I am pleased to present the First 5 Alameda County 2020-2021 Annual Report. Please join me in thanking and proudly celebrating the amazing accomplishments of the First 5 team and our community partners. With a focus on Place, People, and Policy, First 5 is partnering to invest and build a local early childhood system that will expand the infrastructure necessary to serve the needs of our children and families.
For thousands of people in the county, the pandemic has exacerbated hardships. Existing structural inequalities, tied to racism, class, and poverty, continue to dictate the life outcomes of our kids, our families, our friends, and ourselves. Yet countless examples of community and family strength, love, and brilliance have emerged despite these adversities.
I often reflect on our Agency mission, vision, and values—and the role of local government in supporting community and family conditions in service of the public good. Our founding Commissioner and County Supervisor Wilma Chan embodied the true spirit of First 5. She served the people of Alameda County for more than thirty years with a devotion to family-centered issues. It is a privilege to do this work, and as a tangible extension of her leadership, to have First 5 recognized as a trusted early childhood advocate. This report is dedicated as a tribute to her contributions to First 5 and in honor of her legacy.
To Be of Use,
Kristin Spanos
Chief Executive Officer
We celebrate partnering with communities to support building relationships, services, and infrastructure in support of neighborhood conditions that promote family and child well-being.
We celebrate partnering with families, and service providers, to support parents, caregivers and children. This means ensuring that families and providers have the resources they need for children to thrive—including basic needs, connections to services and information, and peer support to promote mental health and well-being.
We advocate for policy changes that create and support community and family conditions for children and families to thrive. We seek to partner and inform public systems by proactively centering the needs of families with young children and their caregivers in our programs, investments and advocacy. We also support community efforts of families, caregivers, and community-based organizations, including parent leadership.
Supervisor Chan’s dedication to community partnership, coalition building, and racial justice was a gift of 30 years of public service. Her tireless upholding of the ideals of commitment to a greater good will be dearly missed and while we mourn her passing, we celebrate her life and thank her for the advancements she helped to achieve. First 5 commits to honoring Supervisor Chan’s legacy in our work towards making this community a better place for our children and families.