are adopting the “Guiding Principles for Federal Action on Racial Equity” developed by national leaders PolicyLink and Race Forward to further articulate our intentions. The statement and principles are consistent with our systems approach and will be operationalized into each of our strategies.
