An adult and a young girl sit on the floor playing with a colorful activity cube toy, focusing intently on its interactive features.

How We Work

Since our inception in 1998, First 5 Contra Costa has improved outcomes for children prenatal to age 5 by playing many different roles: funder, convener, and advocate. With our latest Strategic Plan, we have refined our approach to focus on the strategies that will have the biggest and most long-standing impact on young children and their families. 

Working in partnership with others, First 5 Contra Costa aims to change systems of services and supports to better meet the needs of young children and their families. We will approach systems change through four strategies:

  • Advocacy & Community Engagement
  • Research
  • Capacity Building
  • Resource Connection

Using these strategies in our three focus areas, we will change the health, early childhood education, and other social service systems to work better for young children and their families.

Partnering with Parents and Caregivers to Shape Family-Centered Services and Community Resources:

  • Our Parent Advisory Group provides insights into the needs of families with young children and advises on First 5 Contra’s efforts to improve access to  countywide resources and supports.
  • Our Community Advisory Councils (CACs), made up of volunteer parents and caregivers, serve as the voice of each First 5 Center community to help shape programs and activities through ongoing engagement and local insight.

Learn more about our work as a non-profit partner:

 

Discover more about our work:

A woman sits on the floor with three young children. Two girls in front are smiling and waving, while a baby sits beside them. Everyone appears happy and engaged in an indoor setting.

Strategic Plan

Our Strategic Plan outlines the priorities, goals, and strategies that will guide First 5 Contra Costa’s work over the next three years. The plan, approved by our Commission, identifies the core strategies we will use to reach outcomes in our three focus areas.

Four young children sit cross-legged on the floor in a classroom, attentively watching something out of frame. They appear engaged and interested. The room has brick walls and colorful decorations.

Theory of Change

We use our theory of change as a tool to identify the strategies we use to realize our vision. This approach is used to name the challenges we seek to address, the ways we will work on those challenges, and the intermediate outcomes we expect to see as a result of our actions.