Regional Groups

The Regional Groups program was a parent leadership, power-building, and advocacy training program operated by First 5 Contra Costa for more than 20 years. From 2001 through 2023, hundreds of parents learned about issues impacting their communities and developed the skills to partner with coalitions to support campaigns related to health promotion, park and land use equity, equitable representation in public systems, housing stability, and immigrant justice campaigns.

The Regional Groups contributed to and led many successful advocacy campaigns that resulted in longstanding improvements to underserved communities. Through community-action research, they helped:

• direct $14.6 million in regional parks funding to the highest needs parks in cities and neighborhoods
• pilot a process for local recreation departments on how to offer low-cost sports and recreation classes for young children in 8 cities and neighborhoods, which led to 6,720 children under age 6 participating in classes over 13 years
• contribute to the adoption of ten sanctuary policies in cities or school districts
• Support the cities of Antioch and Concord change city council elections to district-based elections so marginalized communities would be more likely represented by people who look like them
• develop campaigns that successfully advocated for policy changes to bolster housing security, including gathering surveys from more than 1,000 Antioch residents to highlight the challenges faced by renting families
• urge the cities of Antioch, Concord and Richmond to adopt rent stabilization and other policies to support the housing stability of families

Community members volunteered to join one of three place-based groups: the Central County Regional Group, the East County Regional Group, or the West County Regional Group. The number of participants in each group varied each year, but during the last 10 years of the program more than 300 individuals— predominantly Latinx and from other marginalized communities—were involved and more than half participated for more than three years. In earlier years, the majority of participants were parents of children under age 6, and over time that proportion declined. 

After 20 years of refining the program model and having significant impact on participants and the community, the Regional Groups’ members and former program staff established a new organization in 2023 to expand their efforts. Operating as a nonprofit organization, the new effort called Rising Juntos has more opportunities to engage in direct advocacy and to broaden its scope and focus. First 5 Contra Costa continues to use the lessons learned from the Regional Groups program to continue its support for parent advocacy and power building through other strategies that leverage existing advocacy groups and that align with its three focus areas, which are early care and education, early intervention, and strengthening families.

First 5 Contra Costa’s Regional Groups: Building Power for Families, 2025

This recently released report provides an overview of the program, a description of its development and growth over time, showcasing its most prominent community-level accomplishments over the years, and summarizing its dedicated participants and the impact participating had on them.

• Report: English | Spanish
• Executive Summary: English | Spanish