First 5 Contra Costa is pleased to welcome Dr. Mackenzie Whipps as the new Early Childhood Program Officer to lead the Early Childhood Education work and other Strengthening Families projects.
Mackenzie is an Applied Psychologist who holds a doctoral degree from New York University’s Steinhardt School, and a bachelor’s degree from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her formal training in Community Psychology, Human Development, Political Science, and Maternal-Infant Health is complemented with more than a decade of experience as a birth worker and extensive experience as a child care provider. She focuses on understanding and changing system-level determinants of health and wellbeing for families with young children, primarily during the ‘childbearing year’. Her work to date has aimed to shift the conversation around positive child development, maternal mental health, and family wellbeing to center the voices and experiences of those who are vulnerable to structural inequities. She resides in Walnut Creek, California with her husband and two children. In her spare time, she enjoys biking, reading spy novels and ethnographies, bird watching, and birth photography.
Please join us in excitement, as Dr. Mackenzie Whipps will be starting her new role on February 14.; her knowledge, experience, and passion for the wellbeing of families with young children will continue the organization’s success and vision that all of Contra Costa’s young children will be healthy, ready to learn, and supported in safe, nurturing families and communities.