1. Early Childhood Coordinator
February 15, 2018
Presented by
Lila Guirguis,
Early Childhood Coordinator

2. Vision for Pasadena: A City that nurtures every child and creates an environment where young children are healthy, safe and find early success in school and life.
The Early Development policy passed by City Council has become a living breathing document realized by the numerous organizations and early childhood systems across the city who have supported the work of the Office of the Young Child over the last year.

3. Investing in Child Well Being is Investing in the Future
“The future prosperity of any society depends on its ability to foster health and well being of the next generation”*
When children grow in chronic stressful home and community environments it changes the shape of the developing brain leaving children more vulnerable
Investing in the early years and creating opportunities for parents and caregivers to receive support, so that families experience less stress, in turn provides a healthier home environment so young children can develop healthy relationships with the important adults their life. This can dramatically change a child’s brain chemistry and reverse the negative affects chronic stress has on the child’s development
The city of Pasadena has made a wise investment in children and families we are working to ensure the next generation will pat that back through a lifetime of productivity and responsiblie citizenship – Frame Works Institute 2009
The 5 Year Master Plan for the
Office of the Young Child
Unify existing independent programs and services in the City of Pasadena
Galvanize a cohesive coordinated family centered system
Focus on policy and services to improve the lives of young children, ages birth to 5.
*FrameWorks Institute 2009

4. Office of the Young Child
As a city investing, innovating and leading in an office solely dedicated to the health and well-being of children, the multiple organizational systems dedicated to early childhood success, from Library to Public Health to Human Services to City Manager’s Office to Police and Fire – all have supported and invested in the Office
Countless hours of volunteers and professionals in the fields of early childhood education, health, public agencies, higher education, maternal health and early childhood investors have contributed to the numerous accomplishments of the Office of the Young Child in one short year

5. 2017 Highlights
February PUSD Kindergarten Teachers completed the EDI (Early Development Instrument) representing 1,254 children
March four voluntary committees formed to plan Launch of Pasadena as an Early Learning City by 2025
Workgroup formed to design a Preconception to 5 Wellness Policy for the City of Pasadena
March formed a Tri-Cities Early Childhood Learning Work Group with the Cities of : Santa Monica, Long Beach, Pasadena
June started an Early Learning Library Workgroup

6. 2017 Highlights
July $12,000 First 5 LA grant was given to support the launch Pasadena as an Early Learning City by 2025
Hosted two screenings of Raising of America – one screening for 30 case managers from local agencies and one to over 120 Early Head Start Early Childhood Educators
August invited to Cincinnati ACT meeting with the Public Health Department – All Children Thrive
Began to build a comprehensive early childhood public education campaign
Invited by First 5 LA to become a Kindergarten Readiness Mentor Community with a dedicated investment of $238,000 over two years.

7. Pasadena Results 2017
I get what you are trying to say here – the looking back and forward, but I think it just needs a small transition. Perhaps just a rewording of the looking forward – using EDI data from previous year to inform strategies for addressing the needs…

8. Pasadena Results / 2017
Year N
Physical Health and Well-being
Social Competence
Emotional Maturity
Language and Cognitive Development
Communication Skills and General Knowledge
Developmentally Vulnerable on One or More Domains
2017
1,254
120
10%
132
11%
110 9%
107
113
307
24%
2013
1,435
116 8%
125 79 6%
104 7%
294
20%
Maybe here you can mention that ideally, the EDI should be conducted every 3 years in order to chart progress made on the results? I think it’s important to note that during this particular meeting so it’s on city and PUSD radar to follow through with this important data.

9. The Purpose of the launch was to showcase
Declaring Pasadena as an Early Learning City by 2025
Not sure if you want to say pre-conception to age 5? I think I remember you saying that a couple times last year? If not, disregard.
This one event brought together 5 City departments: Human Services and Recreation, the Library, Police, Fire, Public Health
Over 2000 voluntary hours of planning and execution
Numerous published articles bringin awareness of the critcal importance of early chldhood development
Over 85 exhibitors sharing information
The Purpose of the launch was to showcase
the myriad of rich resources for parents, children, grandparents and early childhood educators & advocates for families who have children birth to age 5.

10. A celebration declaring Pasadena as an Early Learning City by 2025!
Maybe you can mention during this the support and dedication to this initiative from the mayor, city council, congresswoman Judy Chu, Portantino, Holden?, State Library, etc.?
80 exhibitors provided resources
from child care, health care, child development screenings, storytelling,
face painting and
Pasadena Unified pop up
farmers Market, and…..

11. Building an Early Childhood Public Education Campaign
Building a public education campaign

12. Convenes once a month and has been meeting since October of 2015
Community volunteers, representatives from the public, and community and civic leaders, who have distinct and diverse expertise in early learning
Thought partners, providing strategic support and vision of the young child movement in Pasadena
Pasadena Council for the Young Child, led by Vera Vignes and Tony Santilena, long time Pasadena residents and volunteers
As well as 25+ residents and volunteers, a cross-sector of representatives from the City departments, school district, business, public and private community agencies and organizations concerned with the needs and welfare of children and families.
The Role of the Council:
Bring to life the Eight Building Blocks of early Child Development Policy
Identify practices for change through the combined knowledge, experience and expertise of this cross-sector of leaders
Approach our work as a “think tank” the recommendations of which will help to build a set of practices that will support the work of the Early Child Development Coordinator and will help to set the priorities of the Office of the Young Child
Provide a road map and design for transforming our community in addressing intractable social problems through a comprehensive approach to early childhood policy and services in Pasadena; we know such an approach in the early learning years of our youngest children and their families will help to create change over time.

13. Pasadena Council for the Young Child Organized into Work Groups
Early Childhood Public Education Campaign
Wellness Policy
EDI Community Conversations
Early Childhood Neighborhood Hubs
Where are kids and families?
Who is already “linked ” to them?
How do you support those “linked to them” to do it better?
Social Media Facebook page launched January 2017

14. Looking Ahead EDI School/ Community Conversations March - June 2018
City wide launches of Early Childhood Neighborhood hubs
Development of a strategic action plan based on EDI Community Conversations – Kindergarten Readiness Mentor Community
Preconception – 5 Wellness Policy presented to City Council Fall 2018
Launch of a city wide Early Childhood Public Education Campaign
Looking Ahead
The EDI results should be ready by Summer 2017
This tool provides A platform for principals to bring preschool, kindergarten and first grade teachers together to explore improvement strategies about early childhood development, school transition and school success.
• A better understanding of the conditions in the surrounding neighborhoods and opportunities to forge new partnerships in the community that will benefit students.
•And holistic baseline information about the kindergarten cohort to explain and mitigate issues that will appear later in 2nd and 3rd grade standardized tests.
We hope to launch the Office of the Young Child with a City Wide Event: kicking off this work inviting parents, caregiver, children, service providers to a celebratory event that show cases resources, activities and programs that directly support children and families 0-5
After this event we hope to launch a series of screenings across the city of the documentary Raising of America
The Raising of America is a 5-part documentary series and public engagement campaign that explores how a strong start for all our kids can lead to a healthier, safer, better educated and more prosperous and equitable America.
The Raising of America has a five-step process to support the screening and inspire audiences to action:
1. Build internal consensus and capacity
2. Choose your audience
3. Prioritize ways your audience can take action
4. Find success stories to spotlight
5. Choose what to show, which speakers to invite, and which co-sponsors to engage
Possible Metrics could be:
Increase the percentage of pregnant women receiving adequate prenatal care.
Increase the percentage of children receiving adequate well-child health care visits.
Increase the percentage of parents of young children receiving formal parenting education.
Decrease the percentage of substantiated child abuse and neglect cases.
Increase the percentage of kindergarten children who enter school with a high-quality preschool experience.
Increase the percentage of third-grade students who perform at or above grade level

15. Leading Pasadena as an Early Learning City by 2025
Thank you so much for your time attention and if you have any questions I am happy to answer them or meet with you at another time.
Questions?
For more information, please contact
Lila Guirguis at